Hey, so I definitely consider myself addicted to porn. I have been for about 4 years since I got my first laptop. Near the end of last year I tried a brief stint of no porn, but only lasted for a week. The week I tried was really eye-opening to my addiction. By the second night I was already suffering withdrawal and the urge to watch porn was huge. I also seem to get headaches when the urges are strong. Hopefully with more willpower, the pmo tracker and some online support, my addiction will be easier to overcome. Maybe. Going to try for 10 days no porn. If I reach that I will reset the counter and work my way up with longer stints, and raising the bar in terms of goals, hopefully without relapsing! Cheers
Hi NoBrainer, welcome. First of all you start this game ahead of many others. You know you are addicted, you know about withdrawals. Excellent. I have a thread here I would invite you to read and post on if you care to. It's titled "Get Educated. Get Tools. Learn to love withdrawals." My story on how I got clean. If I can do it, you can do it. Here it is: http://www.nofap.org/forum/showthread.php?2402-Get-educated-get-tools-and-learn-to-love-withdrawals Of course I know nothing about you or your problem specifically, but something tells me you could benefit immediately from "tools." I call tools anything outside of ourselves we can use to avoid experiencing porn. Remember, porn is not porn. Porn is anything that triggers a dopamine release, for for porn addicts it can be a swimsuit cover, so learn your triggers and avoid them. Back to tools, get porn blockers on your devices. If you have a smart phone that cannot have a porn blocker, get a dumb phone. A lot of guys swear by K9. You have taken a few years to condition your mind to release dopamine in response to the porn experience. You won't condition it back to normal over night, and in the meantime your brain is going to punish you for depriving it of the dopamine bath you have been giving it. That is the withdrawal part. You have to anticipate them, expect them, embrace them. They are physically, emotionally, and mentally painful. You have to almost want that pain, embrace it, take it as personal challenge, take it personal. Peace.
Hi William. Thanks for the reply. I have downloaded K9 which has been a bit of a pain since it's been blocking everyday things like facebook, though the settings are easy to adjust. It will provide another barrier if I am finding myself needing to relapse, so I can question myself on what I am doing. Thanks for your advice too, it's inspiring to realise that my withdrawal symptoms are shared by others, which I'm sure will enable me to find strategies to combat (the withdrawals). Having the community on here is also proving to be a big help. Cheers
