What does withdrawal from porn addiction look like?

Submitted by Gary Wilson and... on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 14:00
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Guy in withdrawal from pornography addictionIt 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. They're similar because similar neurochemical changes (especially dopamine dysregulation) go on in the same brain regions in all cases.

  • 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

    - depression

  • 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.
  • 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.]
  • 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.
  • 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

  • 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.
  • [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. Mild disorientation5. Tension in the chest / tight breathing6. 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Here's the "Withdrawals" PDF document from which we took these. We update it periodically.

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. The brain releases more dopamine for a "novel" mate than a familiar one, so it's logical that the constant novelty Internet porn sets off neurochemical roller coaster ride in many brains. Not only are the highs higher, but the lows are also lower—leading to strong withdrawal symptoms for many users. 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 dopamine response grows 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.

Comments

Submitted by mmonahan on Sun, 06/19/2011 - 23:19.

I have read that one of the common symptoms of withdrawal from porn is genital discomfort. The discomfort is usually described as fullness, or pressure or downright pain. For me this discomfort manifest itself in a frequent need to urinate - sometimes every thirty minutes. Every 90-minutes was common. Three hours was a long stretch for me. It was so bad I went to see a doctor a couple of times. I thought I was dealing with low grade bladder infections, so I drank lots of fluid and lots of cranberry juice. As a result there was always something in my bladder for me to void when I felt the urge.

Like so many others I could not sleep normally when I was in withdrawal from porn. Fortunately the urge to urinate was not as frequent when I was lying down or I would have been even more of a zombie than I was.

For five years I have wanted to quit viewing porn. I am a religious person and I considered it a sin to lust over images of women. I was not a frequent consumer, which may explain why my withdrawal symptoms were a little different from others (?). I could stay away from porn for weeks, sometimes a month or more. After a long stretch off I would think that I had control, allow myself to check out some soft core porn and end up on a two hour binge surfing porn.

When I would binge, although it was infrequent, I was unconsciously re-medicating my brain and renewing the cycle of withdrawal. It was the Ground Hog Day syndrome, however like many others, I was not able to “connect the dots” between the addictive behavior, the withdrawal and the physical side effects. My cycle of abstain-withdrawal- binge has been going on for about five years. I’m pushing 50. I thought the frequent urination and poor sleep were effects of aging that I would have to live with while they grew worse in years to come.

Once I admitted that my behavior was addiction it still took a few months before I found this website. The information here helped me to realize that I was dealing with a real chemical imbalance – not just a moral weakness – and that my brain and body could heal if I could just tough out the symptoms of withdrawal. Within a month of learning this information from YBOP, I finished my last cycle of withdrawal. It has been three months and I have been sober from porn and free of withdrawal symptoms. For the first time in years I am sleeping well and feeling like a normal human being.

Submitted by Gary Wilson on Mon, 06/20/2011 - 10:35.

We appreciate any accounts we can get, as they help others. I'm glad your are on the other side. Your symptom made me think of a swollen prostate, but who knows. It may be related to the genital reflexes adjusting when one goes through withdrawal.

It's an important point for all to remember that porn addiction is not a moral weakness. We often see that religoius people have a rougher time quitting porn addiction. For some, shame keeps the addiction perpetuates the addiction cycle.

Congratulations.

Submitted by mmonahan on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 05:38.

I had this thought: When I would binge I would not “finish it off” with masturbation and orgasm. Again, coming from a religious perspective, I restrained (willed) myself not to cross that line to the “bigger” sin of a physical act. Perhaps this difference in behavior made for a difference in body chemistry, and for a difference in the symptom of withdrawal (?).

Submitted by Gary Wilson on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 08:54.

I think you nailed it. "Edging" without ejaculation is a huge strain on the prostate, and the brain. besides increasing pressure in the prostate, edging also increases dopamine, keeping it high for an extended period. It's a really bad practice, and quite common. Many young guys believe that ejaculation is the problem, and thus think edging is just fine. The problem is porn, as it is what desensitizes the brain. Edging allows one too spend more time consuming porn, while keeping dopamine as high as it can naturally go. The worst possible combination for the reward circuitry.

Submitted by phdkiki on Sat, 12/31/2011 - 03:58.

The strongest withdrawal symptons I have is anxious feeling in my stomache...about nothing. Its just there all the time. And I cant concentrate.

Submitted by Creton25 on Sat, 03/31/2012 - 08:01.

Hi everybody!

I have read pretty much of all articles on this site and I think it's a good thing for all of us to help each other with comments.

I have always looked at porn since the age of approximately 14. I'm now 26 and I have noticed signs of ED at 21. At this time I was with a girlfriend since 4 years. I always continued looking at porn (sometimes a lot, sometimes less) and I noticed problems occured while I was studying in a foreign city. I was not with my girlfriend, so I looked porn a lot more and masturbated a lot. The ED problems occured at this moment of my life. Before that, I had no problems, I rather had the opposite problem. I had, I think, a litlle PE problem, I was very excited while doing sex with my girlfriend.

So, after 4 years and a lot of ED-Anxiety problems with one night sex( Anxiety due to ED I'm pretty sure) I decided to abstain from PMO.

I would like to mention that since maybe 6 months, I don't look at hardcore porn but rather softcore material. I edge when looking for nude hot girls. But sometimes I could masturbate for hours. Anyway.

I tired the no PMO and at day 5 I relapsed. I looked at nude girls pictures and I notices ( just after 5 days) that I was very excited ( just knowing that I'm going to see nude pics in few seconds excited me a lot and I was shaking). My brain feeled weird during this excitation. Is it an addiction sign (shaking)?

And I noticed I could ejaculate on the very moment I saw those pictures. I developped a kind of PE. I'm affraid of developping a new problem linked to the abstaining of PMO. Is it a withdrawal symptom?

I have the impression that if I succeed with my porn problem, I'm going to be excited with a minimal visual arousal and develop PE.

Sorry for my english syntax, english is not my main language.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 03/31/2012 - 11:12.

Everything you describe sounds like porn addiction. Some men have also developed PE from excessive porn use, which is odd. But we know this, because it resolves once they reboot. The only way to know what is normal for you is to reboot your brain.

Very few people comment on this site. I suggest visiting a forum where you can discuss your journey and concerns. Look under the  support tab. The two websites that are most familiar with porn-induced ED are -

  • Your Brain Rebalanced - A new forum closely tied to yourbrainonporn. Start your own blog, discuss rebooting, post, ask questions, share, and get support.
  • NoFap subreddit - Very active porn recovery forum on reddit. Very familiar with yourbrainonporn materials.

Good luck

Submitted by Creton25 on Sun, 04/01/2012 - 15:43.

I really appreciate your dedication to the cause and you seem to care about every comment on the site. I will take advantage of the sources you gave me.

Thank you again!

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/09/2012 - 07:54.

Hello Fapstronauts.

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?!