Porn Addiction Withdrawal: How Quitting Porn can Trigger Odd Withdrawal Symptoms
In some cases, quitting porn can trigger odd withdrawal symptoms often prompting people to return back to the addiction cycle they are trying to break.
For some people, quitting porn triggers withdrawal symptoms, which causes them to run back to the addictive behavior to quiet the unpleasant, temporary side effects. It's important to anticipate and plan for these symptoms and also to recognize that they are only temporary.
Common self-reports include:
- Irritability
- Depression
- Fatigue and insomnia
- Inability to focus
- Complete loss of libido (also known as the flatline)
These withdrawal symptoms have been confirmed because returning to internet porn. eliminated the symptoms. These withdrawal symptoms are one of the reasons that we know that porn is addictive .
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 porn thing.
One of the most dreaded aspects of quitting porn is the "flatline" - a temporary period of complete loss of libido and lifeless genitals. This is one of the most shocking side effects that is widely reported and it causes many men to return to internet porn in an effort to "salvage" their libido.
How Quitting Porn can cause a Temporary Loss of Libido
The flatline is a temporary period of low-libido that occurs in response to internet porn abstinence.
It’s a standard withdrawal symptom in guys with porn-induced erectile dysfunction, but it also happens to some who don’t have ED at the time they quit.
After a few days of brain tantrums (cravings), I went into a flatline for weeks. Basically I felt totally indifferent about girls, sex, everything. A little voice from the porn beast nagged at me in the back of my mind, but mostly, I just didn’t care. And my penis was very lifeless and small. It was like somebody just pulled the plug on whatever machine provides my sex drive. No libido at all.
I have absolutely no sex drive. No spontaneous erections. It’s a very strange feeling when you look at a beautiful woman and in your head you have your normal thoughts like ‘Wow, she’s beautiful. I would like to get to know her!’ and yet you have no sexual thoughts or intentions. It’s a very strange and for me quite a scary experience. It’s like you’ve been castrated.