Your withdrawal symptoms +duration

[chasmjumper]

Hey everyone. Quitting the P and MB addiction basically cuts us off from an easy release of a soup of calming and pleasurable neurotransmitters, not unlike the effect of a drug addict losing his fix. I'm not sure about the arguments of physically vs. psychologically addictive, but I do know that quitting can come with some nasty withdrawal symptoms when that easy yet empty pleasure is forsworn.

I'd like to know what are your withdrawal symptoms and how long do they last? Do you still feel withdrawal (rather than just craving) at 100 days or 1 year?

I'm only on day 12 right now, but so far I've experienced the following:
*erratic sleep
*shakes/tremors (also get this spasm of my lower left eyelid)
*anger/aggression
*depression
*ticks (such as stretching my neck excessively)

When does the worst of it go away?

[fragile]

I could only come up with REALLY BAD URGES... Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I've had really close calls.

I get normal sleep, I'm able to control my mood, I'm certainly not in depression, and yes, I do think I'm experiencing some twitching in the leg. I don't know how much that is from the cut off of all porn and mb. I've been getting twitches everywhere before my pa, during my pa, and now.

They say that days 14-30 are the worst of them. After that I think things might calm down and your body adapt to the new sexual standards.
Again, I'm not a professor so I don't know the psychology of all this, just going with what I heard, and felt so far.

[Mayberry]

My husband reported cessation of withdrawal symptoms around week 11/12. For a more detailed exploration of the symptoms, see the last link in my signature line (it goes to an older thread here on no-porn). Hope that helps. J

[breakingfree]

HI Chasm,

As a recovering drug addict and P addict I am not sure how much I buy into the whole withdrawal symptom scenario(my drugs of choice were not physically addictive).

IMO, these are cognitive issues, not necessary withdrawal symptoms. I have seen two people going through heroin withdrawals, one gets shakes,sweats, vomiting,etc. The other a few aches and edginess. The difference I saw was the one had truly decided to get clean, no matter what. The other kept talking about the horrible withdrawals and how hard it was going to be.

IMO, forget the whole withdrawal thing and focus on doing positive things in your recovery. Start working out, or increase your workouts, improve your diet, get busy and stay busy, call an old friend, call your parents,get a new hobby, in short, start doing all the things your addiction kept you from doing and I suspect withdrawal symptoms will be minimal.

IMO, as always,

bf

[cammy]

Hi CJ,

I take a bit of a different view than BF. Withdrawl is gonna happen because you have developed all these associations with your habit/addiction. Breaking the associations takes as long as it takes to address them again. EG took me awhile not to have a cig craving when drinking coffee.
I find it helpful to note when urges come on - what was the trigger? Then I plan for that in future. It seems knowing my triggers makes them less strong. But it has been a process of discovery. There is a great thread running about triggers I'd suggest to you.

I have no idea how long withdrawl will last for you. Depends how you define it and depends how you address your triggers. Part of a plan?? A recovery plan??? All the best ya leaper! Cammy

[breakingfree]

Cammy,

I take a bit of a different view than BF. Withdrawal is gonna happen because you have developed all these associations with your habit/addiction. Breaking the associations takes as long as it takes to address them again

I am not negating the possibility of certain behavioral responses that develop in early recovery,, the point I was trying to make is, whatever symptoms you do or don't have, don't dwell on them and most definitely don't go looking for them.

depends how you address your triggers. Part of a plan?? A recovery plan?

EXACTLY

The only thing I am saying differently is f*** the withdrawl symptoms, focus on coping strategies. What good does it do me to expect or not expect a certain behavioral cluster, we are calling withdrawal, if I don't have the coping strategies. EMPLOY THE STRATEGIES NOW and the symptoms will resolve themselves, IMO.

bf

[cammy]

"The only thing I am saying differently is f*** the withdrawl symptoms, focus on coping strategies. What good does it do me to expect or not expect a certain behavioral cluster, we are calling withdrawal, if I don't have the coping strategies. EMPLOY THE STRATEGIES NOW and the symptoms will resolve themselves, IMO."

With respect, I believe this to be a faulty premise. It is akin to taking antibiotics for a cough only to learn later that you have a virus. Not all coping strategies work for all people. No single approach, this must be tailored by an understanding of oneself. IMO. Feel free to PM if you'd like to discuss further.

[slamdunk]

bf,

"The only thing I am saying differently is f*** the withdrawl symptoms, focus on coping strategies."

Fair point - I've stated elsewhere in a recent post that the reason my most recent slip occured, besides any triggering, is that deep down I didn't really, really want it not to happen.

However, I think chasm started this thread cos he wanted to know if anyone else shared his symptoms; it can be very reassuring to know that any physical change we're going through is NOT that weird or unusual, after all. Think he just wanted to find some comfort that others are finding things they didn't necessarily expect as a result of this sudden shift in behaviour patterns.

Chasm, for what its worth (which I believe is a great deal), my withdrawal symptoms include or included:

a sharp pain in one shoulder (almost constant at first, dying down now after 8 weeks of not-entirely-slip-free recovery)
insomnia (which I don't mind as it'll be worth it in the long run)
an instinctive urge to rub my feet against each other while trying to get to sleep (somehow this really does seem to reduce my compulsion to mb, no idea why)
occasional racing heart beat, sweating and breathlessness (though i had this pre-recovery as i am asthmatic)

This is after 8 weeks of 'recovery' and 12 days completely clean since last slip. Apart from the shoulder thing, none of my symptoms have eased off any in that time, but none of them have intensified either. Not sure when they will ease off but will be sure to let you know!

And now, some other symptoms that i am very proud of:
a new-found respect and admiration for my female friends (am no longer reducing them in my mind to potential sex objects)
a need to go out and run/ cycle/ swim/ work-out
a far tidier apartment, as i actually do spend time cleaning it now
a more disciplined lifestyle in general (e.g. better at handling finances, more regular sleeping and eating patterns, more sociable and generally a healthier outlook on life).

BF wrote... "focus on doing positive things in your recovery. Start working out, or increase your workouts, improve your diet, get busy and stay busy, call an old friend, call your parents,get a new hobby, in short, start doing all the things your addiction kept you from doing and I suspect withdrawal symptoms will be minimal."

Amen, brother!

[sparksilence]

There are some times I feel like I am going to start screaming while riding the bus ! I guess that would be a symptom. To be honest I feel like I am a worse person than I was before.

[lifeforce]

I remember my "withdrawal symptoms" (if they can really be called that, but it's as good a term as any), were a temporary inability to focus, disturbed sleep patterns (although I had those when I was on the P too), and increased levels of anxiety (which the P was self-medication for, anyway). Except for the anxiety, which took a lot of therapy to get into, the immediate symptoms went away within a week or two. But I imagine that it's different for everybody.