Hello Poisers. I made an account here earlier today and figured that before I ask my question, I'd give an introduction with my POIS history/symptoms since this seems like a tight community. If you're not interested in my intro, feel free to skip down the part labelled "the question". I also apologize if any of this is unclear or if my writing is awkward because I am in the full throes of POIS right now.
Anyway, I'm currently 20, in college for computer science and from northeastern US. I'm not entirely sure when my POIS symptoms began, but I began masturbating at a fairly normal age, sometime around early or mid 8th grade, and I believe I may have had POIS symptoms then. I am sure that I had them in my freshman year of high school. The first symptoms I had (and noticed) were primarily social. After transferring to a new district for high school, I made almost no friends my freshman year. I felt socially slow, very awkard. I actually self-diagnosed myself with autism at one point. This diagnosis was very far from the truth, but I couldn't think of any way to explain my complete inability to make friends/talk to people. It wasn't anxiety, it wasn't that I couldn't read people faces or didn't understand social norms. I just couldn't think of things to say, and I felt like I could never keep up in social situations. This continued into sophomore year until january when I started taking adderall. I took this drug for six months and it made a huge difference in my social symptoms. Overnight I became quick-witted, funny, and sociable. It was literally unbelievable, but it was a godsend for me. Unfortunately, the effects began to lessen, and I quit at the end of the school year. Over the next year, I began to run and this generally "sped me up" a bit socially for a few days afterwards. It wasn't like adderall, but it made me feel at least a little bit more clearheaded. I believe this is also around the time I began to realize that my symptoms were related to orgasm, and I have memories of intentionally going days without masturbation to improve my social skills. My first month of college was the first time I went a full month without masturbating, and I experienced excellent effects. I was funny like I was in my childhood and social situations no longer scared me, I didn't even think about them. After a few relapses, I tried my second treatment (after adderall), zinc. Zinc worked decently for me, I felt like it sped up my recovery a bit, and it made me feel a bit more energetic. But the changes weren't huge. It was around freshman year of college that I started realizing the severity of the cognitive effects that orgasms would have on me (though I'd been aware of focus/concentration issues since high school). I became dumber, school became more stressful, brain fog set in, and life became more difficult overall. I remember learning things twice as fast for my finals during my 60 day streak at the end of my freshman year of college than I had before. Mathematical concepts in particular came a lot easier to me. This effect on general cognitive ability has been quite noticeable. I found a girlfriend my sopohmore year that made long streaks a bit harder, and also confirmed that my problem had to do with orgasm and not just masturbation. Now I'm a junior, and have been struggling a ton with harder classes and figuring out my future, so I'm trying to double down and figure out my POIS. Here is the info on my illness currently:
Physical symptoms: Hives during sex/masturbation (unsure if this is POIS or normal), possible exacerbation of digestive issues (though I'm not sure about this one), slight fatigue. I used to have a weird symptom that could best be described as "never feeling quite comfortable". It would manifest in a few ways, but the main way I remember was that I could never lie down in a comfortable position. I would keep tossing and turning and always felt a deep-seated sense of discomfort. I don't have this anymore, but I thought it was an interesting and specific symptom to include.
Cognitive symptoms: Compromised problem-solving ability, MUCH slower learning, trouble "grasping" concepts, poor social skills (though these days this symptom is much improved), poor motivation though this symptom is always there to an extent, reduced energy, reduced video game skill/worse reflexes.
Unlike many of you, my POIS symptoms are subtle enough that nothing immediately jumps out as being totally wrong. But over time, they have really prevented me from getting where I want to be in life, and only when I go a long time without O do I realize all of life that I'm missing. It's amazing to feel like I'm funny, smart, social, to feel energetic etc. and POIS steals those feelings from me. I'm glad I finally found out that POIS was a thing, because before that I felt like a misfit on NoFap. Definitely having symptoms with porn and masturbation, but also having symptoms with sex.
Effective treatments:
Adderall: Havent done it much in the past few years, but it turns me on socially. Even now that my social skills aren't painfully terrible after O like they used to be, they definitely aren't great and prevent me from having much of a socia life. Adderall makes me much better in social situations. I believe it also increases focus/intelligence, and a couple times when I've taken it in college I've done problem sets in half the normal amount of time. I also remember taking a spanish final in 12 minutes or something on adderall in high school, when I would usually hardly be able to finish in the 52 min class. Symptom reduction 100% social, maybe 50% cognitive? I believe the benefits of Adderall are 50-50 general to POIS Specific
Magnesium (doctors best mag glycinate): This helped a lot with some cognitive symptoms, for a while the summer after freshman year I was taking magnesium and Oing every day, and I was still sort of able to function. Unfortunately, it started to give me horrible migraines, so I've had to quit. Maybe 30-50% cognitive symptom reduction when I'm not laying in bed waiting for tylenol to kick in? I think benefits of magnesium are partially general, but predominantly POIS specific.
Zinc: Hard to put in percentage. Mostly felt like slightly faster recovery socially and mentally. I think the benefits of zinc are predominantly POIS specific. The only general change seems to be that it makes me hornier.
Exercise (specifically running): Maybe 20-30% social symptoms reduction. 20% cognitive. This used to work better for me, sometimes now I feel like it even hurts a bit. Excessive exercise (hour+ cardio or too much intensity) can be extremely deleterious. Gives me horrible anxiety and complete inability to think for days, so I avoid this at all costs. I think benefits of exercise are probably general and not POIS specific.
Cigarettes: I find that smoking, even hours after a cigarette, improves some of my symptoms markedly. It makes me feel much more comfortable and bold socially, I'd say like 70 or 80% symptom reduction. I feel more self confident and in the moment. Somewhat more focused in general. Cognitive issues not really ameliorated with the exception of focus, maybe 10%?? I believe the positive effects of cigarettes are predominantly POIS specific.
Tylenol but NOT ibuprofen: Improved mood and feel somewhat clearer-headed. Don't know if POIS-related, but an observation that I thought I'd share.
Niacin: Have just ordered, excited to try it out!
POIS duration: As far as I know, it starts at orgasm (maybe before; my question will be about this). Bad for next day, gets slightly better next day, slightly better day after that etc.. After five or six days I have substantially improved energy and I feel close to normal. After eight to ten I start feeling solid. Symptoms improve in general for as long as I've ever gone (though sometimes I will get weird short-lived dips akin to nofap "flatline"). For me, eight to ten days feels sort of normal, while after that I start to feel a bit like a superhero. But I guess POIS has probably distorted what normal really is, so me feeling like a superhero is probably just normal to many others.
The question: Sometimes when I go on long streaks without orgasming, I start to fantasize a lot. Sometimes I'll spend 30 or 45 minutes at a time, typically before I go to sleep. I've always known that this was a bad habit; it inevitably leads to me jacking off a couple days later because it strengthens my urges. However, I've also noticed recently that, in addition to building sexual tension and making me feel kinda crappy, it seems to cause many of my POIS symptoms. I think that some of the flatline symptoms I've experienced during my streaks in the past may have to do with this. The symptoms I have are bad enough that sometimes jacking off seems to be a good idea, because it at least chills me out and gets rid of the urges, allowing me to start on a new streak. Have any of you had this problem? Also, can someone a bit more familiar with the science behind POIS tell me whether this is something that makes sense or not? The name POIS seems to suggest the effects come from the orgasm, but maybe they are the effects of something else highly correlated with the orgasm?
Additionally, has anyone ever tested their cognitive abilities in and out of POIS? For example, forward reverse/digit span, IQ tests, Cambridge Brain Sciences, etc..
Sorry for the lengthy post! Appreciate any answers you guys might have!
