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Porn induced ED 22 years old. My story and reflecting on how porn is legal

Discussion in 'Porn-Induced Sexual Dysfunctions' started by Slimshady33, Jul 28, 2023.

  1. Slimshady33

    Slimshady33 New Fapstronaut

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    I have been on this forum for 6 weeks I think without posting, but after relapsing for the first, and hopefully the last time in my no pmo streak I think its time I made a thread.
    Here is the backstory. Started M at maybe 14 and regular pmo at 14. Always beeing insecure and anxious in my teens made me resolve to pmo as a stress reliver. Now at 22 years old I realized that years of fapping to porn on a regular basis really fucked up my Dick, my brain and my life.
    Never a binge watcher, never sat and watched porn for hours just one video fap and done. Usually I would scroll for a long time before choosing a vid. I pmo almost every night before I went to sleep and sometimes in the morning. This made me lazy and anxious and destroyed my confidence with girls. Even tho I am a tall and attractive guy I was still a virgin at 21. Thats when I met a really nice girl who was very interested in me. Very hot also. First time we tried having sex my dick was dead. I did have performance anxiety as she was some years older than me with a lot of experince so I tought that was a lot of the reason I could not get hard. She was cool about it and next week we tried again. I managed to get hard enough to penetrate and as we started the act my penis grew to maybe 80 prosent and I came very fast, so we did it again. She was happy, I was happy. We dated for like 2-3 months with good vibes and regular sex until she left to another city to study. During this time I notice that I can only get 80 prosent hard(at max), and some positions it was really weak. I met up with her when she was in town 3 months later, we spent the night and I fucked her with like a 50 prosent erection(i was drunk asf but still). This is 9 months ago. I continue regular pmo and bad habits like weed, coke, junk food u name it. For the record I have been fapping with a weak boner for some time. One day I noticed that I can get a good hard on from some of the porn I enjoy but when I closed the site it instantly faded. This is when I realized that I am addicted to porn and that I have Ed because of it. This is where the reboot starts, 5 weeks ago.

    First attempt: 35 days, no pmo, but a good amount of peaking here and there(tinder, escort sites). First week was as excpected. Flatline, depression, anxiety and mood swings. After that I felt pretty fine and tought to myself that I am going to recover in no time, and that I dont have a big problem like some of the other guys you see here. I was wrong

    Problem here is that I have not been able to work out for 4 months because of a shoulder injury that is really hard to fix. I have not been able to do this stuff that I know helps the reboot, and that gives me a lot of spare time with my own toughts. I have worked a lot, and spent time with friends to keep myself occupied.
    But activities with myself does not give me any happiness wich makes me realize what the porn has done to my brain. But like I said no real urges to watch porn even when I was anxious and lonely wich I took as a sign that I am going to recover in a pretty smooth way.

    The positives I saw around the 3 week mark, when my morning wood started appaearing more frequently and I had some "libido kicks" as i call them. Apart from that libido was still very low at 5 week mark. Positive was that I was feeling alright socially and getting better everyday. But my penis was still really flaccid at this mark even tho it had grown bigger than it was in the start of the flatline. First I tought I was in the "milder" group of the spectrum but seeing that I still had to a good way to go at 5 weeks maybe not. Witch caused the reboot I told myself was unnegotiable.

    One line of coke and 3 beers was the set off. Also having some other issues causing anxiety, lonliness and growing frustration with my libido gave me an exscuse to relapse. I came in under one minute aswell. Obviously feeling pretty stupid now throwing away 5 weeks of progress for 1 minute of pleasure. But as I always say, you live and you learn. Your current situation is not your whole life as long as you take action.

    Already booked appoinment with a specialist to help me with my shoulder so I can get back to training and good habits. I think this is crucial to maintain energy, reduce anxiety and stop dopamine cravings like fapping.
    How I didnt realize how bad porn is before now, like how is it even legal and so accesible for everyone?
    Porn addiction is a great way for the system to keep the dogs in the leash i guess. Its like free drugs man. Free drugs. This is why so many people cant quit and its why they get addicted in the first place.
    Like if a coke addict had free coke all the time he would never stop using. Its not free tough, you pay with your dopamine. And thats way more valuable than money.
    I have read many posts here, and I really appriciate all the stories being shared. Together we can make the suffering a little easier. If you have read the whole thread and have some advice I would love to hear it.
    And last I have a question about the brain and reboot. Now that I watched porn once and O to it does it mean I am set back even more than I was when I started rebooting? Or a little bit less? for example if I was 40 prosent recovered does it go back to 0 prosent or maybe 10 prosent? Maybe some of the more experinced people here can give me some answers around that.
    Will post every week aswell with updates becuase opening up about this feels really theraputic.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2023
    Hammer0007 likes this.
  2. Hammer0007

    Hammer0007 Fapstronaut

    Nice post dude, glad to see you are giving good effort to rid yourself of PMO ! Sorry to hear about your shoulder injury. That sucks and I can see how you want that to be better so you can get back to being active.

    In terms of the reboot. Your brain has rewired itself to have a reward circuit, specifically for porn and masturbation. Every time you do these behaviours, you strengthen that circuit. It is no doubt very strong and established after 8 or so years, depending on severity of your use as well. When you abstain, you are starving that reward circuit of life. There is a term called 'neuroplasticity', this is the study of how the brain changes itself (I highly recommend the book 'the brain that changes itself - norman doidges'). In the book it describes how your brain can, and does, change its neural wiring and 'maps' over time, based on a number of factors.

    Basically the old saying 'Use it or lose it' is correct. If a circuit/ pathway / even a whole area of the brain map isn't used often for a long time, your brain may start to overwrite it with other, potentially useful, potentially harmful pathways. For example if you spent one month learning how to play guitar and you could play a song front to back, but then you didn't play for 10 years, the neural pathways for the specific movements of your fingers may have been overwritten/ over taken by something else. Perhaps chopping onions when you cook.

    So when you relapse, you are activating that neural pathway again, and telling the brain 'this is an important task, I still want to keep doing this' and it will be less likely to write over it. It's hard to say in percentages, how much longer you have to wait, how much one relapse will set you back etc. There are things you can do and supplements you can take that can boost your neuroplasticity, thus increasing your ability to change habits, rewire your brain.

    The brain and it's 'maps' are a competitive space, so you need to introduce a new, healthy habit (ideally one with natural dopamine, that will still reward you as you rely on P to reward us and make us feel good), so there is a new habit that can fight for the neural pathways that PMO are taking up. Over time, if you abstain for using PMO to activate your reward center, AND you are consistently doing a new, healthy habit with natural dopamine, the neural pathways for the old habit will weaken and fade, as the new habit requires more 'space' in the 'brain map' and takes over.

    I'm no expert, have just read a few different books and listened to scientific podcasts on neuroscience and addiction here and there. I'm not recovered either, but feel free to do your own research, these tips should be reaffirmed. I hope it helps put in context for you.

    Goodluck! Remember why you're doing this!
    Peace.
     

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