What does withdrawal from porn addiction look like?

Here are some real-life answers to the question “What does withdrawal from porn addiction look like?” We have contributions from guys going through the process and some thoughts from Gabe Deem.

• PDF with reports of “Withdrawal Symptoms“
• Page with 17 studies reporting withdrawal symptoms in porn users.
• Listen to a radio show about porn-addiction withdrawal
• Thread on Nofap.com – Let’s make a list of withdrawal symptoms
• As of 2020, over 60 studies report findings consistent with escalation of porn use (tolerance), habituation to porn, and even withdrawal symptoms (all signs and symptoms associated with addiction).

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Excerpt from this rebooting story – 9 for 90 (9 rules that helped me reach 90 days)

There will be moments of absolute beauty, understanding, and peace throughout initial recovery. There will also be moments of intense depression, anxiety, fear, and abandon. The key for making it through these moments is to remind yourself that all things are temporary and these emotions will pass, no matter how intense.

Remember that you are basically a good person who is worthy of happiness and love. It’s okay to feel these emotions and it is a normal part of this process. You haven’t actually “felt” anything in a long time. Let yourself explore these emotions. Try not to repress. You really are worthy of love and happiness and you will find both.

Don’t stay inside your head for too long. Don’t dwell on any negative feeling for a prolonged period of time. Experience it, feel it fully, and then move on. Stay PRESENT focused whenever possible. Do not obsess over the past.

Recovering porn users are often startled by the severity of their withdrawal symptoms when they stop using porn. This is probably due to a widespread blind spot about the honest-to-goodness physical addictiveness of Internet pornography. Symptoms aren’t just physical; they can take over your mind and your perception of the world (which looks dark). However, many of these same men reported big improvements after being without porn for a while.

Keep in mind that, as the brain’s reward system and stress circuits grow more dysregulated, the withdrawal symptoms tend to be more pronounced. So, if you have used extreme porn for a long time, you may notice more severe symptoms. The good news is that they pass. But if you keep “medicating” yourself with intense stimulation before your brain is back to its normal sensitivity, you can end up with a bit of a Groundhog Day scenario.

It can be comforting to see what others report about their withdrawal symptoms, just so you know that what you’re experiencing is normal. Some porn users report few withdrawal symptoms, others report symptoms that are quite severe. Below are some user reports. For comparison, also see the link below this page, which collects the kinds of withdrawal symptoms alcohol, cocaine and heroin users experience.

The symptoms are similar because all addictions share certain neurochemical and cellular changes which affect specific regions of the brain. This is not to say that all addictions cause the exact same changes. Alcohol or addictive drugs may cause damage or alter additional messenger systems (for example, opiate use decreases our body’s opioid receptors). Current science finds that withdrawal initiates a cascade of neurochemical alterations, which may include:

• further decline in dopamine levels
• further decline in opioids and endorphins
• drop-off in GABA, which is an anti-anxiety neurotransmitter
• rise in brain stress hormones CRF and norepinephrine 
• elevated dynorphin which inhibits dopamine and blunts your pleasure response
• one week after quitting the reward center sprouts new nerve cell branches, which correlate with cravings to use

If you have withdrawal symptoms, it’s likely you have an addiction (or were well on your way to developing one). However, some guys have addictions without much in the way of withdrawal symptoms. This is why addiction specialists don’t list withdrawal symptoms in their addiction tests. See, for example, Do You Have An Addiction?

Common withdrawal symptoms include

• Insomnia and other sleep difficulties
• Anxiety, stress and other forms of fear
• Headaches and pains and stiffness in muscles, joints, teeth, jaw, genitals and other parts of the body
• Fatigue and weakness
• Depression, despair and other forms of sadness
• Agitation
• Lack of Focus / attention / concentration (brain fog)
• Mood Swings
• Frustration, irritability, annoyance, short-temperedness and other forms of anger
• Flu, nausea, fever and other forms of sickness
• Little or no libido, flatline (Can take days to manifest, and last a long time)
• Pornographic flashbacks and sexual dreams
• Horniness, sexual cravings, sexual thoughts and urges to use porn and/or masturbate
• Desire to avoid socializing

Internet addiction research has reported that Internet addicts can suffer a form of cold turkey when they stop using the web – just like people coming off drugs.

A study by Swansea and Milan universities found young people had “negative moods” when they stopped surfing the net. … The so-called addicts’ web usage was varied, but it was common for them to gamble and access pornography online. … Scientists said this could possibly trigger them to log back on to the internet to “remove these unpleasant feelings”.

Some people have worse withdrawal symptoms later in the process. One guy reports:

Here’s basically what happened to me in a timeline:

• First 12 days I felt like a god damn god
• Days 16-25 pretty decent flatline, very tired, sad, etc. but urges were huge.
• Days 26-60 were mostly alright but I felt like something wasn’t quite right, something was changing in the back of my head.
• Days 61-76 HOLY SHIT I was experiencing serious withdrawal and flatline symptoms including but not limited to: depression, anxiety, crippling loneliness, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, zero urge, insomnia. However it didn’t feel like something actually wrong with me it felt like my brain was changing.
• Days 80+ pretty smooth sailing, really feel like I’m at a good point now. Age 18 – Haven’t felt this good in years. (I tried NoFap before but watched porn and didn’t see any benefits)

Some guys experience withdrawal symptoms off and on for months: Does post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) occur with porn addiction?

Our basic video also explains why withdrawal symptoms occur: Your Brain on Porn: How Internet Porn Affects the Brain.

A few reports:

I decided to quit. I thought first that I am NOT a hardcore porn addict. BUT woow

Withdrawal symptoms:
1- Inability to sleep at all the first three days. ( red eyes and yawning the whole day, OMG).
2- Very aggressive and irritable.
3- Depression and anxiety
4- Desensitized
5- Desire to stay alone.
6- Intolerance to the slightest bit of noise.
7- Flu like symptoms lasted the whole month still going on ( runny nose, nasal congestion, fatigue, chills, cold limbs)
8- Head numbness
9- Strange feeling in the brain ( not pain but as if something is moving very slowly or getting smaller) LINK

Here’s what I’m dealing with: irritability, fatigue, inability to sleep (even sleep aids don’t help much), trembling/shaking, lack of focus, shortness of breath, and depression.

Withdrawal symptoms

Did anyone get any withdrawal symptoms when they stopped cold turkey? I’ve been dealing with anxiety and depression ever since I stopped and damn it’s got me pretty messed up. I’ve been 11 days porn free and this is the longest I’ve gone without it since I was like 14-15. I don’t have urges to watch it I just don’t feel like myself ever since I stopped.

Why does no one talk about how bad the withdrawals are?

A life without addiction is a life that is textured and full of colour. I ain’t ever going back.

The first few days were terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure. The first few days I felt incredible. My sex drive was all-consuming. I thought about fucking every second of the day. My mind had no porn to feed its cravings so it turned its attention to real girls. I would mentally undress every girl I saw and re-enact a porn scene in my head. I got rock hard erections whilst sitting at my desk doing data analysis. I was a walking fuck machine.

After 3-4 days, I crashed. Hard. I started getting severe anxiety at work. I had panic attacks. I would sweat profusely. I would get dizzy and faint, even while sitting down. I would get crippling headaches on a regular basis. I felt this constant sense of impending doom. My sex drive disappeared completely. I could scarcely believe this was porn withdrawal. I thought I was dying.

This lasted for months. I began to understand what porn had done to me. I read more and more about brain neurochemistry and it slowly dawned on me how much damage I had done. I felt awful but I was now determined to stick it out.

During this time, there was one particular incident that I remember very vividly that is worth describing. I was in the relatively early stages on recovery, feeling pretty miserable but functional. I was in a coffee shop working on a coding problem that I hadn’t been able to figure out for weeks. Without going into too much detail, solving this problem was potentially worth a lot of money to me. Suddenly, in a eureka moment, I figured it out. I felt this surge of elation. But then, immediately, there was some kind of misfire in my brain. I was instantly overwhelmed with anxiety and this intense panicking sensation. I started sweating, my heart was pounding.

I packed up my shit, ran home and curled up on my bed for the rest of the day. It was like my brain just couldn’t handle positive feelings anymore. Like it was allergic to dopamine. Later on in my recovery I had a similar experience after a heavy workout. I don’t know what exactly happened in neurochemical terms but for me at least, it was conclusive proof of just how much I had messed up my brain’s natural reward system. Porn is so, so powerful.

Today, I have been porn free for almost 2 years. I have had two relapses and the recovery is always an ordeal. But thankfully it never gets as bad as it was the first time. I also find I can masturbate with no porn or other stimulation besides mental images and it has no real negative effects. 2 years porn free –

90 days +

I will let you know what I went through:

– Severe cravings
– Extreme anxiety and social anxiety
– Aggravated agoraphobia
– Emotional numbness
– No pleasure for anything
– Tenseness in my body and cramps
– Severe depression, no libido at times
– Extremely low energy and lethargy
– Insomnia

Finally hit day 90, just one piece of advice to give

Around the third or fourth week, I was up all night from urges worse than I’d ever felt. I was shaking and sweating like a crack addict. Nearly quit several times. I only kept going because I never  wanted to have to fight urges that strong again, and I was right.

90 Days Streak achieved for the First time without relapse. AMA !

I’ve went through it all. With withdrawal symptoms like Mood swings, anxiety and flatline. Through my journey I realised that the best help and motivation I got was from people who have gone through what I was feeling and talk to them. So here I am.. ask me anything.

Withdrawal

Hey guys, this is my first post here, but I have been encouraged by your hard work. I have wrestled with porn and masterbation since I was in junior high. On and off I have been. Recently I felt particularly addicted. Almost every opportunity I had demanded explicit content. At the moment I am 2 weeks without porn and 1 without masterbating. I feel like I have been quite ill lately. Headaches, nausea, irritability, mood swings, depression, unexplained anxiety. I know porn induces chemical dependency, has anyone else experienced withdrawal symptoms like this. Any solutions on how to deal with it. I am beginning to see improvement, but still. I could very well be tying unrelated symptoms and problems, but I wanted to see what y’all had to say.

AlexB612

It’s normal. By day 20ish it should start becoming more tolerable, but there will still be lots of obstacles, like urges, self sabotage talk etc, I’ve been told that this is your body and mind trying to cope with the lack of dopamine as we used to have/abuse so much by watching porn. When you catch yourself in one of these “mood episodes” try to remember that this is working and snap out of it, easier said than done, I started a journal for my feelings and experiences through the process and it’s helping me look at it from an “outside” perspective every time I read it.

Your feelings will get stronger, and I even cried a few times, cried of anger, sadness and happiness all in a span of 10 days, and I rarely cry. You’re starting to feel again. Do things to calm yourself, like a walk, a shower, exercise, even sleep works for me. Stay strong, it shall pass.

GoldenGodFiveStarMan

Bro I feel you on the withdrawals. Only 3 days in (2 weeks THC free too, so that could be a contributor as well) but god damn the sweats, brainfog, frustration and headaches are killing me. Stay strong man. I’ve found napping to honestly help me get through the real exhausting parts. If you cant nap tho just a quiet place to chill and do nothing until some of the craziness subsides. I’m gonna start working out too whenever i get over this exhaustion

Age 52 – Lots of benefits after 90 days. I have nothing against SAA, but it just didn’t work for me

I had severe withdrawals: headaches, shortness of breath, brain fog, irritable and a nasty disposition, no concentration, nail biting, felt like I was dying, binge eating, depression, despair and many others. Sounds horrible and it was but man its only 90 days and well worth it. Embrace them don’t run from them. Just knowing they would be gone and knowing that helped me get through it too. I never was told or knew that before.

Flat lining, no interest in sex or anything at all. Lasted about a week for me, that was cruise control time for me.

Day 12 : No PMO, 3 Days of no Masturbtion

Now for the withdrawal symptoms: During first 12 days felt like I had brainfog, some flu like symptoms, I get bad tension headaches which is what I really want to get rid of. felt like a zombie at times, some insomnia, low energy. Have resorted to aspirin on a couple of occasions, have had to rest a lot. Some positives: sleep is slowly improving on Day 10 and 11, mild reduction in tension, slightly more energy, waking up earlier. Started noticing how beautiful clouds look again, started reading a bit more. I know my brain is out of whack, low on dopamine. Just wanna feel good again.

Withdrawal symptoms are very overwhelming

Day 90! PIED cured! I look like the Rock now!

My libido was gone. My creativity in the work place took a dive. I had less focus than ever before. It was as if my brain wanted to make me miserable in order to PMO. I had terrible head aches and brain fog. I was depressed and angry at times.

Stopped Porn for almost a month. Symptoms and results

Hi Everyone. I hope everyone is doing alright. So I’ve stopped now for 25 days and it has been very bad. I don’t really have the urge to watch porn but the symptoms are so horrible. RLS, bad sleep, brainfog, overstimulated, headaches, blurry vision, down mood, sexual dreams. Thankfully I now slowly see the symptoms going away. I hope it stays like that because It sucked really bad. I get a lot of erections now. The good news is that for me my orgasms with masturbation have much more sensation then ever before. How long did the symptoms stay with you guys?

110 days in!

Like any addict cut off from his source, I got really tense, stressed out and aggressive. I went through an emotionally flat stage where nothing really seemed worth it and I just felt so depressed, like nothing mattered in a way. I was lucky to have an awesome accountability partner who helped me through it.

Day 50, feeling awesome!!!

40 days in, I lost my insomnia, and been sleeping like a dog, finally!!!

Having terrible withdrawls.

PMO once a day for an hour every day for 17 years. I don’t feel the need to PMO at all. It’s depression, insomnia, etc. The lack of dopamine really sucks. I know it’s a good thing, it means it’s working. It just really sucks. Not suicidal at all, but it feels like I want to crawl in a hole and die. Any advice or kind words would be appreciated.

Withdrawal symptoms- a discussion. Please share!

A summary of my withdrawal symptoms that I experience following a relapse.
Tracking my withdrawal symptoms helps predict what’s coming next so I can be prepared and understand it as part of the process.
Day 0: self loathing, anger, frustration, helplessness, guilt, shame, disappointment, sloth, self-loathing, unmotivated. Brain fog.
Days 1-5: Agitation; impatience, anxiety, paranoia, annoyance, nothingness, confrontational, anger, hate, insomnia, headaches, twitches. Aggression. Yelling. Seeing red. Disinterest in hobbies. Isolation. Nightmares.

Days 5+: symptoms start to relent and I start feeling much more motivated. brain fog clears. Morning wood returns. Easily aroused. Strong feelings of desire. Wet dreams. Positive emotions return. Laughter, love, sadness (good sadness, actually feeling something). Interest in hobbies returns.
It’s at this point where I feel “better” and that I can “handle” my addiction. This boost in confidence, sexual arousal, and mood actually causes me to let my guard down and relapse.
I’m curious to others’ experiences.

wazpaz

Day 0: totally the same as you, and agree with the guilt and shame.. I always feel so ashamed that I can’t get a hold of this…

Day 1-3: for me these were my hardest days, I felt overly aroused (for porn and not my partner) and it was literally all I could think of…

Day 4-now: have felt loss of libido, depressed/anxious, loss of wanting to hang out with other people etc… I’m just hoping this part is going to let up soon!

What were the withdrawal symptoms?

• First week: Intense cravings/flashbacks. Intense sensitization, objectification of women, compulsion to use very high. Anxiety high.
• 2-3 weeks: Intense anxiety and despair. Super negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, extreme self hatred. Fears exacerbated. Suicidal thoughts. Basically  every negative feeling under the sun; shame, guilt, depression, anxiety. Just remembered they were withdrawals and that eventually they would pass.
• 3-4 weeks: Anxiety and depression severely decreased. Had sexual dreams which made me completely exhausted three days in a row. Massive  headaches. Severe cravings. Memory improving. Confidence slowly rising. Clearing in mental space and cognitive function becoming more clearer.  Understanding deeper nuances. Depression nearly gone. Symptoms improving each day.

My 1 year report with advice

The next thing was the withdrawal symptoms I felt when I began. Days 1 to 120 were the worst for me. I had very brief periods  of happiness during that time but when I️ did feel them, it motivated me to keep  going. Some symptoms I felt were  extreme irritability, severe depression with suicidal thoughts included (doesn’t happen for everyone), anxiety, restlessness,  crippling loneliness, the feeling of something missing, brain fog (this one still happens even to this day), social withdrawal, and  just anger. This sounds bad but what you get after is definitely worth the ordeal.

Age 24 – Cognitive effects astounding, no more anxiety attacks, concentration is pure

My initial withdrawal symptoms were H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E to say the least. I started getting bald spots within the first few weeks from the stress and had to see a dermatologist, who diagnosed me with   alopecia. I had to get painful cortisol shots around the patchy areas but they grew back in a couple months. Sucked for my social life during that time. I remember her asking me if I went through some   kind of emotional trauma, like a death in a family. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was because of the sudden lack of high resolution porn. What else did I experience? Cold sweats, sleepless nights,  feelings of emptiness (no more perfect porn star girls to fap with, oh no!)

Age 29 – Married: Successfully defeated Porn-induced ED and Delayed Ejaculation

Withdrawal symptoms hit me hard. Depression, anxiety, loss of appetite, exhaustion, chills – I had that heavily for over a week. Not to mention absolutely zero sex drive and a libido that had gone on vacation for who knows how long.

The withdrawal symptoms were intense. I had lots of trouble sleeping. In fact, I developed a case of Restless Leg Syndrome. It sounds like a silly thing if you’ve never experienced it, but it’s horrible. I’d be lying in bed, just about to drift off to sleep and suddenly my legs would just have to move. It’s like a bolt of electricity zapping through my body jolting me awake. Then the whole thing repeats over and over. It was very frustrating! I was afraid that I had done some permanent damage to my brain.

Thankfully, the restless legs calmed down eventually, but it took about 2-3 months. Also, within that time, I was finding sex with my wife to be enjoyable again; like really, really good. I was able to have erections just from being with her. Then I had to struggle not to reach orgasm instead of the other way around! All of the intimacy that I had been craving was right there the whole time and all I had to do was be there for it, and not somewhere else off in fantasy land…

45 days and counting

I’m a very calm person, but about 3 weeks in, I started getting quite agitated about small things. This lasted for a week.

First year NoFap report

Because just reducing P didn’t work the months before September, I decided to quit cold turkey.
The first months after that were a quite rough journey.

• Several evil headaches for hours, almost like migraine (that was actually the worst symptom for me)
• agitation & increased aggressiveness, frustration, irritability, annoyance, short-temperedness and other forms of anger, etc.

Basically the whole list in a random manifestation …

• Testicle pain was sometimes quite annoying [NOTE: See What about “blue balls” or “lovers nuts?”]
• Moodswings were quite funny to observe

Withdrawal is just nasty. I had very bad insomnia for a stretch, I even got violently sick. Maybe it was from withdrawals, maybe something else. I still don’t know, but it was brutal from all angles regardless. Emotional things come up heavily: depression, strange anxieties, worthlessness. It was everything that I had been struggling with—all at once. It was like having a really bad day times 10! And, of course, the horniness. You really start to learn to control your fantasies because if you don’t, well, you’ll feel the discomfort. I guess everyone develops ways to deal with it that are unique to their mind and emotional needs. Support groups help a lot for this.

it was easier to quit smoking

i smoked cigarettes for years up to a pack a day sometimes and one day i just decided to quit cold turkey and now i haven’t smoked a cigarette for a year and a half. quitting that was honestly 10 times easier than quitting fapping and porn. for anyone else who is struggling with this big time. you are not alone

Believing I had a major confidence problem and desperately sick of feeling more of a mouse that a man, I joined the army in 2009 (at age 20) and was sent to basic training. It began to go downhill after 6 days. I certainly wasn’t used to the environment I had put myself in but I began developing symptoms no one else around me was. My hands began to shake, I developed flu like symptoms and began to tire far easier than normal. (I was in good shape.) I developed insomnia and my brain slowed right down until I felt one level above being retarded. I began to do stupid, clumsy things followed by panic attacks. Above all else, my dick for the first time in years was super sensitive and very annoying.

I couldn’t explain any of it and neither could the doctors there. (I didn’t tell them about my dick) Unfortunately, I was going through withdrawal symptoms and in possibly the worst place to have them. My commanders thought I was a pussy and pushed me hard to bring the best out in me. It was impossible and I began to physically and emotionally break down. The doctors knew I wasn’t on any substances, diagnosed me with severe stress and sent me home a failure.

I was on top of the moon, my girlfriend could see the changes in me. Some parts she liked other parts not so much e.g. Withdrawal hit me really hard some times in the middle of the night. I would wake up shaking and my brain would shout at me – “masturbate, masturbate right now” But i didn’t, I would hold her until I stopped shaking. I also experienced other common withdrawal symptoms.

My reboot story: 95 days pmo free to a brighter life 🙂

Withdrawal effects i experienced:

1.) Craving for dopamine (urges, p-related flashbacks in the first weeks sometimes).

2.) Moodswings during the first 60 days (mostly), sometimes even the weeks after 60 days.

3.) Emotions sometimes were very intense: crying over some minor things, even without really knowing why i cried. Sometimes i was so happy without a real reason.

4.) Wet dreams/ erotic dreams: i only had 1 real “wet dream”, followed by heavy urges the day after. I had a lot of erotic dreams (not wet), it’s part of the cleaning of the brain i guess. I had no real urges after this dreams (no ejaculation so less dopamine).

5.) I had no real headaches or blue balls, no other physical discomfort really. I was very lucky maybe, i don’t know.

Age 24 – Anxiety so bad I was sent to a school counsellor. Pretty much gone.

Some people report really enjoying the first few weeks, but let me tell you it was pure hell. I experienced withdrawal symptoms like sudden and intense cold and aching feelings running from the neck, through the arms to the wrists, and I felt as though I couldn’t think straight, like the feeling of a fading hangover but for almost two weeks.

Just hit one week clean. Withdrawal symptoms are kicking my ass

Lilium816

Keep going.this is all normal. Don’t tell yourself you are special somehow and the symptoms are worst for you so you should give in. Don’t tell yourself you shouldn’t deprive yourself. Just don’t do it. This is all normal. It will pass but you will have to ride the wave. Notice the symptoms and try labeling then some more. I.e. I am feeling the jack hammer symptoms or.. I am feeling the desperation symptoms. You can do this. Plan out your downtime so you aren’t alone

90 days – My words and smile are so easy now. I am comfortable with who I am

Aggression: The early days in shorter streaks I used to experience unrestrained aggression, I had urges to break things just because. The aggression has now morphed into a more refined form, but I still feel a primal instinct every now and then. Not saying I would but I feel I could smash in someone’s face and break bones if I wanted to. I feel I can use my aggression if I need to. In the past I wondered what I would do if I ever found myself in a fight, doubted whether I could throw a good punch.

The withdrawals are real

During October, I have been able to get my streaks up from 1-2 pathetic days, to 5-6 measly days. Small improvements baby!

This morning I relapsed hard. And had two thoughts:

1) I’ve never done any hard drugs, but I imagine this is what it feels like to try to stop those. My hands were trembling and I felt this impulsive drive and tightness in my chest, my arms felt like jelly, and I thought I could throw up. All this happened before I decided to “take the plunge” and relapse. It just felt like too much, all because of fucking porn. My body/brain was literally freaking out because I wasn’t feeding it PMO.

2) I felt cheated. PMO promised my body relief from the suffering, from the shaking and the impulsive feelings. It was wrong. I didn’t feel any better afterward, in fact I felt worse, emotionally speaking. I don’t want to feel like that again.

The takeaway is that I will be prepared next time, realizing that after a few days I will feel those withdrawal feelings again, and that’s ok, it’s weakness leaving the body, and to just breath and carry on with what I need to do that day, not sit there and entertain the notion of PMO. I don’t want to fall for the lies again.

15 Years of Misery Gone

In my early twenties I knew in the back of my mind that porn was what was inhibiting my life. There was nothing that I could do about it however, because I had an addiction of the highest caliber. I still lived at home with my parents and didn’t work or do anything for that matter. I was the equivalent of a retarded child so to speak. I’d spend anywhere from 4-6 hours a day scouring the tube sites and masturbating profusely to the most explicit gay and shemale videos I could find.

It wasn’t until last year when I came across YBOP that I swallowed up every piece of information I could on this website and just said “Fuck it.” I took my Toshiba laptop and smashed the hell out of it on my parents driveway and then beat the remains with a baseball bat. That moment was without a doubt the biggest turning point in my life.

I knew that the withdrawal period would be absolute hell, but that I would just have to weather the storm and power through it. And I did just that. The first week I had the worst type of insomnia imaginable. I don’t remember falling asleep at all the first 6 days. In my mind, it made Hell Week of Navy SEAL training look easy. But during the weeks that followed, things started turning around a bit but really became noticeable after about 3 months. I actually started getting energy to do things.

As requested, here are my withdrawal symptoms (experienced on day 2):
–Mood swings like a pregnant 13-year old girl.
–Severe, unbearable loneliness.
–Tension: headaches, mild muscle aches, stiffness all over, a feeling like pressure on my teeth.
–Social paralysis.
–Anxiety about nothing in particular.
–Panic attacks (rare, but it has happened).
–Always feeling cold, even in front of the fireplace.
–Intense fear of anything and everything.
–Crying about everything…I’ll see a neat-looking tree and then cry about it.
–Intense, insatiable desire for human contact…yet a terrible fear of actually getting it!
–Fear of rejection.
–No desire for sex…until I catch a glimpse of porn again (or wait long enough of a time without looking).
–Insatiable food cravings…Almost ate an entire pan of brownies in 24 hours.
–I’m a composer…and I can’t compose.
–I have a VERY SHORT FUSE, you idiot! LOL Treating people like crap when I feel like this! This is the worst symptom!

[Five weeks] I quit due to erectile dysfunction. Apart from mild headaches and restless sleep, I haven’t had the withdrawal symptoms many people mention. Instead, I feel nothing. It’s like I just don’t have a libido. No morning wood. No wet dreams. No spontaneous erections. No cravings. Haven’t been horny. I’ve had opportunities to have sex but my body is not responding. I’m taking tango classes, so I’m reasonably social but still no sign of my libido. I can dance with a beautiful girl and have no physical reaction whatsoever. I’m aware cerebrally that a girl is attractive, but I don’t feel it physically. The thing that keeps me going is my faith that I’ll be able to reboot my brain and get back to normal. But it’s frustrating. [He did.]

Withdrawal symptoms

I think it’s been 3 or 4 days, I’m starting to wake up earlier than usual, I feel like my heart is beating way more than it should at rest, no appetite in the morning, but at the same time my stomach is growling like crazy,(feels like it’s eating its self). Heavy chest feeling/nausea at all times. Brain fog/mild headaches that lasts forever, Advil barely does anything. Any one experiencing these?

renato_port (Link no longer available)

Endure, mate. It’s a struggle but… There’s a lot both your body and brain need to adapt to.

BorisC91

Yeah, sounds like exactly what I’m going through. This shit is serious. Keep going fam. If you relapse you’ll have to go through this pain again. Keep that as a reminder to keep going strong no matter what.

I realize now that this process is actually most similar to quitting marijuana. Your mood really changes throughout the day a lot and you can start off with a great morning and have a bad day, or have an average day, or have a terrible day or start off terrible but then have a good night…  It’s somewhat hilarious and strange because I’m having marijuana-type withdrawal symptoms yet I’m sill smoking.

Getting sick after starting a streak ?

This is the 4th time I’ve gotten to around 15 days and I once again am sick, nothing major just a common cold and headache basic stuff. Anyone else experienced this? Is it a withdrawal effect?

NoFap Impacted Me More Than A Squeeze…

Days 8 – 12 were not so easy. That’s when I got sick! It felt like a fever or the flu. I knew it wasn’t. The reason was because the symptoms kept changing every few hours or so. My body temperature was bouncing, struggling to maintain homeostasis.

During that time, which was a freezing winter, I would feel hot, then I would freeze and back again. Sometimes my neck would burn and my face was cold. The weirdest part was when the right half of my chest was cold and the other was hot. I couldn’t have made it up, even though I am a writer.

I suffered through, cell in one hand, ready to dial 9-1-1, but I didn’t. It was totally worth it, this withdrawal.

The first seven days were crazy (June 2013). I know that most reading this have experienced the intense physical “drive” of the first seven days, consisting of an odd speedball of depression, endless push-ups and manic happiness.

Then almost on the dot, I got sick for two weeks. At this point I couldn’t fathom the idea that masturbation, even at extreme levels, could lead to low level flu-like symptoms. I didn’t exactly feel as if I actually had the flu, however. It was noticeably much more mild (remember though, these are still FLU SYMPTOMS – elevated temp, lethargy, sore throat etc.. NOT common cold – very important to note despite me describing them as “mild”). I was seriously getting freaked out by day 15 of withdrawal (around day 22 of no fap) so much so that I considered getting tested for lime disease.

Thankfully, the physical withdrawals ended by the third week of no fap. At this point I felt the greatest I had ever felt in the past three years of my life. Mentally, physically, and emotionally I felt like I was in my freshmen year of high school again.

Day 6 and symptoms so far

• – headaches (getting worse today)
• – really tense shoulders/neck
• – fatigue
• – brain fog
• – desire to over-eat (although I have this a lot anyway)
• – a bit irritable
• – hard time concentrating
• – sensitive to a lot of noise

Withdrawals suck. We don’t talk enough about them. They are why we fail. They are our brain’s dopamine drenched chemical reward center begging us, threatening us, punishing us, pleading with us, rationalizing with us why we need to PMO. Withdrawals are painful, they are physical, mental, and emotional pain. They are the jitters, the shakes, the sweats, odd pains in odd places, the brain fog we feel when quitting, and our brain’s way of telling us all that unpleasantness can go away with just a little harmless fix. When going through withdrawal I felt I had a sinus infection and my teeth actually hurt. I did not have a sinus infection and my teeth were fine, but my brain, at some level, had to make me feel bad to try and make me feel good through a porn induced dopamine release.

The good thing is, if you are having withdrawals, it means your brain’s dopamine levels are on their way back to normal. Once you get back to normal those things stop, but you can’t get back to normal until your brain re-balances, and that takes, depending on you speak to, between 11 and 90 days. I usually guestimate between 11 and 40. Newbies must be told this will not be easy, it will be hard, and they have to expect this pain, endure it, embrace it and even want it to accomplish our task, getting dopamine production back to normal.

From nothing to something – 60 days

How was the journey? My journey was really hard and challenging as I was heavily addicted…I faced severe withdrawals from day 1 itself as I was struck in withdrawal cycle for about a year…

Withdrawals: My withdrawals were very high…I got anxiety and panic attacks as withdrawal daily until day 54…I faced all the anxiety related symptoms like Tremors, head pressure, Dizziness ,jelly legs ,low energy etc..My Bp is high even now and I am very much sure it’s due to recovery as my brain still doesn’t know how to handle the stress..

Flatlined: I flatlined twice during this journey..First was from day 1 to day 14.. Second one was very brutal and it was very lengthy…My second flatline started at day 24 and lasted till day 54..

Benefits: Benefits are real and I can guarantee anyone… My confidence is increased tremendously… My social anxiety is almost nonexistent… My general anxiety and panic attacks started to go away from day 54… My sleep is improved… Energy is good but I have BP problem so still I feel sudden drop of energy after stressful situations…

I’ve been having the most fucked up dreams, the sort of shit I don’t feel comfortable telling anyone about. I understand its just my mind working its way through withdrawal, but I hope it ends soon, I could really go for a good night’s sleep again eventually.

Are withdrawals from porn addiction actually real?

fakeposter2

I am experiencing, nausea, floaters in the eye, depression, lack of motivation. I’ve also been experiencing candida, which may not be related at all, so I’m really having trouble discerning what are truly withdrawal symptoms.

November 2013. I quit all porn,fantasy, consonantly thinking about sex  & daily M but decided to take the long route and continue trying to have sex with my wife. December & January was tough, and I mean tough! I had serious depression…absolutely no libido at all.I had thoughts that would run through my brain all day & night and found myself crying like a baby all the time. My porn & m habits had ground my poor little man into a desensitized permanently flaccid useless addition to my body that simply didn’t want or fancy real female attention.

Withdrawals were horrible I couldn’t concentrate on my studies and I did really badly in Organic Chemistry. Barely made C in that class. I was also tired all the time. Withdrawals lasted about  30 to 40 days and I had another flatline from 70-84 days.

[After 6 weeks] I seem to be pretty much over the insomnia, although I’m not sleeping very deeply, and don’t wake up feeling energetic and refreshed. It’s better than lying awake for hours at a time though. I haven’t had headaches in a week and I’m feeling a lot better than a couple of weeks ago.

Symptoms:

1. Extreme exhaustion

2. Restless sleep

3. Muscle aches, joint pains and fever (flu like) – day 154.

4. Mild disorientation

5. Tension in the chest/tight breathing

6. Anxiousness

Every time I stopped using, I felt like I was always on the verge of catching a cold during the days afterward. (Kept thinking I had mono.) I don’t get that feeling anymore despite feeling pretty low at times. Throughout the first six months of recovery, whenever I would relapse, like clockwork 4 days later I would experience pure hell physically. These were the worst: headaches and depression. It was physically flooring.

My withdrawal experience so far:

1. I get extremely lethargic.

2. Unable to concentrate.

3. I feel very thirsty and no amount of water quenches my thirst.

4. I have pain in body, which keeps moving from one place to another.

5. I feel mild sensations of vomiting.

6. My mouth has a bad taste.

7. I become extremely wise like a saint. I preach a lot. (As if I have never heard of a thing called porn addiction)

8. I have extraordinary ideas in my mind as to why sex and porn are wonderful. (But I keep them to myself)

9. I feel sleepy all the time.

Day 3 – Very hopeless. Irritability, headache, insomnia, loss of appetite, very thirsty, frequent but short peeing, increase in cigarettes.

When I quit I feel a little flat till day 20 and then I got severe withdrawal symptoms. Aches and pains, anxiety, despair, insomnia, social anxiety, deep depression, fatigue etc. Then I start feeling flat at day 40 till day 55 where I have no libido, no drive and no motivation. After 55 days I start feeling really good. After feeling good for 2 weeks another mini withdrawal and flatline hit me. Now it feels like I was having the flu with severe brain fog. After that I get start feeling better again. I start to enjoy socializing again, feeling happy, energized and motivated. Then another mini withdrawal / flatline hits me again. It goes like this in cycles. I have windows of feeling 100% healed and then another wave of withdrawal hits me again. After each withdrawal wave I start to feel more back to my old self.

Fap withdrawals are by far one of the most unpleasant things I’ve endured in my life, and I’ve only been suffering for a little over a day. This is coming from a guy who has suffered from amphetamine, Xanax, and the weaning withdrawal of various antidepressant medications I’ve taken over the course of my life. What I’m going through right now I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemy, it’s absolute hell.

I had strong porn withdrawal symptoms. I even got ill and relapsed then because I had to spend all my time in the bed. Urges were so strong I was not able to withstand. There were also terrible swings in the mood. https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/rebooting-accounts/rebooting-accounts-page-2/age-30-ed-extreme-fetishes-in-the-past-sex-is-now-great-with-my-girlfriend/

Day 6 – As for raw, physical observations regarding my penis; since the start of my streak, I haven’t had one full erection, no morning wood, and it looks smaller (like when it’s cold out or when you get out of the shower).

I’ve battled a few addictions in my life – from nicotine to alcohol and other substances. I’ve overcome all of them, and this was by far the most difficult. Urges, crazy thoughts, sleeplessness, feelings of hopelessness, despair, worthlessness, and many more negative things were all part of what I went through with this P and M thing. It’s a wicked awful thing that I will never have to deal with ever again in my life – ever.

Today is day 10 for me. The ‘aching balls’ has subsided, which is welcome because it was a bit bothersome.

These withdrawal symptoms are getting more intense each day. I haven’t had a “good” day in 6 months. -Extreme fatigue -Anxiety -Difficulty sleeping -Difficulty concentrating -Depression -Headaches -Hot flushes -Absolutely no libido -Feelings of hopelessness -No enjoyment out of life/numbed pleasure response to everything -Fear -OCD -Images of porn flashbacks in my head -Overall feel like a zombie

Withdrawals. Oh my gosh. Seemingly uncontrollable desire to resume my old behavior (urges), extreme irritability, sleeplessness, agitation, physical flu-like symptoms, blue balls, sexual frustration, depression, dysphoria, loss of interest in anything but sex, despondency, but no suicidal thoughts like I used to have. The first week was hell. The second week seemed a little better until it got worse, then from week three on things were manageable. I found to just love the withdrawal pain and push through it made the most sense.

About 2 weeks into abstinence I have noticed that I have been peeing a lot more than usual. I haven’t been drinking more than usual and I’m not a heavy caffeine user. It is really starting to bother me since my need to go to the bathroom is waking me up at night and contributing to my insomnia.

(Day 22) About a week ago I noticed some jizz in my urine. I’ve seen others on here mention this so I wasn’t concerned.

Well it has now been 4 weeks (28 days) since I have been PMO Free. I am glad the flu-like symptoms have gone away. My having to use the bathroom to pee all the time has stopped. The only thing that I am having trouble with right now is that I am just having problems falling asleep and fighting to urge to jerk off when I can’t go to sleep.

(Day 12) It’s like there’s some tension that wants to get out of my body. My shoulders, neck and upper back hurt immensely. It’s so painful that I took a painkiller, but it barely worked on it. I suspect that some part of this pain is in my brain. I feel stiff, and have felt like this for the last 3 days.

The first 50 days were pretty much the same as when I started, still felt like ass, looked like ass, wasn’t taking care of myself, not eating properly, lazy, anxious, just a wreck. But on Day 50 it all changed. My current ‘symptoms’, which are still escalating are: High Energy, Only need 4 hours of sleep (I say this because I barely slept last night and am wide awake) -Emotions are coming back -Blood is pounding through body (Great Results in the gym) -At Peace (not even concerned about sex anymore) -Look 10 years younger (according to what others are saying) -Skin is smoother and more vibrant, hair is more perm and full -Hair Growing faster -Finger Nails/Toe Nails growing faster -Voice is more commanding -Even lames jokes make me laugh these days -Life’s Good and Getting Better.

Have you hit a flatline ? Did you have withdrawal symptoms? Yeah,between days 58-87 and it was very violent and hard to not relapse. Withdrawal symptoms between this days: violent panic attacks, severe anxiety and depression, can’t sleep, low voice, very antisocial and frightened. I took Xanax which helped me a lot and I see a therapist once a week. Now, it’s ok. I’m happier than ever, sociable, have deeper voice, optimistic, shining aura.

Anxiety is the worst one: Terrible feeling of impending doom, hard to focus and concentrate, racing thoughts, insomnia, feeling helpless. Some depressive type stuff: questioning how will I ever be happy without PMO, not enjoying activities I used to, morbid existential thoughts, crying spells, feeling hopeless.

Not having had a major porn problem, I assumed the benefits would be marginal, but here is something I learnt; if you think you don’t have an addiction, try stopping the activity and see what happens. In my case, a period of quite punishing withdrawal symptoms. How I imagine cold turkey from an addictive substance. This lasted for at least a month. Something was clearly profoundly affecting me neurochemically as within a 24hr period I might experience the extremes of a kind of shimmering, exultant euphoria followed by a moribund depressive blackness. It was around the month mark that I started feeling significantly better about myself and things started falling into place effortlessly; people seemed better disposed towards me, my body language improved, I started joking around at work more and generally seeing the lighter side of life.

This guy believes there are two type of porn addicts with different trajectories

Finally, and this is something personal, I have discovered that there may be two kind of addicts. There is the normal chap who got into porn out of curiosity and then got hooked on. For them getting back to normal may take less time. When I began reading their stories it was very frustrating to me that in just two weeks they were making real progress. It has taken me an ordeal, a suicidal-feeling period and a full blown depression to slowly reach the other side. The other kind of addict (and I would label myself in this category) is the one who got issues in the first place and didn’t have a normal emotional environment to begin with and began “self-medicating” their growing anxiety with porn.

For us it is harder to get back to “normal” because we are not getting back, we are DISCOVERING IT for the first time in our lives! So, in our journey it is not only porn and orgasms that we must quit, they are not the cause but the consequence of deeper conflicts that we must work on. But if we keep on masturbating and orgasming we never get rid of our anxiety and we never get the tools to start living our emotions in a new and healthy way.

So, my advice to the people out there is don’t compare your progress to anybody else’s and don’t check your progress on a daily basis not even on a weekly basis. It may take months. Don’t think that quitting porn is going to be the single magic bullet that is going to solve all your problems, there may be more in store than what you initially thought. Stay away from masturbation, even if it is only to sensation, it is one more trick of the brain to lower your defenses and get you back to porn. And, finally, the thing which has helped me the most has been meeting new nice people and the love of my students. Love is not only in a relationship so rely on your friends, family and the people who love you because love is everywhere, not just in one person.

Withdrawal Symptom is REAL!

I started not fapping 2 days ago. I decided to go with the PM-Mode. I like to watch porn and read hentai manga whenever I masturbate. I’m currently reading this “normal” manga called “Kami-sama no Iuutori” and there’s this girl named Shouko in the manga that I have the hots for. I saw her again and holy shit, there’s this weird phenomenon happening inside my body right now. My legs feel restless, I’m stomping my feet on the floor, pulling the shit out of my hair, and telling myself, “I wanna do it. I wanna masturbate so bad!” I’m usually a calm and patient person. This tantrum is not ordinary for me.

I never knew that I had an addiction with porn and masturbation. I kept telling myself before this, “Well I have free will over it. I’m sure I can quit anytime.” But this just proved it. I’m addicted to porn be it 2D or 3D porn. My girlfriend isn’t coming back for 1 more month and I am CRAVING it so bad right now.

Just wanted to share what I’m experiencing.

P.S. I’m on the verge of pressing “Enter” right now on this url link. I have not pressed it yet. I might just do it any freakin’ time now. It is SOOO TEMPTING.

Age 25 – ED and many other problems. Intense withdrawal symptoms

What was porn withdrawal like

I am new to this site. My goal is to give up porn. I am aware that myself and many others here may be among the first generation of internet porn users who have realized the addictiveness of porn and are trying to quit. I also understand that it may be harder to quit porn than alcohol or tobacco because instead of foreign chemicals breaking down in the brain and body, it is natural sex chemicals that are breaking down. In a way giving up porn is like a battle with your natural sex instincts.

I had been into porn for about 17 years. I use to see it as a cleaner alternative to drugs and alcohol and thought I could quit immediately if I wished or lost interest in it. I was wrong. In the last two years I gradually reduced my use of porn when I suspected its addictiveness, similar to how people gradually phase out prescription medications or smoking. I felt at the time that going cold turkey with porn along with other major life changes occurring simultaneously would be too overwhelming.

The reduction did not go in a straight line, but the trend went down significantly in the last two years. I focused on three stages in the reduction. First, I gradually phased out chatting with women online. Second, I gradually phased out looking at porn videos and pics of women. I am currently on my third stage which is reducing my masturbation level. My ultimate goal is to either eliminate or minimize my use of porn.

It has not been a smooth ride. I had occasional relapses in the reduction process. In fact, due to factors such as not getting along with many of my supervisors at work (I am currently looking for another job), financial issues such as food and rent, I had just recently relapsed into the porn pic and video viewings briefly. I believe there will always be the potential for relapses for the remainder of my life due to factors such as life changing events or personal tragedies.

I am trying to eliminate my use of porn after spending a significant amount of time reducing it. During my reduction, I experienced the following symptoms:

1. Nightmares
2. Sex dreams
3. Mood swings
4. Irrational thoughts
5. Feelings and fears that are possibly similar to OCD
6. Sex cravings when I see beautiful women at stores or work
7. Anger

I believe in treating women with respect. I know that what is portrayed in porn is not how it works in the real world. I also know that the process of giving up porn is different for each person. In many ways I understand porn affects areas of the brain similar to alcohol, tobacco and certain drugs. Has anyone else experienced these symptoms while trying to quit porn?

antidarkfapper

I can tick of every item 1 through 7 in your list. A massive increase in anxious fear has been the toughest to deal with. I suspect it might have been there all along under the surface, but I was always numbing out with porn and masturbation so I had limited awareness of this.

What were your withdrawal symptoms?

I was numb. Headache. Could not sleep. Loss of appetite. Anxiety. Extreme lack of focus. For 20-30 days. I had a lot of euphoric recall. Lots of addictive pull to look at porn again.

30-90 days were fewer symptoms but still had bad euphoric recall. After 90 days or so the withdrawal was much better.

I am 26 years old, and a former heroin addict. (Link to post)

I began using heroin when I was 15, and when I was 19 hit that rock bottom point and went to rehab. After a 4 month stint, I was considered clean and although I’ve occasionally craved, I’ve never gone back.

Contrast: I saw my first bit of internet porn when I was 11, began fapping at the same age, and still to this day have the addiction — even though I’m now married to the woman of my dreams! Porn and Fap have put a lot of strain on my marriage… I’ve never actually been able to finish when Wife and I have sex.

So here’s the meat of the post. I’ve been trying to NoFap for about 6 months now, and have never made it past Day 6. Something terrifying happened 2 days ago though. I came out of a “blackout” to find myself covered with jizz and porn playing on my computer. I have no memory of seeking out the porn, nor of the fap session and orgasm.

This type of thing used to happen right before I hit rock bottom with heroin. I had wanted to stop using, but my brain would effectively shut off and then “wake up” again after I’d used.

I’m very scared right now. I hate to make sweeping statements, but I’ve never experienced this sort of thing outside of heroin, and now NoFap. Is it possible that this addiction to brain chemistry is on the same level as heroin?!

Goddamn!

After the 4th night of not getting any sleep at all I’m just completely drained. I feel like I have the flue, I have constant headaches and I can’t do anything because I’m too tired. The symptoms are actually physical, I never experienced anything like this!!! When I quit marijuana I had a really hard time sleeping and cravings of course, but not much more. For smoking it was just cravings and irritability that I had to resist. BUT PORN!! These withdrawal symptoms are something I never could have imagined, it feels like I’m a crack addict recovering. I know this is best for me, but it feels like my body is telling me like I’m doing something really bad for it!!!

I’m really scared that the withdrawal symptoms are gonna fuck up my job as well. The past week I already noticed that I had nearly not patience with the customers and nearly got mad at them. How can I manage my intense irritability? Please help, I didn’t know it would be this hard!!!

http://www.rebootnation.org/forum/index.php?topic=16043.0

Serious withdrawal symptoms, help…

Dear Community, I am witnessing some serious withdrawal symptoms.

The first few days of my nofap journey were somewhat cool and emotional. They were like a bliss. But now, I feel extreme anxiousness and depression, kinda paranoid and I got headaches. I am fighting all my urges as I have promised myself to never ever again fall down the road of PMO.

I also have this feeling that things won’t ever get well again. Past mistakes are haunting me and I am reliving them again even though I know that the things I worry about will never happen.

All this aside I still am able to focus on my daily tasks and convince myself that these feelings will eventually fade away, but I want to know if this is something normal, did someone else also experience this, and do you got some tips for me.

40 years of Dopamine abuse.. the withdrawals are real

I thought I could quit at anytime.. thought it was just a break from the day.. for 40 years. I’m 12 days in and the chemical withdrawals from dopamine abuse from watching porn PMO everyday is real. At first there was just a little buzz in the middle of my prefrontal cortex, then it reached all the way down my nasal passages. It also shifted right and left, and sometimes throbbed.. All in my brain. If you can quit now, you really don’t want to wait until later to have to go through all the losses emotionally and experientially AND these withdrawal symptoms. Oh, and I’m definitely in a brain fog and it’s hard to focus on what I really need to do.

Going thru all this actually motivates me to keep moving forward… I don’t want to do this again. Day 12 and moving forward, in a good place.

TheDankTower

Day 20 here and it’s really hitting hard. While I have interests, nothing gets my dopamine to spike like the things I am quitting. Along with porn, I’m quitting emotional and over eating, and excessive internet usage. I now only turn my computer on when I have something specific to do and I’ll maybe check Reddit once it’s done, and then turn my computer off for the rest of the day (which is what I’m doing now).

I’m allowing myself to completely experience the pain that I’ve been numbing for so long. I fully experience boredom, frustration, anxiety, loneliness, anger, everything. I meditate on these a lot. Overall I think learning to feel and cope with these feelings rather than numb them with food, porn and sitting on Reddit all day will be a huge benefit.

SAgoAway

That sounds like some intense withdrawals. It gets pretty bad for me once I get around day 6. But mainly what I’ll feel is this empty sensation in my head, like it’s missing an important source of dopamine. And it feels depressing too. But I’m not sure how it feels to continue on… Because my longest streak is 9 days. Kinda spooked to go longer honestly, but I know I need to