Age 22, 75 days without PMO - Making progress

Hi all,

As a bit of background, after coming across a news article regarding a link between porn use and ED, I stumbled upon YourBrainOnPorn last October and realised this was the cause of my problems. While I'd been with a handful of girls in the past, this was always hugely intertwined with heavy porn use since the age of 14/15, occasionally resulting in ED which was frustrating (but not curable, in my mind).

I think a significant amount of damage was done during a particularly long dry spell spanning from October 2010, having only a couple of encounters with girls in this time which only resulted in further ED problems. The realisation of porn being the cause of my problem was a huge relief, particularly as I had recently got into a relationship which had been further plagued with ED and no real "spark" in the bedroom - despite finding her attractive and really wanting things to progress.

While I'd hoped that me being reasonably young it wouldn't take as long as some of the rebooting accounts on here to heal, I embarked on this recommended journey of cutting porn out completely. For a couple of weeks I still MO'd a couple of times, but upon doing more research through YBOP I decided to cut this out too. Having never gone more than a week without MO for a good 8 years, this was a pretty major step for me as I guess it is for everyone, but with the chance of the "light at the end of the tunnel" of a fresh start!

Onto the rebooting...

My initial experience seems to have been very similar to others, whereby libido in the first 7-10 days was very high, which very quickly fell into a flatline period - with absolutely zero activity - libido or otherwise - for about 6 weeks. I'd read that this was the case and so I remained positive, however the biggest negative was in not finding it easy to talk to my girlfriend about it. Luckily (I guess?) she wasn't able to stay over very often, and I managed to come up with an excuse each time - not ideal.

Around the 7th week of no PMO my relationship ended (for other reasons) which took some pressure off. Around this period I started to notice occasional (100 morning wood and generally a bit more life downstairs which was promising, although success still felt a long way off. While giving up PMO was always in my mind, January was a busy month so I was content in allowing the rebooting to be taking place "behind the scenes".

So this brings me to now - the start of February 2012 and almost 11 weeks in (75 days exactly). With a new girlfriend now and things are considerably more active "downstairs". Libido is still frustratingly low compared to what it used to be, but at the hint of sex I'm managing a 60% erection much quicker than before and almost every time.

Unfortunately this never lasts long enough to actually have sex, nor would 60% be particularly effective. This constant stimulation (but with no release) actually gave me some very uncomfortable "blue balls" the other day which I'd never experienced before. All part of the process I guess!

Anyway so I become very close to MO'ing earlier and decided to resist by writing this blog to share my experience, particularly after how much some of these posts have kept me motivated.

So I'm still ploughing on and making gradual progress. Wish me luck!