Flatlines/Withdrawals

zander13

Active Member
Can a few of you kind folks describe what your flatlines are like? Do you have withdrawals too? Trying to decipher between depression symptoms and my addiction.
 

mousemat1

Well-Known Member
My flatline started from day 1 of my reboot. At the beginning I considered it a fringe benefit because my desire to look at porn just plummeted. This made the first week of my reboot quite easy. At the moment, on day 83 of my reboot, my libido is still absolutely zero and I'm exhausted all the time. I just want to sleep. I don't seem to be having any mood shifts, I don't feel depressed but I do feel listless.

Porn cravings come and go. A couple of weeks ago I was really fighting hard to avoid looking at porn but I managed to ride out that storm.

It's hard to say what my withdrawals are like. I don't think I'm suffering any great withdrawal symptoms apart from the tiredness.
 
F

Finw?

Guest
Mostly withdrawals were intensely overactive mind, intense anxiety and mood swings.
 

doneatlast

Well-Known Member
It is my own opinion that a "flatline" is beneficial, as we're seeing how far detached we were from the real image of sex and real people.  It is only a real nuisance when someone wants to quit porn to immediately be chasing women around.  For me, it has been a slow transition in my tastes - going from fetishes to real attractions.  "regular women" are far more beautiful to me after being away from porn, and the stuff that really got me going before... well, it still attracts me, but not nearly as intensely.

Withdrawals included anxiety, depression, having some really dark moments play out (that normally would be ended by distracting myself with porn), and some serious ADHD sorts of things, which I am still battling.  Physically, I'd get pain from not orgasming regularly.  There was a really good thread on this recently, but I can't remember where....
 

elephantricity

Active Member
When it comes to a flatline, meaning loss of libido, does that mean, when you see an attractive person, you feel ZERO attraction towards them? For me, during my reboots, I've always still found particular women attractive sexually to me, that never seems to go away. I still desire sex I suppose, so I'm not sure if I'm flatlining per say. Or is libido directly related to arousal. As in, you may find a woman sexually attractive, but your not aroused physically by her.
 

doneatlast

Well-Known Member
For me it is more a feeling of being unimpressed, a general "meh".  A beautiful woman might be objectively beautiful, but you may not care.  Or, you may notice flaws in her that you might not notice in a porn scene because you are too distant from the person to notice.  When you are genuinely attracted to someone, you can overlook it.  Or, you always find reasons why someone isn't attractive... too fat, too thin, breasts aren't to your tastes, whatever.
 

zander13

Active Member
Thanks guys.

I want to be more specific about my questioning:

Do any of you have a cycle of a flatline followed by some good days then followed by a flatline? Like it's become ridiculously predictable for me to have 9-10 good days followed by 7 days of a flatline. I've had like 5 cycles of this the past couple months, and it's getting to be ridiculous. It's tough to live life when the flatline hits and I'm just not in-tune with life at all.

When I flatline I get socially anxious, timid, kind of dumber, dead dick, fairly morose thoughts, a behind-the-scenes urge to watch porn, and some other minor things. Does this sound like a flatline to you guys or should I be worried about a worse mental illness than straight up depression. The thought would be that the reason I have the porn urges is because I turn to porn when depressed.

My parents think I have bi-polar disorder and they've got me thinking along those lines, though I'm still holding out on blaming it on the addiction. The dead dick, along with semen leakage during shits, have me still believing that I'm just a really hard case.

Please help guys!
 

doneatlast

Well-Known Member
Hmm, doesn't sound entirely like flatline with me.  Yeah, you'll have lots of ups and downs coming off of porn.  I like to think of porn as a medication that you've been taking, but isn't meant for what ails you.  When come come off a medication there are withdrawals, but there also will surface other things you were "treating" with it that will need to be recognized anew.  If before you just PMOed when you felt anxious, then the anxiety you experience now isn't new... it is just more obvious because you aren't "treating" it.  That doesn't mean it will stay for good, but it might need to just run its course.

Seek help if you suspect clinical depression or bi-polar disorder, but it kinda sounds to me like plain ol' porn withdrawal.  There are some good resources out there for people with bi-polar, so you could do some homework and see if it sounds like you.  It is often misdiagnosed, so a bit of research is a good idea if it is on your radar.
 

Taylor

Member
zander13 said:
Can a few of you kind folks describe what your flatlines are like? Do you have withdrawals too? Trying to decipher between depression symptoms and my addiction.

Yes and yes. Flatlines are basically when I have no energy to do anything. I barely care enough to eat. I want stuff, but moving to get it seems prohibitively too much effort. I have read that if you destroy the dopamine system of a rat, it will eat the sugar if you put it in it's mouth, but it will not move to get it. It's like there's no "oomph" in my bones, driving me to do stuff. I just abstractly know I should be doing something.
Often I'm tired. Like my body is hanged with hundreds of little weights. Moving is so hard. And unpleasant. Ech. I usually hurry and do everything really sloppy, because I want to get back to not having to move. After a while of rebooting, I was amazed how just roaming around and existing was actually kind of pleasant.
Withdrawals, in my case, are basically just urges and mood swings. Sometimes it is kind of fun. I can be sleepless and very aware. I get a lot of shit done. But sometimes I'm sad and frustrated about my situation. I often can't see beyond that, so I keep lists that I make when in a good mood, to remind me.
 

tee174

Member
My withdrawal started from day 1 so far 3 weeks gone no improvement my dick become dead, now using only for passing urine. When it's going to live again don't know. Anxiety and headache is there. These things make my reboot tough.
 
It is my own opinion that a "flatline" is beneficial, as we're seeing how far detached we were from the real image of sex and real people.  It is only a real nuisance when someone wants to quit porn to immediately be chasing women around.  For me, it has been a slow transition in my tastes - going from fetishes to real attractions.  "regular women" are far more beautiful to me after being away from porn, and the stuff that really got me going before... well, it still attracts me, but not nearly as intensely.

Withdrawals included anxiety, depression, having some really dark moments play out (that normally would be ended by distracting myself with porn), and some serious ADHD sorts of things, which I am still battling.  Physically, I'd get pain from not orgasming regularly.  There was a really good thread on this recently, but I can't remember where....

Can relate to this a lot. Technically I'm on 35 days, but easy mode. Though even so I'm feeling huge shocks and differences in my system with your mentioned withdrawals, but also, a "surfacing" of my life and consciousness - back to reality, and enjoying it little bit by little bit.
 
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