heroin vs porn brain images

i found this picture. it woke me up a little. now all the anxiety, depression, insomnia, pied, cravings, fogginess, low energy, numbness to life, no purpose in life, disorganization, panic attacks.... makes more sense... and quitting makes more sense too.

Does that mean porn is worse for your brain?

Big H said:

Does that mean porn is worse for your brain?

Click to expand...

looks like its even worse.. and its free, accessible everywhere at all times in unlimited quantities, legal and not nearly recognized as heroin addiction.

this shit is more real than ever to me and it helps me to stay on course this time. this is not something to just ignore and live life as if im already recovered. no heroin addict stopped the addiction just by focusing on goals and living life ignoring the realness of the situation.

Nikola Numez said:

Big H said:

Does that mean porn is worse for your brain?

Click to expand...

looks like its even worse.. and its free, accessible everywhere at all times in unlimited quantities, legal and not nearly recognized as heroin addiction.

this shit is more real than ever to me and it helps me to stay on course this time. this is not something to just ignore and live life as if im already recovered. no heroin addict stopped the addiction just by focusing on goals and living life ignoring the realness of the situation.

Click to expand...

So what should one do instead if not focus on goals and living life?

One should not ignore the situation but to me it seems there is not much one can do besides stopping PMO, waiting and carying on with life. Or did I get something wrong?

saneagain said:

So what should one do instead if not focus on goals and living life?

One should not ignore the situation but to me it seems there is not much one can do besides stopping PMO, waiting and carying on with life. Or did I get something wrong?

Click to expand...

there is a lot we can do about addiction instead of ignoring it. just chasing our dream job is ignoring the addiction. heroin addict cant just go outside and become go getter, neither can we.

just few examples i can mention to make this whole story clearer. when i am alone and i turn on TV, i never watch anything except sports (males only). looking girls in the eyes or back of the head when i am in public. there are so many things i need to focus on and do right even when i am away from instant access. when sun starts falling down, i need to remember that i am addicted to porn. process of simply going to sleep is different when i think of myself as a porn addict.

im done trying to live life as if im already recovered, it is just not working and if porn is causing similar brain changes to heroin, it makes sense why. there is a lot we can do except just chasing dreams and trying to live as if we are recovered.

nothing wrong with chasing dreams, its why we are here (on the planet), but we need to focus on addiction especially for the first few months. lots of reading and understanding what is going on and lots of changes tailored for better reboot.

EDIT: im talking about PIED cases. i think PIED is sign of serious addiction that cannot be ignored. you cant live life without thinking about it and succeed. im a week clean and surely life goes on, nothing is waiting until im 1000 days clean but storm that is about to happen is on my mind. i know hell is going to break lose. if i dont prepare it would be same as if i enter a boxing ring on fight night without training. i prepare by reading and knowing what to expect, also remembering past experiences this is not my first time. what went wrong? how it felt, how to handle it this time? lots of thoughts to things like that.

I can not judge in what condition you are currently, if you are experiencing withdrawals right now etc. but I think one should not obsess with the addiction.

For me personally I have read a lot about PMO addiction on yourbrainonporn.com and other sites. It is helpful and interesting in the beginnning. At the moment I am experiencing extreme fatigue, shortness of breath among other symptoms. My condition is so severe that I really know just one thing: Never ever intentionally watch porn again. And stop fantasizing. The only thing that prohibits me from beeing a go getter, are the withdrawal symptoms right now. Once they are gone I know 100% I will never return because of how I feel right now. Why should I return after going through this misery? I am so scared right now about my health that there is no way I would EVER risk of beeing so SICK again by watching porn.

The only thing I want to do with this addiction is helping others overcome it. Otherwise I want to leave it behind me.

being afraid, thinking about going through this and not relapsing ever again.. wanting to help others? all that is a sign that you are into this.

obsession for me is just trying to focus on doing things right while rebooting, trying to remember each day that i am recovering porn addict. everything is a little bit different, watching movies, using internet, listening to music, hanging out, topics you discuss, words you are using, thinking patterns.. you do everything a little bit different when you are rebooting. at least you should try, thats my point.

EDIT: you mentioned stopping PMO, waiting and carrying on. i guess waiting is your word. most of us miss that part, we just carry on and if our brain is really like that of a heroin addict, imagine the task at hand without focusing on that crucial part of recovery

You can call it beeing into this if you want. But I have no choice since I am going through withdrawal with severe physical symptoms. Once I pass this stage I want to fill my life with more meaningful stuff in such a way that I forget about porn and it becomes boring to me. I don't want to think about this shit every day and turn my attention to other activities.

By helping others I mean returning from time to time to this forum.

well, i guess then i will think about this shit till the end of my life  ;D it would be still better than PMOing tho.

What's the longest you've been without porn since you were addicted Nikolez? (just curious)

Big H said:

What's the longest you've been without porn since you were addicted Nikolez? (just curious)

Click to expand...

10 months PMO free 8 months MO free. that MO session after 8 months really kick started the old pathways, i could feel my brain raging for more MO since i ran out of the sex and eventually MO cravings turned into PMO cravings that i could not resist. i was basically fine, 70-80% recovered, did not really needed to MO but i just did not knew its bad idea.

whats your longest streak?

2 years after soft core pornography. Currently 135 days now after being addicted to hardcore stuff for 4 years. It sucks how although weakened those old pathways are still there. 

how you mean 2 years after softcore? did you developed PIED? why came back to it (porn)?

I never watched any hardcore stuff when I was first addicted to porn. You can read my story here http://legacy.rebootnation.org/index.php?topic=12614.0