Question about sperm retention, masturbation and dopamine

Movonnow

Member
Hi,

I came to the conclusion at the end of 2014 that I didn't want to have anything to do anymore with porn and I erased it from my life completely. I still get urges here and there but they are weaker each time and my resolve is firm.

Due to some personal reasons that are not to be discussed here, I also don't want to ejaculate. Therefore, I use a technique to have an orgasm without ejaculating.

Now my question to you is this :

If I keep masturbating without looking at porn and without ejaculating, am I still feeding the addiction?


I feel it is still there. Of course the downs after I finish masturbating are much more lower than when I looked at porn. It usually takes me a few days of grumpy mood to get back to normal. However, it's a double edged-sword : I now masturbate much more than previously. Hell, the negative effects doesn't even compare with those of a PMO so why not masturbate since I've been used to much worse with PMO?

I think I'm still addicted to dopamine. However, I don't want to deny myself the pleasure of a quick healthy masturbation for all my life. I want to be able to indulge in it once a month or once every two months, to relieve the stress or to make up for an empty sexual life.

So,

In order to have my dopamine levels go back to normal, to reboot and to not be addicted anymore, do I have to completely cut off masturbation or will my "masturbation consuption" drop with time, thanks to the absence of porn  use?


 

Attos

Member
Well, you are feeding something ...

Rebooting with masturbation works differently for different people. The issue is that masturbation is linked to P inside your brain.

On the other hand, if it's not too often, shouldn't be a big problem, maybe slowing your progress down a little.
 

dingfengquek

New Member
Movonnow said:

If I keep masturbating without looking at porn and without ejaculating, am I still feeding the addiction?


...


In order to have my dopamine levels go back to normal, to reboot and to not be addicted anymore, do I have to completely cut off masturbation or will my "masturbation consuption" drop with time, thanks to the absence of porn  use?


If I keep masturbating without looking at porn and without ejaculating, am I still feeding the addiction?


If masturbation is extremely pleasurable to you, then you will be substituting one inclination/addiction for another. If it is not that pleasurable, then it is unlikely to have a significant negative effect, and might even be a good distraction from your addiction (similar to activities like sports, having a good time with friends, etc).

Also, if you have been masturbating with porn, the activity/habit of masturbation will be associated with that of watching porn, and can trigger the desire for porn.


In order to have my dopamine levels go back to normal, to reboot and to not be addicted anymore, do I have to completely cut off masturbation or will my "masturbation consuption" drop with time, thanks to the absence of porn  use?


This depends on how addictive masturbation is for you. From what I know, there is a lack of research in this, and there are good reasons to think that the pleasure from masturbation differs greatly from person to person, and even from situation to situation. I think it

However, masturbation for males is more self-limiting than many other addictive behaviours - there is a refractory period, there is exhaustion, and getting into the mood takes much more time. Furthermore, the psychological rewards of masturbation is closely linked to the degree sexual arousal during the activity. If you obtained your arousal from porn, then avoiding porn will also make masturbation that much less addictive - on the other hand, because you already know that porn will increase the pleasure of masturbation, you will have a stronger desire for porn.

My opinion is that, like all potentially bad habits, observe yourself closely and do things in moderation. Catch yourself if the behaviour escalates.

* "dopamine levels go back to normal" is technically incorrect. It should be "dopaminergic system/circuit" go back to normal (reverse its adaptation to ... ...).

* Dopamine levels are increased whenever you experience pleasure (this is a simplification, but should apply to you). This includes food, many video games, having a good time with friends, etc. Avoiding all pleasures in life is not part of our culture, and would likely lead to depression, suicidal tendencies, etc. The key is to choose the right pleasures.

* When withdrawing from a serious addiction, going cold turkey can lead to withdrawal symptoms. But you don't sound like you have a serious addiction.

* There is suggestive evidence that at least a low rate of ejaculation decreases cancer in some body parts because it disposes of toxins in them.
 

Movonnow

Member
For me, addiction began with masturbation. I would sometime masturbate up to 9 times a day so that's when I began to use porn : when I couldn't physically masturbate, get it up and ejaculate. I would use porn to force myself to reach orgasm one more time. Masturbation is very, very pleasurable for me (plus I've invented some specials masturbation techniques during the past decades so I know exactly how to get MASSIVE amounts of pleasure through masturbation).

I've kept on masturbating and I have been witnessing a very fast escalation concerning the type of material I use during my masturbating sessions. I began with only masturbation and no material. Then I began to use fantaisies, then pictures of non naked women and I'm now using soft-erotic lesbian porn. I know how it works : next there will be drawned porn. This lead me to think that I can not effectively quit porn without quitting masturbation (at least before the reboot, I don't know what will happen after). I have also noticed it does have some harmful effects for me : it takes my drive away and it makes me want to be alone, without any external stimulation (social, professional etc.) : after a masturbation I feel the huge desire to isolate myself completely from everything, to hide in a cave or in my bed and to not do anything. There are also effects on my social interactions : I seem unable to relate or to connect to someone, I feel like everybody hates me and I hate everyone. I become affraid of people.

To me, porn is just a mean to an end. Porn only enables me to get hard when I can't, to want to masturbate when I don't feel the need. It's all about orgasms and masturbating. Pleasure.I mean, if I were to go 90 days without porn and masturbation and I wanted to go back to some form of lonely sexual pleasure, I wouldn't go look porn. I would go masturbate. Then, when masturbation would not give me any arousal and pleasure, I would go look at porn. Porn doesnot give me any pleasure. I use it to get a rush when masturbation doesn't do the trick anymore. It's masturbation that I Like. However, when I get addicted and that  I need my shoot of chemicals, I go to porn because masturbation is not that powerful anymore.

So, to conclude I would say that for me it's porn that fuels the addiction but it's masturbation that leads me to this addiction.

But. Why do I need more masturbation ? If one is pleasurable, why do I need a second one ? Isn't that because of porn/dopamine addiction ?

It goes like this :

One masturbation -> feels great -> I want another one (why ? This is what is important)->masturbation is not enough -> I use porn.

If it's the addiction caused by porn that leads me to masturbate too much, then if I get rid of porn and of it's addiction I will be able to masturbate in moderation.

It's because after some time masturbation doesn't give me the pleasure it used to bring me so I turn to porn in order to keep having the pleasure. That's when one can talk about addiction : I can't keep on going without this pleasure.

So it goes in two times :
- I iwant a little pleasure, I masturbate
- I am addicted to pleasure so consequences : i masturbate too much AND i use porn to get my pleasure
How to draw the line ? Can I have a moderate consumption of masturbation without being addicted ?
 

tostadora

Active Member
For me, it sounds like you're trying to control the addiction, and you'll probably be better going for a non-masturbation period and after that see what happens with your desires to masturbate.
 
Top