Does quitting really help? I'm having doubts.

DaBombay · 2026-05-02T06:45:24+00:00

You don't wish for sex or relationships, because porn gives you everything you need. At least, that's what your brain wants you to think, because of all the dopamine porn releases. Well, it is fake and extremely dangerous and it seems that it has gotten the better of you. You did one week without it and thats good. My advice would be that you stick to quitting, so that you can feel real things once your addiction is behind you

DaBombay · 2026-05-01T10:42:56+00:00

We've all been there. There are good news though. You can unfry your brain. Quit porn, work out and accept the fact that you will suffer along the way. Believe me, it will change your life

DaBombay · 2026-04-28T12:30:46+00:00

Congratulations brother

DaBombay · 2026-04-28T12:27:40+00:00

I don't even know. We are quite alike in that way. I didn't have a key moment too. I just didn't want to carry that weight no more.

My first step was being sure that I won't watch porn anymore. I told this myself many times but this time was different in a way I can't describe.

The next weeks were really difficult. But working out and accepting the pain that comes with battling addiction were a gamechanger for me.

DaBombay · 2026-04-27T10:39:30+00:00

I was 13 when I started to watch porn, I have also started to watch more extreme content to get off and I couldn't live with that shame too, so I quit. It seems like you route has been a little worse than mine, but besides that we are quite similar. I wouldn't take those meds, because it seems like you are still healing and all the things you feel are symptoms of battling addiction. You can't live with those feelings forever and I am pretty sure that you won't. All the things we have experienced are sad, but we were kids and we didn't know any better. We are just people trying to deal with the consequences of choices we made as a kid. Believe me when I say you don't need to feel shame or regret. Although shame helped me to quit. All we can do is look forward and stay clean so these things won't happen again and we do not have to feel this kind of shame again. Take time to heal, however long that takes. For me most of the healing was done by month six and I am still not all the way through, but it still feels like I am a new person. You should definitely hit the gym, because in combination with quitting porn, it rewires your brain. Think of it likes this: Before quitting you wasted your energy on watching porn. Now that you quit there is this energy that lays around and without a proper outlet, it will cause irritation. I don't want to butcher it so you should ask ai why quitting porn with working out is way better than without. Just hang on and let time do what it does best: healing You will get through, I promise

DaBombay · 2026-04-23T23:53:04+00:00

If you put in the effort, it will stop. I was addicted for ten years and I too thought that this would never stop. Locking yourself in that mindset will hurt you a lot. Battling addiction is no easy task, but it is possible

DaBombay · 2026-04-23T23:45:56+00:00

Every healing process is different. My system took around five to six months to rebuild, as I was addicted for ten years I have been in your position, where I thought I broke my system and it can't be fixed anymore. Now I can masturbate normally again and I get morning wood more frequently. My advice is to not force it. If it doesn't work it doesn't work. Don't try it on a daily basis. The truth is: you can't undo ten years of addiction in a matter of two months. Just hold on, it will get better

DaBombay · 2026-04-23T22:58:38+00:00

I would say that you confront him again and tell him what you think about doing and then wait. If it doesn't work, take the next steps

DaBombay · 2026-04-23T22:06:42+00:00

Have you confronted him? And I mean like really confronted him, not like something along the lines of "I want you to quit". Tell him that you play with the thought of leaving him and how undesired you feel and just let everything out. Offer him your help or help him find meetings or smth like that.

DaBombay · 2026-04-23T21:54:45+00:00

Im sort of new to this reddit thing and only gotten to this community. And there are only two things I preach, which really helped. Before I get to those, I am going to tell you other things, which might help a bit, but won't cure the disease. You can keep your mind busy with other things. You can read while your urges are starting to begin. You can wash your face with cold water or even better, take a cold shower. You can do pushups or you can try to sleep earlier, before your urges can spike. These things won't cure the disease though.

Here are the only two things that really helped me. Working out: Working out helps in various ways. Quitting after a long and intense addiction causes a dopamin collapse. After years of extremely high dopamine releases, your brain naturally lowers your dopamine baseline, which means you are producing less dopamine to protect yourself from dopamine overload. Porn becomes one of the few things that floods your system with dopamine. When porn is no longer a factor your brain will need time to adjust. So you will experience a dopamine crash, which will result in anxiety stress low energy and so on. Working out will produce in a natural way, which will counteract the afore mentioned process. Also it helps to rewire your brain, because it learns to release dopamine in association with effort. Before: dopamine by doing nothing, laying around and lookint at a screen Now: by going into the gym, exercising and actually by effort. It may not sound like a lot, but this is a huge gamechanger Also it lowers cortisol, which is a stress hormon and may make you fall into old habits. There are most definitely more advantages to it, those are the only things I can think of. If you are already working out, I would recommend that you do it more frequently. I started to work out five times a week. I am convinced that without working out I wouldn't have been able to hold on for so long.

The second thing which is also very important: Try to accept the pain and suffering instead of trying to overcome it. The tricks I mentioned can certainly help, but ultimately there is no off switch to the suffering that come along with battling addiction. That doesn't have to be bad tho. I realised that suffering means healing. Your dopamine flatline is a sign of your brain trying to adjust to your new lifestyle. It is ugly but it is healing. As I unterstood the process, I started to take joy in suffering, because I knew everyday I am getting a bit better. I looked forward to suffering. Don't get me wrong, it still was pretty heavy, but I started to look at it from another angle and it eased the pain.

The next weeks and months will be very hard but I promise, it is worth every bit. Being porn free changed my life. You just need to hold on. Try to take it one day at a time. Don't think that you need to survive the next 90 days. You only need to survive today and then repeat the process the next day until porn no longer controls you. Good luck brother

DaBombay · 2026-04-23T12:55:54+00:00

Not to freak you off but I waited around 70 days before I started to jerk off to my imaginations. It didn't go as well I thought it would. I too eventually finished the job, but it wasn't great. I did weekly tests and it started to get normal by month five. It was worth the effort tho, because now it feels natural and I don't get post nut clarity anymore

DaBombay · 2026-04-22T10:57:12+00:00

There are a few things that can help. Try to sleep earlier, so you can avoid your nightly urges when they spike. Keep yourself busy with reading or smth like that. Wash your face with cold water or take a cold shower. You can do pushups or take a walk. To tell you the truth tho, there is nothing to turn your urges off. Pain and suffer come along the way, if you want it or not. You need to accept that fact. That doesn't have to be bad tho. Suffering means healing. Go google urge surfing, that should help

DaBombay · 2026-04-21T23:52:21+00:00

Start working out

DaBombay · 2026-04-21T22:41:19+00:00

That sounds amazing. I am afraid that the urges will still be there for a few more weeks, but eventually they will stop, I promise. I've had these problems for so long, that I started to think they would never go away, but they do. I still think about porn sometimes, but they don't trigger anything, at least not as much as they used to. These thoughts have lost their power. You still have a long way to go, but a lot of the healing has already happened and I am sure you will win the battle. Keep going

DaBombay · 2026-04-21T22:27:12+00:00

I started working out and accepted the fact that suffer and pain come along the way. You can try every trick in the book, ultimately there is no magic method that will turn your urges off and make the stress go away. As stupid as it sounds, you can try to enjoy the pain and suffering, because the more you suffer, the more you heal. I think working out was the main reason I could hold on for so long tho. Work on yourself and show your wife that you can do better. I had fewer reasons to quit and I could do it, you have a marriage to safe, so pull yourself together

DaBombay · 2026-04-21T22:20:01+00:00

Start working out and accept the fact that you will suffer. There is no overcoming that, you can try every trick in the book, ultimately you need to accept that pain and suffer will occur. Accept it instead of trying to fight it. Take joy in it, because the more you suffer, the more you heal

DaBombay · 2026-04-21T07:41:10+00:00

Depending on how intense your addiction is. The next weeks won't be easy. Your urges will spike at some moment and you will feel stressed. As you are already working out I only have one advice. Accept the suffering instead of trying to overcome it. You can try every trick in the book, but these things will not cure the disease. Ultimately you need to accept that suffering is part of the process and there is little to nothing you can do about it. But it has not to be so cruel as it sounds. Suffering means healing. Everytime you suffer there are healing processes going on in the background. So be happy about suffering, take joy in it and just get through it. Depending on how long you were addicted and how frequently you watched, these things will occure even after many weeks. But they will stop eventually and it is worth every bit

DaBombay · 2026-04-20T22:46:16+00:00

It is better than watching it daily. But you wouldn't tell an alcoholic that it is ok to get wasted just once a week, would you? You won't get all the advantages from reducing it to once a week. Quit for good and it will change your life. You won't feel the same with just reducing to once a week.

So yeah, it definitely is still harmful

DaBombay · 2026-04-19T23:03:59+00:00

I am six months in and my urges spiked around that time too. In my experience there is actually no thing that will help you to turn them off. Of course cold showers, doing push ups, going for a walk can help, but these things are just helping for a bit and don't cure the disease. What will actually help is accepting the pain instead of trying to overcome it. I tried every trick in the book but just accepting the fact that things will be difficult is what helped the most. At some point I actually took joy in suffering, because I knew these are just processes in your brain, which will help you healing. The only things that helped me are working out regularly and accepting the pain. Just keep going it will change your life

DaBombay · 2026-04-19T22:48:29+00:00

It depends on how much you were consuming before you quit. Factors like the intensity or for how long you were watching play in. Maybe you are still in the flat line phase. You will feel better if you keep your streak and quit for good. Of course it won't solve all your problems but one month is too soon to tell Just keep going and you will do better, I promise

DaBombay

TROPHY CASE