Masturbation addiction but same effects as porn addiction?

Hi,
I am a 20 year old guy.

I've been masturbating since I was 14. I discovered it on my own and it was explained to me by my friends. It was my favorite past time and having a vivid imagination, I had never been short of stuff to masturbate to. In short,i was addicted. I used to it atleast once a day to 2-3 times a day often.
Everything was going fine until in junior high (2014) it started affecting my academic and physical performance . I have developed a
-terrible memory
-inability to focus
-feeling tired all the time
-feeling depressed
-cold hands and feet after masturbating
-drop in cognitive performance and difficulty processing large data.
-inability to feel pleasure from other things
-easily getting hooked to internet and tv
-Dark face skin
Even my genitals seem to have shrunk and I have dandruff now.

I realize this is a porn addiction website but where I come from and from a background of limited means-until very recently internet was luxury I had no access to. Sure, I had used the web at school,but it was heavily restricted, although I did get a treat a few times at my cousin's. I discovered unrestricted internet and internet porn a year back(Man!A new world,sex in ways - I couldn't imagine) and have been heavily hooked (My brother graduated and got a job couple of years back,things have been drastically better for us since then ).

I have gone through the material on yourbrainonporn.com and it fits with everything I am experiencing(sensitisation,desensitisation,hypofrontality) except I have started on porn only a year back and have been having side effects from porn addiction since way before(I'm almost sure I do not have erectile dysfunction,but i'm a virgin so what do I know? I can get it up without porn though)

Does this make any sense to anyone?Does masturbating to fantasies for long time have same effects as masturbating to high speed internet porn? I could really use some guidance on this. I feel I need to quit masturbation and porn both.

I'm sure i have a masturbation addiction since I can't go a day without jerking off but am not hooked to porn to that extent yet.

 

Quit both.

Try a long (90 days?) reboot with no PMO.

Check out the videos on rebootnation.org

Best of luck to you. Fantastic that you are dealing with this while you are young!

 

"Does masturbating to fantasies for long time have same effects as masturbating to high speed internet porn?"

For most men, nope. But if you have a preternaturally powerful and vivid imagination, then... it could be worse. Because there's no way to physically remove the addictive stimulus from your situation (aside from lobotomy). It's as if I had the internet inside my head. Quit while you're ahead. Use that imagination for something creative instead.

It's fantastic that you're so young and are now conscious of your bad habits. Your actions and choices really matter now.

 

Thanks for the reply.
I read something on the yourbrainonporn site about overriding sexual satiation mechanisms and how it can be bad for you..? Seems like a fit for what I have been doing. Jerking off because I was not getting satisfied in my head anymore even if I didn't have an erection.
I have searched around the web and found there are quite a few people suffering from masturbation related sideffects-whether porn is involved or not, I have no idea in those cases.

 

Thank you for the reply.

I know what you're talking about . Most of my friends don't suffer from what I am and they are guys who have had access to internet porn for quite some time. Maybe it's a different time in each case. I discussed what I have been going through with one of my friends and he laughed and told me it was all in my head. It made me doubt myself but I realized that the way I struggle to recall stuff and memorize and having harder time at doing math which came easily and naturally to me couldn't have happened just cause its all in my head. In the past few years and before I hit puberty-hard, only thing that has changed is masturbation and recently,porn in my daily routine.

I'm going to attempt a 90 day reboot as you advised. Wish me luck!

 

"I discussed what I have been going through with one of my friends and he laughed and told me it was all in my head."

Ironically, your friend is both ignorant of what is actually going one, yet 100% correct in his statement. IT IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD!

What I am about to tell you will, in, probably, another 50 years, be taught to kindergarten kids, the same way they are taught about the dangers of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs.

You only masturbate for one reason, and it is the exact, same, reason you or anyone on the planet watches porn: it is a button you are pushing to achieve a dopamine high. Dopamine is a motivational/reward neurotransmitter that exists in your brain. Did I mention it is all in your head. Dopamine is the primary reason any of us want to have sex, think about sex, and enjoy thinking about sex. When I say you "enjoy thinking about sex" I, actually, mean, you enjoy the dopamine rush thinking about sex brings you. So, when you MO, you think about sex. Whether you are MOing in front of a computer with porn, or are just being alone with your private thoughts, you are thinking about sex. Dopamine rushes result from the thought of sex alone. Porn addicts have figured out, usually unconsciously, how to jack up their sex thoughts using porn, but, even without porn, it is the thought of sex that produces the dopamine rush.

We live in a hypersexualized society. Whether you want it, or not, sex and sexuality is something you are commonly exposed to. We use it to sell, we use it to get an individual's attention. Gary Wilson, of yourbrain on porn describes our attraction to sexual thought/images as becoming "fascinated", but, more correctly, a dopamine rush fascinates us, a dopamine rush gets our attention, and holds it there. You do not have to be in front of a computer to use the porn you experienced on it to obtain a dopamine rush. You can do that with thoughts alone.

So, you don't identify as a porn addict. Fine. There has never been a porn addict in recorded history. Those of us who call ourselves that are being inaccurate, imprecise. To be accurate and precise, we are porn induced dopamine addicts, and, perhaps, that is not precise enough. Sexual thoughts cause a dopamine rush So, even without porn, you can get it, but porn is the most efficient way we have yet invented to get hypersexual thoughts. So, it goes like this: Porn=hypersexual thoughts, hypersexual thoughts=super stimulation, super stimulation = super, prolonged, profound, dopamine rush, profound, prolonged dopamine rush, every day, for years=addiction.

The key to overcoming the addiction is to study it, learn what it is, and learn to live with less dopamine rushes, i.e., without, for most of us, porn.

You are wise to do the hard 90. Prepare yourself for it. It is going to hurt, but, if you can do it, you will have lowered your brain's craving for the daily dopamine hits you have been giving it. Hope this helps.

William

 

Thanks for the reply.

I totally get what you say. I don't identify myself as a porn addict since i'm not. I'm heavily hooked but I do not half struggle with it as much as I do with fap.