Alcohol slowed down my recovery

Hi, I'm 23

So far I've been 7 months and 20 days pmo free. I only had sex with my girlfriend successfully after 6 months and recovered from my mild ED and delayed ejaculation.

However after having sex I felt lots of brainfog or POIS (post orgasmic illness symptoms). At the same time I experienced that same symptoms when I drinked alcohol, even if it was just a beer I felt a full strong hangover.

I think this happened because I got hooked on porn because I normally masturbated to it after partying and drinking heavily. Therefore, even though I'm not an alcoholic my drinking habits are closely entangled to my porn addiction.

I also read that alcohol, the same as porn, can hijack your dopamine reward system and release more of this chemical than usual. The phrase: neurons that fire together wire together comes into my mind when I think about this.

Even though im recovered from ED and my life goes great I have found that there's still is a lot to be done after that.

Quitting alcohol has helped me recover from porn addiction even faster and makes my thoughts incredibly clear. I have been able to write papers on tough subjects which I never imagined I could, because my clarity and concentration have improved so much.

Has anyone else encountered similar situations with alcohol, smoking or other dopamine-releasing stimulants?

Is there a point when the brainfog stops coming? How long does it take?

Thanks for reading and participating.

I wish all of you the best.

Hi thanks for your post. First I have had some relapses after alcohol. I agree there's some kind of link between that and impulse control.  I also noticed drinking a lot of water was a great way on dealing with that issue. Congrats on your progress you should be proud !

That's crazy because I'm 8 months no pmo an even tho I have seen improvements I'm not 100% yet...I don't drink during the week but on the weekends I do drink a lot an I myself was thinking if this was slowing my recovery...I guess no more alcohol for me

How bout smoking weed because I feel there is also some type of connection..after I smoke I have more of an urge to masturbate

The monkey part of our brain wants to watch porn and get a chemical high and doesn't care about how we feel later on.
The prefrontal cortex knows that watching porn isn't good for us and is what makes us turn up on these forums, and makes us use will power to not watch porn, not eat nothing but cheeseburgers, not sit on our asses all day watching TV never exercising
Booze and weed makes the monkey brain go crazy, which is fun, but destroys our will power, so definitely will make sobriety harder. Then later comes the hangover, which makes a porn-chemical-high even more enticing.

For me, sobriety has been part of living a healthier lifestyle, so I drink less. I'm trying to cut down, with just the odd glass of wine with a good dinner. It's difficult when everyone around us is having drunken fun. Guess we need to seek our pleasures elsewhere. I REALLY focus on appreciating my morning coffee these days 

Thanks a lot for the replies, yes I totally agree with Rainman, I believe weed just as alcohol is a dopamine realising stimulant and it numbs our frontal cortex, so in general this bad habits we have should be taken under control because they can contribute to relapse or slow down the recovery.

Because in general terms we are addicted to the extra rush of dopamine that our brain releases when consuming porn, weed, alcohol. Even a smoking addict can get dopamine highs from this.

Its really hard for me because I'm surrounded by friends who like to drink regularly but I believe its worth to explain the closest people to you what you are going through in order to get the help and comprehension needed.
And I think that to get totally recovered its important to set yourself to do whatever it takes.

Mike, if you're 8 months you've done a huge progress probably I think its a good idea for you to try stopping alcohol and weed as well and see how it goes with you.

In general, what I have been able to understand Is that the most successful rebooters are the ones who turn into a healthier lifestyle.

I guess replacing alcohol and weed with exercise and outdoor activities can make huge benefits to all of us and accelerate recovery

Thanks for the advice bro...im a gym rat so I think that has helped me a lot through depression and withdrawals but I want to thank u again for giving me enough incentive to quit alcohol and weed for good...I myself have many friends who drink an smoke but I want a normal sex life again an if that means no alcohol and weed then I'm really OK with that. Good thing I ran into your post

It's tough, but we're all in this together! Less of the booze and weed, more exercise and outdoors - solidarity!

Most definitely rainman...were all trying to get through these tough times and its a great feeling to know that we might not know each other personally but through our experiences we can help each other reach a successful reboot...thanks guys again

I've been a fairly enthusiastic drinker all my life. I don't think I was alcoholic, but I drank a good deal. Weekends and most dinners. I really looked forward to my pre-diner cocktail almost every night. It was part of my habit.

I started no PMO and right around my one year anniversary of no PMO, I went to a New Year's eve party, walked over to the bar and felt this very unusual, very clear message from my brain: I really didn't want to drink that night. It surprised me. Here I was at a nice party with a big full free bar and I walked away from it entirely on my own without any preplanned effort. I just did. Since then, it's been about 4 months, my drinking has plummeted. Instead of the occasional night when I don't have a drink, it's now the occasional night when I do. I'm not sure how this happened, but I feel like it's very much related to my Reboot. Somehow I think drinking was closely associated with managing the dopamine abuse I was engaging in with daily porn and masturbation.

What I think is most significant is that this just happened naturally. I didn't read about it or make it a 'thing'. I just stopped drinking by about 90% in a way that seemed very organic.

Just something to think about as we contemplate alcohol. Cheers, everyone.

Yes, thanks for your post. I can totally relate to it, I have felt the same way. I am sure that its about going back to normal dopamine levels.
However I wanted to know if you feel increased hangovers when you do drink?

I had sort of chalked it up to age (I'm 50), but yes, I have noticed that lately actually. Two drinks will give me a hangover now. I went out a few weeks ago on the weekend and had four drinks and the next day was ruined. So, I'm much happier now when I wake up and don't have the effect from any drinks. Now that I'm free of PMO, my drinking has lessened considerably and when I do, it seems the hangover is more pronounced. Amazing what we are learning about our dopamine levels!

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