Hello Poiscenter, I have been procastrinating on making this post for some time now but have finally started writing so here we go.
I am a 17yr old guy that has suffered from POIS ever since starting NoFap when I was 14. I stumbled on the nofap subreddit and after reading the many benefits that the members experienced I wanted to try it out. At first it was amazing, as little as 2-3 days of abstinence were enough to skyrocket my energy levels and improve my confidence and relapses just returned me back to my "normal" self.
But after a while the relapses started to become worse and longer lasting.
My current symptoms last around 3-4 days and are:
-increased fatigue
-increased social anxiety
-low self esteem
-low motivation
-problems with concentration
-depression
-weakness in legs
-irritability
-short temper
-weak voice (voice cracks and doesnt have a depth to it)
-brain fog
Now the reason I said increased fatigue and social anxiety is because nowadays even when I'm out if POIS I have everyday fatigue and social anxiety. (Mind that I had absolutely 0 fatigue or anxiety before POIS/nofap)
Fast forward to 2019, I lost almost all my friends, lost my relationship with my parents, doing shit in school, stopped doing sports...
I have googled my exact symptoms multiple times before but have only recently stumbled upon the POIS subreddit and this forum. It makes me feel a bit better knowing there are more people suffering the same fate (as bad as that sounds) and that I am not alone. But am still hopeless. Long term abstinence isn't an option as I still have a somewhat high sexdrive and I get NEs which cause the same symptoms.
If this lifestyle persists I feel like I wont be able to finish college or find a job...
Idk what I was aiming at with this post, just my introduction to the forum perhaps, anyways my next step is trying out the different cures/remedies from the POIS type post.
Hi IWontGiveUp your case sound exactly like mine i stubled on nofap, yourbrainonporn, yourbrainrebalaces, reunion, when I was 14. i have been rebooted no PMO for 1 year. Like you when I?m on day 7 of No Porn, Masturbation, orgasm, arousal I feel amazing.. then Wet Dream happens I feel like shit can?t sleep i though it was porn withdrawal or chaser effect of Nocturnal Emissions.
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 benefit
Then I came accross theNakedscientistforum I was so scare I was only 15 at that time when (2014) I read many posted on thenakedscientistforum at school, at home, at holidays just so many symptoms mine are all physical cognitive related.. flu like symptoms.. then I came across poiscenter.
Floppybanana and Daveman suggests me to try Niacin they said it works for many member here also progesterone... it?s doesnt really help or did little to my pois symptoms.then I have tried fenugreek, Garlic ( cheeing it), saw palmetto, Ginko biloba, Bendryl, Zoloft, Ritalin, Adderal, Modafinil, Xanax, Prozac, anti depressants, High doeses of Vitamin D and Calcium magnesium, Energy drinks ( Red Bull, monster emergy drink, Etc..) it did little to alleviate my POIS symptoms.. then I got really sick in 2014 due to Vitamin D overdoses toxic.. and combine with Bendryl I became extremely paronia, delusional, hypo mania, mania, disorganized thinking, violent, speaking many more.. symptoms almost like Schizoaffective.. The Psychiatrist put me on Clorophamazin and Tharozine.. until 2016 i got symptoms of mania almost like Bipolar mania depressive discorder but with delusional.. The Psychiatrist here diagnosed me with Bipolar type 1 need Hospital requirements.. The Psychiatrist asked me what is my problem I told them I got sick after masturbation and tell them this forum. And U told him About pois he told me POIS doesn?t exist all the people at that forum have neurological problems.. then they prescribed me SEROQUEL, Laroxyl, Depakot, and Haldol injection.., it doesn?t help me at all Severe brain fog, Delusional , trouble thinking, concentrating, speaking... but the medicine help with mania and hypomania.. I was on those bad crazy side effect drugs for almost 2 years go to that psychiatrist again and again. therapy with him never help me I told him I still got sick and can?t focus after masturbation and he told me masturbation is normal be relax and enjoy orgasm.. Sleep, eat, jerking off, video games, porn, smoking cigarettes, weed repeat.. then I quit those medicine and the withdrawal was so bad can?t sleep, eat, flu like symptoms, anxiety, racing though, delusional, depression many more.. then I read on thenakedscientistforum and PoIScenter again about Goji berries or Wolf Berry. I eat 13 Chinese wolf berries or Lychium chinese of Zhongning.. I was cured and feel even better before out of POIS.. I can work full time from 8am-5pm without stress or fatigue at all in fact i enjoy working now.. Anhedonia, Bipolar 1, schizoprenia, Schizoaffective, Depression, Anxiety?s, aspergy, Social Anxiety, General Anxiety, , fatigue, OCD, Paronia, all are gone!!! It changed my life!! Music sounds good again sound even better than getting high on weed, Can Visualization, now I?m involved in Art, engineering, which requires creative brain and abstract though and enjoy Socializing again, My hair is glossy and lustrous again, Glow Skin, etc.. I recommend you to try Goji berries or Wolf Berry!! Then stared exercise, healthy diet, getting of Sunshine if possible, Steam + Sauna, Hot+ cold shower, Massage therapy, cuddle , get a lovely girlfriend and sex for general health i got cured POIS from goji berries.
Treatment
Chinese wolf berries ( Dried berries) amount 12-13 in the morning cured all my POIS symptoms I'm serious when I say this I have tried many treatments many nootropics none of them help at all
Raspberry tea: Improve all pois symptoms
Blue Berries: Improve memory and all pois symptoms
Bilberry: Improve memory and all pois symptoms
Blackberry: improve all memory and pois symptoms
Strawberry: Improve all pois symptoms
Cranberries juice: improve all pois
Benadryl, Zytrec, Claritin: 2 tablets before an orgasm decreased all physical and cognitive symptoms of POIS but orgasm is 10x intense epic
Tumeric: Improve all pois symptoms
White Radish soup: Improve all pois symptoms
Fenugreek ( methi crushed seed) + Garlic not a cured but it really does help me socialize and get through the day during the severe POIS symptom.
My Fenugreek has all but killed the social anxiety component of POIS I used to suffer from,
This is qoute from Hurray
I had the idea that since oxytocin is heavily involved in the chemistry of orgasms, it might be worth trying to supply my body with the necessary ingredients to produce more oxytocin.
Synthetic oxytocin is difficult to obtain and administer, so I thought I'd give Fenugreek a try, which is praised for its oxytocin-like properties. You can buy it at most heath stores I believe.
I took some of it before and after 2 lots of orgasms, and well ..
Wow!
I had work the next day, which normally would be an excruciating trial socially. Not that day it wasn't. I happily chatted to the boss about some complex issues, and spent a lot of the day chatting and flirting with a couple of my female co-workers .... something that would have been impossible under normal POIS circumstances.
The brain fog had been greatly reduced, while the social anxiety component of POIS had been almost completely eliminated! The following day was more of the same.
I don't want to get too excited too soon, I know drugs and herbs can become less effective as they are used more frequently, and the positive effects might not last forever. Also, maybe I have just had two particularly good days, and it will be back to normal during my next potential POIS episode.
If anybody else is thinking of taking it, it sounds very safe - in fact it is an ingredient in certain foods. Only pregnant women should stay away from Fenugreek. I'll carry on posting here as I continue taking fenugreek, I hope I will continue to have good news!
Alcohol: A few beers before orgasm help relieve a lot of physical symptoms of POIS and brain fog. On unrelated note I have always found out that my pois symptoms were greatly decreased if I have orgasm when I'm extremely drunk.
Interesting article from the BBC on how alcohol can help prevent brain injuries:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8262393.stm"Experts believe the right dose of alcohol, however, stops the cascade of swelling, inflammation and further destruction of brain cells, known as secondary brain injury."
Interesting that they are considering that alcohol can have anti-inflammatory properties! I should confess that I have noticed that having an orgasm after a few beers does seem to alleviate my subsequent POIS symptoms - has anybody else noticed a link between alcohol and POIS?
I'm not encouraging people to go out and get drunk by the way! Although POIS sometimes feels like its driving me to drink ...
On an unrelated note, I have always found that my symptoms from POIS were greatly decreased if I got extremely drunk before orgasm. Now for obvious reasons, this can in no way be regarded as a helpful cure due to all the other negative side-effects of such behaviour.
But it is well known that getting drunk weakens the immune system greatly. Which would fit in perfectly with Dr Waldinger's new evidence - if my immune system is unable to "fight" the semen/pre-ejaculate allergy due to me being drunk, then my POIS symptoms become less severe.
Alcohol exposure stimulates the hypothalamus to produce corticotropin?releasing hormone (CRH). This triggers the pituitary gland to secrete adrenal corticotropic hormone (ACTH), which in turn stimulates the adrenal glands to release glucocorticoids. At high levels, glucocorticoids signal white blood cells to alter cytokine production, suppressing inflammatory and immune responses
Nicotine: Vaping in the morning 15 minutes help cognitive symptoms of POIS 6mg of nicotine e juice
Ginger Root or Ginger Tea
n on and off meds forever and none of them make me feel like how I used to. I have done COUNTLESS hours of research to the point that me and my doctor have agreed that I have become abit of a hypochondriac... I got really into researching the neurotrasmitters and differant parts of the brain and all that shit. But even after knowing that and accepting that I have NEVER felt the same... I have always told myself its just in my head and I am compleatly normal, but deep down I know I dont feel the same... I have become soooo much more sucessfull than I ever have been when I didnt have Anhedonia, but I still feel sad... I have tried therapy which did help abit, I have done Tons of differant meds, Tried wayyyy to many Nootropics, I exersise more than any other 18 year old I know, I have changed soooo many things with my diet which all of them have helped abit but I STILL feel dead inside. Hell I even gave up all videogames, started meditating, and even dropped 40 lbs! I am in the best shape of my life! Currently at 179lbs! But even after alllll of that I still feel differant... But out of EVERYTHING that I have tried there was one thing that helped me a great deal with all of my brainfog, anhedonia, depression, ect... But it doesnt make sense... Its so fucking simple... I have tried it a few times and it helped everytime... I guess I kindof just forgot about it until today... I am being 100% serious when I say this but the thing that helped me was... GINGER ROOT!!! I dont get it! I really dont! Its so fucking simple! The ONLY reasons I can think of is there is something either wrong with my gut or with brain inflamation! Today I was making some tea and as soom as the tea started to take effect I DEFINATLY felt it! I have ate it plain before even and it has really helped! Can someome PLEASE tell me why this might be!!! I have a pinched nerve in my neck to which when I have ginger root it takes the inflamation away from that to!!! I just want to know what I should be trying to fix! I dont want to have to eat ginger the rest of my life in order to feel great! Also: I have tried NSAIDs for inflamation but it did not give the same effects, but I dont know if that could pass the blood brain barrier... or if it would even effect brain inflamation, which is why I also think something could be wrong with my gut... One more thing: I this also helped me with DPDR! Vision feels better, clear head, memory alot better, faster thought process, things feel alot more real 😄.
Moringa seeds: Improve all pois symptoms
Cayenne Pepper: Make me high haha
Niacin: Relieved physical symptoms by 95% but doesn't seem to help cognitive
Viagra: no pois
Cialis: no pois
Cigarettes: The deservely- reviled cigarettes is my best weapon against POIS nicotine is supposed to raise dopamine level.
Dark Chocolate ( cacao 70% ) improve all POIS symptoms
Chewing Gum ( xylitol ) increase ability to focus and improve concentration
Weed, Cannabis, Marijuana, Ganja: Relieve eyes head pressure during POIS and relieved alot of physical symotoms of POIS help me sleep better and aid digestion but if I smoke weed out of pois my short memory is fine but in POIS my short term memory isn't that good
regular intense exercise, Swimming, Steam, Sauna, massage therapy, singing, cuddle, kissing listening to music,Hot shower, cold shower improve all pois symptoms
Diets: Avoid Chinese foods ( Mono-Sodium Gutamate ) , Low carbs, Low histamine diet,
What to eat during POIS: Salmon fish, Lamb meat, Prawns, Eggs, White rice, Cambodia Spinach, carrot, Garlic cloves, Cayenne Pepper, Chicken, Hamburger, Pizza, Tomato, Onion, All kind of berries, Ginseng soup,
Certainly protein-heavy meals help reduce my POIS symptoms, it was the first thing I discovered that significantly helped
What to drink during POIS: Water, Coconut water, Ginger Tea, Green Tea, Passion water, Coffee, Red bull, Cocacola, wine, Beer, Pocaria Sweat, Aqurise, Lemon Tea, Honey Tea, Milk, Blue berries Tea, Raspberry Tea, Strawberry , Chamomile Tea
Sun: Being somehow in the sun helps me,
If you have more questions you can PM me.
All the best, Wolf berry
