"Getting It Out of Your System" Without PMO

Hi comrades,

I'm really glad to have stumbled across this awesome space. Although compulsive PMO hasn't been an issue for me, I'm still keen on freeing myself from PMO entirely (which I've been struggling to achieve for almost 10 years now). I've previously gone off PMOing for as much as 72 days on end, only to kill such an awesome winning streak with a disheartening relapse.

Two main reasons here:
(1) An inability to find any other promising alternatives to "getting it out of my system" following unintended exposure to triggers - if I'm really determined, I can go on for as long as 4 hours of trying to distract myself from the gnawing temptation or consciously looking the temptation in the eye and telling myself "NO! You'll regret this! It's not worth it!" - but eventually I feel my willpower reaching the limits of what is humanly possible and tolerable, one thing leads to the next, and before I know it, I'm back to square one.

(2) The day-long tenderness felt down under (along with the groggy mood) following a wet dream (or interrupted wet dream - ouch) experienced the night before, and the itching urgency to "compensate for the inbalance" - almost the same way hormonic homeostasis works. When I follow through, it certainly provides breathtaking RELIEF, but nonetheless one at the expense of the weeks of suffering that I'd had to endure in the lead up to that moment.

I just feel like I can't "cheat" myself out of these circumstances. I often feel like it has less to do with the self-help rhetoric of "it's all in your mind" and "mind over matter" and more to do with an inability to reverse a binding, hard-wired set of physiological mechanisms. Remember - I'm NOT addicted - I only relapse every couple of weeks or so when things get ridiculously intolerable, which is why I feel it has much less to do with mental strength and willpower than it does physiology - but I could be wrong. I've gone as far as looking into anaphrodisiacs to quiet things down, but I wasn't too impressed with the number of potential side-effects that sort of stuff holds.

I'd be MOST appreciative to hear the recommendations and suggestions of the veterans here. Finding a way out of this vicious cycle would be amazing.

Cheers,
StoicMonk

 

If I'm simply rehashing FAQs, I'd really appreciate if you good samaritans can link me to threads where these queries have been properly addressed. Thanks!