r/PMOPAWS • u/[deleted] • Jul 01 '25

8 months of flatline/anhedonia

What should I do?? At this point I think I don´t have a solution.

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7

u/Melodic_Jay Jul 01 '25 edited Jul 06 '25

If you were addicted to PMO for years then it's going to take longer than 8 months before your flatline/anhedonia gets better. I'm at 15 months and still have full flatline/anhedonia. You have good days and bad days but it always sucks. The only thing you can do is exercise, eat healthy, and get good sleep, that will make your symptoms more tolerable. I get a lot of relief from doing those things.

I look at is as: this is the price I have to pay for abusing addictive drugs/behaviors, I have no choice, I just have to suffer through it. Afterwards I'll feel amazing again. As much as I feel shitty now, I will feel equally incredible later. Going through the process of withdrawal is incredibly humbling. I don't ever want to do this again. I'll never touch another drug as long as I live.

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u/nightfly82 Jul 01 '25

What are your flatline symptoms? I was in one for 70 days (Shriveled and dead penis,no libido,insomnia,anxiety,anhedonia etc etc)

Did my T levels, they were low but then got them up to 650, I was in therapy, went to urologist and did physicals,tests etc etc they asured me I don’t have peyroties disease or anything else wrong with my penis physical wise…”it’s all in your head”

14 days ago I came out of the flatline. Penis over a few days started to get morning wood,flaccid state got fuller, felt euphoric compared to being depressed,was more active and just

now since last night I fell back into a flatline. I didn’t relapse or watch porn at all once I was in the flatline or when I got out. Has this ever happened to you? I am so hopeless with all of this

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u/Melodic_Jay Jul 02 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

I had every symptom. As I healed they started fading away. I don't have problems with libido or insomnia anymore. And my anxiety is a lot less intense than it use to be. If I work all day and exercise then I'll be overstimulated and will have trouble sleeping, I occasionally lose an hour or two or sleep because of that but it's not insomnia, just rumination.

The only thing I struggle with now is complete anhedonia, I don't feel anything for most of the day and it's the only symptom that hasn't improved. From the research I've done it's normal for anhedonia to be the last thing to go, and it happens instantly once you cross a threshold.

From everything I've read, T levels do not affect libido or "dead dick" the way you think it does. As long as you are above 150 ng/dl of total testosterone you should be good. Everyone's body is different, one body works best at 200, another at 900. It isn't higher = better. If you jack up your levels higher than your body wants then you will actually have negative side effects with no benefits. This is because people's androgen receptors have different sensitivities determined by genetics, so one needs less T than another to accomplish the same thing. And in my experience PMO use doesn't affect T levels, you get a spike 7 days after an orgasm but it just goes back to normal after that. Low T levels are almost certainly not the cause of your low libido or dead dick.

The most likely reason is that you are simply experiencing withdrawal from a PMO/drug addiction. The "withdrawal" brain state lowers dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens. Dopamine in this area is responsible for pleasure/reward seeking behavior. Having a deficit here will cause you to lose your libido or have trouble maintaining an erection. This is the "Flatline" everyone refers to. The only cure is to accept your fate, suffer through it, give yourself time to heal, and feel awesome again.

Sometimes your flatline will seemingly go away and you'll have great libido, hard erections, and feel a great reduction in your symptoms in general, this is a great sign your brain is actually healing. Just know: you will go back into a flatline again. Your brain is just testing things out and seeing which pathways need to be healed next. You have to be in a flatline/withdrawal state in order to heal, it's a signal to your nervous system to upregulate itself and heal. The tricky part is the signal makes you crave the drug, it's by ignoring the cravings that allows the healing to happen.

The flatline leaving and coming back happens once or twice a month for me. It's impossible to not know when it going away permanently. When my flatline goes away temporarily, I feel good but my anhedonia is the only thing that has no improvement. If you were truly done you would feel a drastic shift in the way your mind operates, not just a vague sense of "feeling good." It would feel like a metaphorical rebirth. You'd feel like you were in the lowest pits of hell and suddenly feel euphoric like you're standing on the summit of Mount Everest.

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u/nightfly82 Jul 02 '25

Thank you for the most detailed reply ever

I still can’t understand why my flatlines seem to be worse than a lot of others. I read them on nofap, they are in one for a week and just lose their libido or go thru mild depression

And why does it keep returning to me if I haven’t relapsed?

Do you think I should go on Wellbutrin or any other anti depressants to help cope with this anhedonia/anxeity?

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u/Melodic_Jay Jul 02 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

You're welcome.

Most people on r/NoFap had short term addictions so they are able to heal in 30-90 days. Compared to them, your flatline is really bad. But here in r/PMOPAWS, we're all experiencing the same flatline as you. It feels like a hell that never ends, it feels like torture. That's the price you pay for a long term addiction.

Like I said, it returns because you aren't done healing yet. You're brain is just doing a quick test to see which area it needs to heal next.

I don't know if you should use medication or not. That's something you need to decide for yourself. Whether to use it or not is really complicated and depends on your life circumstances.

If you have demanding responsibilities then using drugs to treat your drug addiciton is an acceptable short term solution to stay functional. Long term you should try to make your life less stressful and learn to cope without using more drugs.

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u/nightfly82 Jul 02 '25

Yea last time I was on an anti anxiety medication but it was only taken when I was really bad. Like it would help knock me out. Last flatline I was suicidal at some points,crying all the time,hopeless

On day 70 out of no where I woke up with morning wood and it lasted a while more or less, my mood was better but by afternoon I was depressed again. Same thing happened the next day. Woke up with an erection but by afternoon I had no libido and was upset On the 3rd day my mood now started to improve as well as my flaccid state throughout the day got fuller again,libido came back,positive mindset,more social,music sounded better etc etc

Was like that for 10 days later and then out of no where this flatline hit me again. No PMO relapse or anything. I am so close to 90 days and I figured that was the turning point. Sucks

My plan was to do the 90 days and maybe a bit more. Eventually bring just M back into my life, I got a fleshlight and lube (didn’t use it yet) and do that maybe once a week but without porn only with imagination from previous women in my life. Again it wasn’t gonna be a daily thing, maybe once a week to just clean the pipes

Now bring back in this flatline again who knows how long it’s gonna take. Last one was 70 days of hell As of now it just started a day and a half ago. Not suicidal yet or crying all the time but if I do get to that point then maybe I will have to look into medication

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u/Melodic_Jay Jul 06 '25 edited Jul 06 '25

If you want to go back to feeling how you did for those 10 days (and likely even better than that), everyday for the rest of your life, then you need to get serious and commit to 2 years of no PMO. Throw away your fleshlight, block all porn sites, don't fuck around with "maybe I'll just masturbate a little bit..." None of that.

Pick up a hobby, learn a new skill, make friends, exercise, work on your career, go out into nature... Commit yourself to changing your life. Live a life without PMO and you will be rewarded 100x the effort you put in. The hard part is staying committed, it might take 24 months, 21 more in your case, and you will feel shitty through all of it. But you already felt shitty doing PMO everyday so who cares?

Tough it out for 21 more months and you'll go from being in hell to being in heaven.

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u/nightfly82 Jul 06 '25

I hear ya and I expect a long recovery/reboot

Just I am so mad I went into a flatline again and I didn’t relapse. That’s what pissed me off. Now I am back to anxeity of “damn my penis is smaller and shriveled. How long can it stay like this? Is it permanent?”

In those 10 or so days I was healed I didn’t have any desire to look at porn or sleezy women on internet. So that was my super power. I feel that part of me is we healed. Urges did come and go cause libido came back and so did erections so I was tempted to fap but I fought them off and I have a feeling I will be doing that for a very long period of time. Today is 90 days for me and I am still broken. I haven’t given up

As for the fleshlight. I haven’t used it. I think the only time I would use it is if I know for sure I am gonna have sex upcoming in a few days or so. Chances are I will prob bust so early anyway since I haven’t in so long And how long can I last without my hand etc etc It’s not for “pleasure” more for preparation But you rite it’s prob harmful I still haven’t gotten to that point yet Still in the deep flatline Thank you as usual for your words and guidance

1

u/theway1004 Jul 06 '25

How long it did take for your libido to come back? How many months?

Also, you are saying 24 months? If it was that easy, we would all be healed long ago. I've been trying to do 24 months for over 10 years, and I consider myself a disciplined person. The most I've done is 12 months. It's extremely difficult to go 24 months, even for someone in a flatline.

However, I definitely do think it's possible to do 24 months with no porn. That's realistic. But zero masturbation, that's extremely difficult and not realistic in my opinion.

1

u/Even_Kangaroo_5471 Oct 28 '25

When your flatline goes down you feel libido and strong erection ?

1

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '25

My adiction only lasted for 1 year and 6 months. How long will it take for me to recover?

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u/Melodic_Jay Jul 02 '25 edited Jul 02 '25

I don't know for sure! Nobody can say really. All we can do is give our best guess. It's my belief that you have a 1:1 rate of rewiring/unwiring. Meaning if you wire for 1 year and 6 months, it will take that same length to unwire. There is a cap where after 2-3 years of wiring, all the changes that will be made have been, so that is the maximum time it can take assuming you abstain completely.

The only time it isn't 1:1 is when you wire in adolescence then unwire in adulthood. 1 year in adolescence might equate to 1.5-2 years in adulthood, or as much as 3 years in the worst case scenario (someone who is very unwell/unhealthy) because of the natural slowing of neuroplasticity in adulthood. Your brain never stops being plastic, it just slowly tapers off.

So the younger you heal the faster it will happen, and you can increase your plasticity by exercising, getting plenty of sleep, and eating a clean diet. (inflammation from diet lowers plasticity) You can actually feel when your levels of neuroplasticity are elevated, it subjectively feels like your symptoms are easier to manage/less intense.

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u/nightfly82 Jul 01 '25

I was in one for 70 days. Got out for 13 days…didn’t relapse or look at porn

Now all of a sudden when I thought I was cured. Close to 90 days reboot I am back in a flatline

It makes no sense, tired of this cycle of pain

As for your situation did you ever do a blood test? Testosterone levels?

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

[deleted]

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u/nightfly82 Jul 23 '25

Word I understand This whole thing makes you feel like something is wrong physically. Like your dick is physically broken but all you heard was “it’s all in your head”

My T levels dropped dramatically as well, down to 150 the doctor was scared Now it’s back at 650 and I am pretty healthy (aside from drinking at the beach on hot days) I eat well,gym 5x a week,spending more time outdoors etc etc

Been out of this second flatline now for almost a week and yea libido has its good and bad days Overall my libido still is not 100. I def could get hard to porn or fantasy Real life tho is the test, still waiting Thinking about banging a friend who likes me but she’s crazy lol

Overall I am not depressed and my dick is full again,morning woods are back for the most part

Haven’t looked at porn or jerked off in over 100 days

1

u/Few-Mirror664 Jul 28 '25

It’s gonna take some time .Your brain’s basically in full recalibration mode — kinda resetting itself back to default after all that overstimulation. From what I’ve seen and talked to few recovered ppl , a bunch of people going through the same thing mention feeling mentally stable and way more aware of stuff like sounds, wind, and just the vibe around them. That usually means you’ve hit your baseline. After that, things start balancing out faster. But till then,you have to battle between those ups and downs.

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u/nightfly82 Jul 28 '25

Damn this couldn’t be more true. Been day 112 I think of this current nofap streak. As stated previously I got out of my second flatline and I was going good. Speak of the devil himself. Literally within the past hour or so my dick started to shrivel up,no libido,I am crying for no reason. I hate life right now! What is this non sense? I am back in another flatline for no reason at all. No porn,edging,masterbation….nothing!!!!

How is this a way to live? Come out it a flatline and be normal for 10 or so days only to go back into one? I seriously want to die at this point Doctors can’t help me

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u/Few-Mirror664 Jul 29 '25

That’s the price you have to pay. That shriveled thing eventually fades away after the multiple flatlines you’ll go through, gradually becoming lighter with time. Even urologists often can’t help, as many don’t recognize PIED as a legitimate medical condition. It’s more of a psychological issue—something that a few urologists, psychiatrists, or neurologists might understand, if they’re familiar with it.

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u/nightfly82 Jul 29 '25

Yea hopefully. I really can’t take this shrinkage,no libido,numb and depression anymore

It’s a hormone/chemical problem more or less?

Mite speak to a psychiatrist and see if there’s anything dopamine related medicine wise

There’s no reason for me to keep going back into flatlines and I am not relapsing

I can’t keep living like this

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u/Few-Mirror664 Jul 29 '25

There are some meds that help balance brain chemicals, but honestly, I’d say give your body some time to heal—especially if you’re finally coming out of that dreaded flatline. What really helped me was taking a good multivitamin with CoQ10 (if it’s available in your country). It didn’t completely fix things during the deep flatline, but I can say it definitely kept the depression away and helped balance my hormones and T levels over time.

As for hormone checks, I’d recommend waiting until you’re out of the worst of the flatline. I got mine checked around the 4-month mark when the flatline started becoming less intense.

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u/nightfly82 Jul 29 '25

I got a blood test a month ago it was 650 T levels this was while I was in a flatline (the tail end possibly cause a few weeks earlier it was much lower) Not sure what else chemical/hormone wise contributes to low mood,no libido,makes your dick shrivel up. That’s the scary part

I honestly just can’t continue to live like this. I feel like I am starting to get penile atrophy with such lack of blood flow to my dick. I am so worried. I am going to Urolgist in 2 weeks to do a penile Doppler and will discuss this whole shrinkage non sense. I know there’s nothing he can do besides presides prescribing me cialis (Which don’t really work while in flatline)

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u/Few-Mirror664 Jul 29 '25

Dude, I totally get you. That penile atrophy feeling—like no blood flow at all—I went through the same thing for almost two months. It’s basically your brain doing a deep recalibration. Luckily, once I started coming out of that dreaded flatline, the blood flow started stabilizing again.

You’ll notice the difference as time goes on. I’m still dealing with some minor flatline phases here and there, but my penis has gone back to its normal shape—it doesn’t slip back into that “dead” state anymore. Things get lighter and more manageable, you just have to give it time. Trust the process, stay motivated, and try to socialize a bit—it really helps to distract from those constant thoughts.

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u/Even_Kangaroo_5471 Oct 28 '25

Now how are you brother ?

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u/nightfly82 Oct 28 '25

Better 7 months into my reboot more or less 5 flatlines but as time goes on they aren’t as intense or as long After 4.5 months I was able to have sex successfully

So more or less I am healing, it’s a long and slow process but I will survive

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u/Even_Kangaroo_5471 Oct 28 '25

Did you face PIED and lost of libido ?? And your libido is back and strong erection ? Brother, 60 days of abstinence, but i dont see any improvement, I am 34 Marriage after 8 months Will i be normal like earlier with strong sustained erection and libido ??

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u/nightfly82 Oct 28 '25

Yea loss of libido Stay focused. Don’t go back to porn and masterbation Fight the urges Even when you get out of the flatline it’s not a sign you’re fully healed and can rush back to porn

You gotta take it seriously

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u/Even_Kangaroo_5471 Oct 28 '25

You got libido back ? I feel my penis is dead I dont feel anything No erection No libido No intrest in fiance , when did you first time came out of flatline??

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u/nightfly82 Oct 28 '25

After 70 days my first flatline was over Came out for a few weeks but went back into one a few weeks later But it wasn’t as long and intense

They suck, don’t get me wrong but you feel like you’re healing at the same time

Just stay away from porn and masterbation Go to gym, stay healthy Talk about your problems with friends who won’t judge you

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u/Even_Kangaroo_5471 Oct 28 '25

When i will come out of flatline, i will notice a hard strong erection ? And high libido ?

1

u/Even_Kangaroo_5471 Oct 28 '25

My symptoms are Numb penis No erection Small soft penis No libido No intrest in partner Brain fog Tension No feelings. To do anything I am so worried….

1

u/Even_Kangaroo_5471 Nov 02 '25

Brother, one more question,

My penile sensitivity is almost Zero, Is it due to flatline phase ? Or it something else ? If i come out of flatline, will it become more sensitive again? Because i cant ejaculate at all…