1. Welcome to NoFap! We have disabled new forum accounts from being registered for the time being. In the meantime, you can join our weekly accountability groups.
    Dismiss Notice

Porn Addiction and Irritable Bowel Disease

Discussion in 'Porn Addiction' started by stargazer1810, May 18, 2017.

  1. stargazer1810

    stargazer1810 New Fapstronaut

    4
    9
    3
    I am 32 and have been addicted to internet porn since I was 12 in 1996. I am currently a graduate biochemistry student and have a hypothesis linking porn use to irritable bowel diseases such as Crohn's.

    I can't post the link to the study because I don't have enough posts yet. But, do a Google search for "Amino acid-responsive Crohn’s disease: a case study."

    This study indicates that normalizing the balance between serotonin and dopamine caused the patient's Crohn's to go into remission.

    I suspect that porn addiction (and other addictions) can cause things like Crohn's because of the elevation of serotonin and downregulation of dopamine, leading to an imbalance in the two neurotransmitters.

    I started developing gut pain when I was in middle school around the time I first became addicted to the internet/porn. Of course, the internet was slow and not nearly as stimulating as it is today. The funny thing is that, as the internet sped up and my access to it increased over the years, my digestive pain increased along with it.

    It wasn't until about 2004-2005 that I was able to watch videos online instead of look at pictures. This is also the time when my health took a nosedive (but there were other things going on like alcoholism and severe stress that contributed significantly). I am hypothyroid and was undiagnosed for years. This is the time when I got into gay porn. I have often questioned my sexuality over the years because of this. However, a few years ago I came to a realization. I am not interested in men in the real world. When I'm at work or school or wherever, I don't look at men at all. I only look at women. This was the first clue leading me to believe that porn may be harmful.

    The real trouble began in 2007 when I discovered the "tube" sites for the first time. I went on very crazy porn binges and this was the first time I really began having constant chronic pain in the digestive system. It was also the first time I began having trouble speaking and pronouncing certain syllables and it was the first time I remember having trouble with eye contact. As the addiction worsened, the pain worsened.

    Now, I think this is a two-way street, not a one-way one. I have had trouble digesting fiber/starchy food since I was in about 4th grade. It’s gotten progressively worse over the years to the point at which it causes severe pain in my stomach and intestines. Pain that makes it difficult to speak coherently at times. However, when I eat starchy/fibrous food, something else happens as well. I go into a bipolar-like mania in which I become extremely hypersexual in a homosexual way. It is very odd because I am not romantically attracted to men and have never fallen in love with a guy before. It’s only sexual and it only occurs when I eat these foods. When I eliminate fiber/starch, I am as straight as an arrow and sex with a man is unappealing. Fiber/starch is fermented by bacteria (both good and bad) in the large intestine. These bacteria produce endotoxins that can act as potent neurotoxins on the brain, changing the behavior of the person. These endotoxins interact with estrogen in peculiar ways, and I think it leads to the excessive production of both serotonin and estrogen. This leads to homosexual tendencies. When I eat these foods, the hypersexuality is unnerving. It is like I am possessed and am not in control of my behavior. When this started in 4th grade, this was before I had a sex drive. It led to binge-eating behavior until I discovered porn in 6th grade and then it took a weird turn toward hypersexuality. It leads to frighteningly risky behavior sexually (although I have yet to actually act on it with another person, thankfully).

    I just sat down and thought about it. From 2005-2007, I was eating tons of endotoxin-producing food and I was excessively into gay porn. I did an initial short period with zero carb (meat and fat only) and the gay interest totally disappeared. Then, I went back to eating garbage from 2008-2010, and the hypersexual gay thing came back. Then, I did the long 6 year zero carb, all-meat diet and the hypersexual gay feelings disappeared for the entire time. Then, a couple of months after reintroducing carbohydrates in the form of starch/fiber, the hypersexual gay feelings returned. Switching to a diet high in sugar and fat but without any fiber or starch at all made them disappear again only to return after a trial run with carrot fiber a few days ago. I had not really paid attention to the shifts until recently when I really began to see how abnormal my behavior is when I eat the wrong things.

    When I eat fermentable food, I get severe gastric ulcer-like pain in the stomach and bowel pain that makes it difficult to function. Even carrots seem to do this. This pain and irritation follows the exact same trend that the homosexual feelings do.

    When I eat the fiber/starch I act really effeminate and docile. When I don’t, I act very masculine and, dare I say, alpha in some situations.

    I think I have crohn’s disease and this is why I am unable to digest the fiber/starch and is why I have such awful pain. I have seen evidence that there is a greater incidence of gastrointestinal disorders in homosexuals and bisexuals and wonder if their sexual tastes aren’t shaped by a bacterial imbalance in the gut.

    I have pieced together a mechanism using separate studies already done on separate issues. Starch/fiber feeds the gut bacteria. In some people, they have pathological bacteria in the gut that produce large amounts of histamine. Histamine does two things. 1. It lowers all the other neurotransmitters in the brain (dopamine, serotonin, adrenaline), causing the person to seek out things (drugs, porn, food) that temporarily raise those chemicals back to normal. If histamine is chronically elevated, the person must continue using those abnormal stimuli to compensate for the abnormal lowering of the other neurochemicals. Two, histamine causes a marked increase in estrogen production. This becomes a catch-22 because estrogen causes the body to produce even more histamine. This leads a male to become feminine and become interested in men sexually. This is essentially like a trans person receiving hormones to change genders.

    I think that the porn addiction may have caused the digestive abnormality in the first place and then the digestive abnormality affected the brain, causing me to act in abnormal ways.

    Sorry for the really long post. But, I have been thinking about this for a long time and needed to put that out there.

    EDIT: Actually, no. The porn addiction couldn't have been the initial cause because it began in 4th grade before I had ever masturbated or seen porn. However, I was addicted to video games from the age of 6 which might have thrown off the serotonin/dopamine balance, or it could just be genetic.
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2017
  2. InfinitePossibilities

    InfinitePossibilities Fapstronaut

    188
    289
    63
    LivinginRecovery likes this.
  3. petercoiled

    petercoiled Fapstronaut

    28
    14
    3
    This sounds fascinating. I tend towards low carb and no gluten because of intestinal pressure/pain when I indulge in those type of foods. This happened years after I was porn addicted. I wonder if nofappers experience higher incidences of ibs symptoms.
     
  4. LavaMe

    LavaMe Fapstronaut

    Interesting. I've found a low carb diet works best for me. And I started having digestive issues a few years ago. Whether there is any link I don't know. I also have allergies. Would that play into the histamine part of the theory? Are allergy pills the graham cracker of our day to settle down urges?
     
  5. Dave G 123

    Dave G 123 Fapstronaut

    Hi,

    There was a brief thread on this not long ago: https://www.nofap.com/forum/index.php?threads/stomach-issues-ibs-and-porn.97325/#post-805782

    I'm convinced there is a link, but it sounds like you are far further up on the science side of things than I am! What I will say is that I've recently had a big improvement with my bowel symptoms by taking something called Kefir. This is basically a fermented yoghurt drink that you make yourself (store-bought doesn't seem to work). After 10 years of IBS I can't recommend it highly enough - to put it in perspective, I've tried all sorts of crazy diets in the past, and managed to stick to them for months at a time, but only seen small improvements. However, I've also managed to improve (as in reduce) my use of P a lot on the last year, so that may also explain it.

    Dave
     
  6. fapstronaut_12

    fapstronaut_12 Fapstronaut

    19
    36
    13
    In my case I saw a link between between PMO and allergies, weak nerves,reduced mental health and a whole other bunch of issues which remarkably after nofap I see them fading away...
    I had severe allergies during summer and used to have antihistamines and other drugs which made matters worst by messing with my nerves...
    Weak nerves made me susceptible to anxiety and stress...
    With the help of God I managed to solve them and I realised over months that all had one main cause and that was PMO...
    I too am in research so i understand your interest in explaining in detail...
    Just wanted to share my experience with others so that not all may have to go through this shit. ..
    Thanks
     
  7. naetonome

    naetonome Fapstronaut

    14
    25
    13
    That is very interesting. I know I suffer from IBS for as long as I PMO-ed. Maybe..
     
  8. Fatsodubmo

    Fatsodubmo Fapstronaut

    482
    788
    93
    Interesting. Maybe throw stress and cortisol levels of being an addict in there as a contribution to the ibs?
     
    LavaMe likes this.
  9. stargazer1810

    stargazer1810 New Fapstronaut

    4
    9
    3
    I sat down and devised a biochemical mechanism for my digestive distress today. Here it is:

    I have found some scientific literature in which rats had their dopamine system turned off. This led to severe gastric lesions in the stomach. Introducing chemicals that mimic dopamine reversed the lesions.

    Porn addiction, internet addiction (all addictions) cause the body to downregulate dopamine production and dopamine receptors. This deficiency in dopamine causes the gastric lesions which are responsible for my stomach pain. It feels like someone is cutting it with a knife after porn binges.

    When I avoid porn and minimize internet use, the pain goes away and I can eat more foods. The pain started in the mid 90s when we first got the internet. It got really intense in 2007 when porn and the internet got really fast and much more intense (this is when I first gained access to the tube sites with unlimited videos). 2007 was when I started noticing eye contact and speech issues. I had problems just going to the store to talk to a cashier. I never had that before. The increase in intensity of the internet and porn and the inability to digest food is exactly correlated with my internet/porn addiction. So, I've officially sworn off porn for good. I figured this out because a few weeks ago I had been on a NoFap streak and was able to digest some foods that I hadn't been able to for a long time. I was eating string cheese with no problems. Then, I relapsed for a weekend and the pain returned immediately and I was unable to digest the cheese anymore. Solid chunks came out in the feces (sorry that's TMI but it's important).

    I think porn addiction may cause severe gastric lesions in some people.
     
  10. stargazer1810

    stargazer1810 New Fapstronaut

    4
    9
    3
    I think so. Dopamine is antagonistic to histamine if I remember correctly. A deficiency in dopamine due to an addiction of any kind may lead to overactive histamine.
     
  11. stargazer1810

    stargazer1810 New Fapstronaut

    4
    9
    3
    By extension, this means that porn addiction may lead to gastric cancer in some people. If these lesions aren't allowed to heal, they can lead to cancer. This is assuming that my hypothesis is correct, however.
     
  12. Dave G 123

    Dave G 123 Fapstronaut

    fapstronaut_12 - in YBOP Gary Wilson mentions a rodent in Australia that has sex constantly until its immune system is shot, and it dies. I've long noticed a correlation between PMOing and physical symptoms that come on within minutes of stopping, including a runny nose and joints that ache and "pop" - a bit like arthritis, but it goes after about a week of abstinence. I think there is a lot going on, both with the stomach, the brain and the immune system (and quite possibly everything!) because of PMO.

    And have I mentioned my heart trouble!? Perhaps a story for another thread, but I had a comical experience with this - cut a long story short I had poor heart function for many years, got tested, no problems found; I went back for a checkup a few weeks later, saw an insanely hot girl in the waiting room (TOTALLY my type), and my heart was all over the place when tested 10 minutes later. The docs kept asking me to relax and breath deeply etc, but whatever I tried my electrical activity in my heart was haywire. This worried them so I had another much more thorough check, and I came back fine (I had a week off from any stimulation before I went for that one just to make sure). But no doubt, after a PMO binge serious exercise is out for me for a good 10 days, because my heart simply doesn't have the strength to pump blood well enough, so I tire quickly, and (in the past when I PMO'd much more) I used to faint when I stood up.
     
  13. I absolutely have this issue as well and wonder if porn induced anxiety also plays a role with this. I got a lot of anxiety as my addiction progressed.
     
    zilogZ80 likes this.
  14. Neveragain12

    Neveragain12 New Fapstronaut

    2
    2
    3
    Thank you so much for this post. I suffer from stomach problems and I was thinking that it is connected to my porn addiction. Now it makes sense to me.
     
    zilogZ80 likes this.
  15. ace1234

    ace1234 Fapstronaut

    200
    298
    63
    Add my two cents.

    Can confirm. Porn disrupts my digestion. After orgasm or excessive porn edging I will have looser stools. Like almost to the point of diarrhea and it is linear with how much I PMO.

    Now, I also fast for months at a time, periodically, avoiding meat or dairy, eating fiber. During this time if I watch porn my digestive problem becomes very very, noticeable to the point of having irritable bowel syndrome. When I go back to meat, its not as bad, but still have urges to take a number 2 with loose stools.

    I do not have gay tendencies though and was never into gay porn. Sometimes I feel a hint of arousal, but I have always refused crossing that (very rare) line.
     
    Deleted Account likes this.

Share This Page