Dealing with dopamine withdrawal

[EvolvingPhoenix]

So I've been following Agua's instructions on self healing and cut distraction out of my life to focus on self healing.

I'm doing healing codes, chanting mantras, doing the Eckhart Tolle presence exercises every day, and now I'm starting to include walking meditations as well into my daily routine.

But this stuff is pretty boring; it doesn't produce much dopamine.

So I've been going crazy from dopamine withdrawal over the past week, especially yesterday.

And I'm wondering what I can do to produce dopamine that doesn't interfere with my spiritual healing practices.

I'm thinking maybe practice an instrument or something and try to socialize as much as possible.

Still, it feels like I'm going nuts with boredom. If anybody has any tips for how to deal with the dopamine withdrawal, I'd love to hear your advice.

Because I feel like I'm going nuts, and sometimes I do stuff that isn't productive or healthy, just to get that dopamine because of dopamine withdrawal.

I spent all day yesterday watching Lost in Vegas Youtube Reaction videos because I was bored and I wanted some of the fun they were having vicariously through watching the videos.

Thing is, I wanna do something healthy for me, not just keep myself mindlessly distracted with Youtube videos and stuff like that.

If anybody has any tips for how to deal with this dopamine withdrawal in a healthy way, I'm all ears!

[AnthroHeart]

Masturbation produces dopamine.
I do that maybe twice a week.
I don't know if it's the dopamine I'm feeling or what.
It's not always euphoric though.

[Cyan]

Good question, I'm in the middle of doing my ethereal channeling so this maybe a bit all over the place.

In short, dopamine is the chemical which gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you go FORWARD in a situation that you are mulling over. Serotonine gives you a sense of accomplishment when you ponder other options and people and make a "wide" instead of "forward" choice. Both are used in neurotypical people at different times to produce a sense of wellbeing. Most narcotics increase dopamine, some increase seretonin like LSD and hallucinogenics, though as a rule of thumb, people use drugs to feel dopamine, not serotonine, this is true in street level as coffee, energy drinks, tobacco and almost all repetivie activities we have on thsi planet are dopamine heavy. So, in short, you cant, you cant get over a dopamine craving but it gets better over time, eventually if you go too far into it you'll lose interest in life in general so its keepeing you on your feet, if you stop using dopamine your body interpets it as being in starvation mode so it will fight even harder to keep getting dopamine. The essentially only safe and widely available way to produce dopamine naturally is to get sick rekd and pump iron like a dawg, that being said, I'm not one for that path so I'll ride out my dopamine crush, I know i can do it, enough sleeping pills, time and a steady environment will get me there, sleeping pills help when the dopamine crash is the worst but eventually even quitting drinkin 3 energy drink cans a day for a few years gets rough.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Masturbation produces dopamine.
I do that maybe twice a week.
I don't know if it's the dopamine I'm feeling or what.
It's not always euphoric though.

I have a hard time masturbating lately.

On one hand, sex without love no longer interests me, but sometimes I masturbate purely for lust anyway, simply because of dopamine withdrawal and/or because of sexual tension. Sometimes I watch porn, but I consider that particularly unhealthy from a spiritual standpoint.

I'm hoping to find some other way to produce dopamine for myself. I would spend more time with friends and family, but they're always busy.

I want to have fun and connect socially. But I dunno what to do...

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Good question, I'm in the middle of doing my ethereal channeling so this maybe a bit all over the place.

In short, dopamine is the chemical which gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you go FORWARD in a situation that you are mulling over. Serotonine gives you a sense of accomplishment when you ponder other options and people and make a "wide" instead of "forward" choice. Both are used in neurotypical people at different times to produce a sense of wellbeing. Most narcotics increase dopamine, some increase seretonin like LSD and hallucinogenics, though as a rule of thumb, people use drugs to feel dopamine, not serotonine, this is true in street level as coffee, energy drinks, tobacco and almost all repetivie activities we have on thsi planet are dopamine heavy. So, in short, you cant, you cant get over a dopamine craving but it gets better over time, eventually if you go too far into it you'll lose interest in life in general so its keepeing you on your feet, if you stop using dopamine your body interpets it as being in starvation mode so it will fight even harder to keep getting dopamine. The essentially only safe and widely available way to produce dopamine naturally is to get sick rekd and pump iron like a dawg, that being said, I'm not one for that path so I'll ride out my dopamine crush, I know i can do it, enough sleeping pills, time and a steady environment will get me there, sleeping pills help when the dopamine crash is the worst but eventually even quitting drinkin 3 energy drink cans a day for a few years gets rough.

I dunno about sleeping pills to get through a dopamine crash, but your post was quite informative, so thanks for that, Cyan.

[Glow]

Masturbation produces dopamine.
I do that maybe twice a week.
I don't know if it's the dopamine I'm feeling or what.
It's not always euphoric though.

I have a hard time masturbating lately.

On one hand, sex without love no longer interests me, but sometimes I masturbate purely for lust anyway, simply because of dopamine withdrawal and/or because of sexual tension. Sometimes I watch porn, but I consider that particularly unhealthy from a spiritual standpoint.

I'm hoping to find some other way to produce dopamine for myself. I would spend more time with friends and family, but they're always busy.

I want to have fun and connect socially. But I dunno what to do...

Could you not go for a run or a brisk walk?
Runners high is real. I go to the gym and workout hard a few times a week. It does wonders.

[Glow]

Still I’m confused what symptoms are you having?

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Masturbation produces dopamine.
I do that maybe twice a week.
I don't know if it's the dopamine I'm feeling or what.
It's not always euphoric though.

I have a hard time masturbating lately.

On one hand, sex without love no longer interests me, but sometimes I masturbate purely for lust anyway, simply because of dopamine withdrawal and/or because of sexual tension. Sometimes I watch porn, but I consider that particularly unhealthy from a spiritual standpoint.

I'm hoping to find some other way to produce dopamine for myself. I would spend more time with friends and family, but they're always busy.

I want to have fun and connect socially. But I dunno what to do...

Could you not go for a run or a brisk walk?
Runners high is real. I go to the gym and workout hard a few times a week. It does wonders.

I do go for walks. Maybe I should exercise more. I'm getting the feel from this post that two things will help me: Advancing a goal and exercise.

If I could find a way to make guitar practice fun, that might help with the dopamine cravings...

But maybe exercise can also help. Maybe I should get a gym membership?

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Still I’m confused what symptoms are you having?

I just feel like I'm going nuts. Maybe I shouldn't call it dopamine withdrawal, as that gives the idea that I'm having physiological symptoms. I'm not, I just feel like I'm going nuts with boredom, and I'm trying to think of a healthy way to alleviate it, because all I'm doing lately it feels like is meditating, chanting and talking to people online to alleviate the boredom. Sometimes, annoying Agua with repetitive emails because I'm also spending a lot of time obsessing over stuff.

I need to get out more, but I dunno what I want to get out and do.

And like I've said, my friends aren't usually available.

[Cyan]

I used to walk 25.000 steps every 3 days for a few years. Never did notice getting runners high, but, collecting bottles from trash while wearing clean clothes and doing a o mani padme hum or any similar chant gets you to a wonderful state, though your areas bottle collecting laws maybe different and you cant set up a simple route of A to B and make 5 bucks doing so, which you can then use to buy a large chocolate coffee en indulge your dopamine, but thats just me, walking made me feel a bit better but I walked so much I peeled off the bottoms of my feet so I cant really recommend that, maybe get a good personal coach or someone who wants to exercise and go with them to the gym, you cant get the type of "workoutrush" by just walking around that you may need for your health.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

I used to walk 25.000 steps every 3 days for a few years. Never did notice getting runners high, but, collecting bottles from trash while wearing clean clothes and doing a o mani padme hum or any similar chant gets you to a wonderful state, though your areas bottle collecting laws maybe different and you cant set up a simple route of A to B and make 5 bucks doing so, which you can then use to buy a large chocolate coffee en indulge your dopamine, but thats just me, walking made me feel a bit better but I walked so much I peeled off the bottoms of my feet so I cant really recommend that, maybe get a good personal coach or someone who wants to exercise and go with them to the gym, you cant get the type of "workoutrush" by just walking around that you may need for your health.

Thanks for the input, Cyan.

I realize the balancing act I'm trying to pull here:

On one hand, I'm trying to heal from all this pain I've been through in life, starting possibly with some trauma experienced in the womb, and at the same time, enjoy life to the fullest as best I can and at the same time self actualize and become what I consider to be my best version, and connect with others. And polarize positive enough to make harvest. Such a tall order, you know?

No wonder I feel like I'm going nuts.

[Cyan]

I used to walk 25.000 steps every 3 days for a few years. Never did notice getting runners high, but, collecting bottles from trash while wearing clean clothes and doing a o mani padme hum or any similar chant gets you to a wonderful state, though your areas bottle collecting laws maybe different and you cant set up a simple route of A to B and make 5 bucks doing so, which you can then use to buy a large chocolate coffee en indulge your dopamine, but thats just me, walking made me feel a bit better but I walked so much I peeled off the bottoms of my feet so I cant really recommend that, maybe get a good personal coach or someone who wants to exercise and go with them to the gym, you cant get the type of "workoutrush" by just walking around that you may need for your health.

Thanks for the input, Cyan.

I realize the balancing act I'm trying to pull here:

On one hand, I'm trying to heal from all this pain I've been through in life, starting possibly with some trauma experienced in the womb, and at the same time, enjoy life to the fullest as best I can and at the same time self actualize and become what I consider to be my best version, and connect with others. And polarize positive enough to make harvest. Such a tall order, you know?

No wonder I feel like I'm going nuts.

Thought I'd point something more out, for a person with strong or well actualized defences learning new things makes you feel like you're going nuts and stupid and that impulse is very hard to reist, to force the mind back into the mindset of "YEAH; I AM STUPID; SO WHAT" from the defence of "being smarter than others in some things". IT feels like your muscles itch and tense on their own, like your body is crawling with ants and many other things, but you know that without learning new things you'd die so your body accepts it, but try to remember that there can be false information in the new thing you study as well and if ends up hurting you the dopamine withdrawal will be even worse. I hope you get the best of situations and can heal well. Sometimes, from personal experience, seeing how you were responsible, in a direct way by acting now to receive a trauma in the past, to see the trauma without veil, is much less easy to develop through than to believe that there has been an exterior "trauma", so just knowledge may not help.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

I was talking to Foha and he pointed out that I'm working myself kind of hard on the healing front, and that I should take it easy just a bit and do something else for a bit each day, rather than focusing on healing entirely and rather than trying to go hard in all sorts of directions. I'm thinking maybe I'll do a lot of healing work early in the day and then make some time later in the day to: interact with other people (online or IRL) play with my pets, and play a bit of guitar (without expecting too much out of myself on the guitar front). That might be a good balancing act for me. We'll see how it works out.

[AnthroHeart]

I drink too much coffee. Maybe it does release dopamine as well.

I remember hearing in a Drugs and Society class that Cocaine releases tremendous amounts of dopamine and then it uses all of it up and you crash hard.
So I wonder if my coffee addiction is like a mild cocaine addiction.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Maybe. It could also be some sort of reaction to unconscious fears or something. You and I are alike in that we struggle to face our fears.

If it is the coffee, I recommend using decaf (at least every other drink, so you can cut down on the caffeine. Or maybe cut the coffee with decaf coffee to make the caffeine amount weaker) and sugar free creamer (there's a sugar free French Vanilla creamer that tastes quite good) and you could also use sugar free Hills Bros. Cappuccino mix (it's flavored with Splenda) The French Vanilla sugar-free creamer and cappuccino mix and creamer are something my dad uses to make some rather tastey sugar free coffee.
Alternatively, you could use the sugar free creamer with splenda and add decaf coffee into the mix, and you've got a good tasting, sugar and caffeine free coffee that cures psychological cravings while not indulging in whatever you're physically addicted to. Plus, you don't have to quit sugar and caffeine cold turkey. You could just cut down by mixing in the sugar/caffeine free alternatives with the sugary/caffeinated stuff. Tell me if that helps with your addiction. You'd be surprised how good the sugar free stuff can taste! I've tried my dad's coffee before and it tasted really good, despite being sugar free. Granted, he used that cappuccino mix, so make it like he does and it won't be decaf. But maybe you could mix in decaf coffee and only get your caffeine from the cappuccino mix and you've got a not entirely caffeine free drink that's sugar free. I'm just throwing darts here, you know. Take my ideas how you will. But I think if you experiment with decaf and/or sugar free alternatives, you can find a way to cut down on whatever your physically addicted to while still sating psychological cravings.

[Tae]

I used to walk 25.000 steps every 3 days for a few years. Never did notice getting runners high

Cause you were walking. I have had one period in my life where every day, I walked. A lot. Never got any dopamine rushes from it. There was a period in my life where I was a gym bum. I could work out intensely for 30 minutes and wow, I have never been more in my body. It devastated me that I stopped and never got the habit back. The high intensity seems to be key to getting high off of exercise.

I quit coffee+energy drink habit cold turkey, by the way. Relapsed a couple times; currently I have a healthy relationship with coffee where I have a cup with cream, no sugar, maaaybe once or twice a week developing no dependency. Let me tell you, that was the sickest I've felt. It was worth it. I can now use caffeine when I urgently need awake juice and get a boost without any side effects, and enjoy a cup of coffee occasionally. It doesn't sound like you're suffering, though, just bored. Get yourself a nice meditative hobby and go have some fun. You can only hack through getting over the addiction with time and distractions, there's no magic trick unfortunately, only riding it out. I do promise that the caffeine withdrawal goes away and well, if you find no joy in a small quiet meditative life maybe that's not the service you're here to provide.

We're here to do things and experience the catalyst of joy! Don't forget! That's part of healing too.

[AnthroHeart]

Masturbation produces dopamine.
I do that maybe twice a week.
I don't know if it's the dopamine I'm feeling or what.
It's not always euphoric though.

I have a hard time masturbating lately.

On one hand, sex without love no longer interests me, but sometimes I masturbate purely for lust anyway, simply because of dopamine withdrawal and/or because of sexual tension. Sometimes I watch porn, but I consider that particularly unhealthy from a spiritual standpoint.

I'm hoping to find some other way to produce dopamine for myself. I would spend more time with friends and family, but they're always busy.

I want to have fun and connect socially. But I dunno what to do...

I don't think porn is necessarily unspiritual if both parties are consensual.
I look at cartoon porn, usually anthros/furries. They don't even exist, so it's not like my energy is affecting anyone.
Yeah, I usually do it for lust. I don't worry because I'm not trying to be "spiritual".

I find masturbation without porn to be incredibly difficult. It only really worked when I loved a cartoon character.
When I was really in love with them. And even then it was perverted.
It seems like only perverted things arouse me.

I don't get off to normal sex.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Masturbation produces dopamine.
I do that maybe twice a week.
I don't know if it's the dopamine I'm feeling or what.
It's not always euphoric though.

I have a hard time masturbating lately.

On one hand, sex without love no longer interests me, but sometimes I masturbate purely for lust anyway, simply because of dopamine withdrawal and/or because of sexual tension. Sometimes I watch porn, but I consider that particularly unhealthy from a spiritual standpoint.

I'm hoping to find some other way to produce dopamine for myself. I would spend more time with friends and family, but they're always busy.

I want to have fun and connect socially. But I dunno what to do...

I don't think porn is necessarily unspiritual if both parties are consensual.
I look at cartoon porn, usually anthros/furries. They don't even exist, so it's not like my energy is affecting anyone.
Yeah, I usually do it for lust. I don't worry because I'm not trying to be "spiritual".

I find masturbation without porn to be incredibly difficult. It only really worked when I loved a cartoon character.
When I was really in love with them. And even then it was perverted.
It seems like only perverted things arouse me.

I don't get off to normal sex.

It's hard to masturbate lovingly. That's my issue with masturbation. I still do it now and then, but I always feel weird about not it after. I would really like to b in a loving relationship where love-making rather than just fucking is a normal habit. Ra says that sex without activation of the green ray slightly polarizes you negatively, if I recall. **sigh** Life is hard.


Oh and Agua just gave me a huge reality check where it turns out I'm not really doing all that much on the healing front and I'm just being dishonest with myself. **sigh again**

Well, time to get back to my healing regimen, and this time doing everything as much as possible.

[Cainite]

So I've been following Agua's instructions on self healing and cut distraction out of my life to focus on self healing.

I'm doing healing codes, chanting mantras, doing the Eckhart Tolle presence exercises every day, and now I'm starting to include walking meditations as well into my daily routine.

But this stuff is pretty boring; it doesn't produce much dopamine.

So I've been going crazy from dopamine withdrawal over the past week, especially yesterday.

And I'm wondering what I can do to produce dopamine that doesn't interfere with my spiritual healing practices.

I'm thinking maybe practice an instrument or something and try to socialize as much as possible.

Still, it feels like I'm going nuts with boredom. If anybody has any tips for how to deal with the dopamine withdrawal, I'd love to hear your advice.

Because I feel like I'm going nuts, and sometimes I do stuff that isn't productive or healthy, just to get that dopamine because of dopamine withdrawal.

I spent all day yesterday watching Lost in Vegas Youtube Reaction videos because I was bored and I wanted some of the fun they were having vicariously through watching the videos.

Thing is, I wanna do something healthy for me, not just keep myself mindlessly distracted with Youtube videos and stuff like that.

If anybody has any tips for how to deal with this dopamine withdrawal in a healthy way, I'm all ears!

I think this all depends on what you deem as productively spending time. for some it can mean simply ''being''.
To another person it may mean making progress towards a distant goal. but still we're always also searching for instant satisfaction.
But a sense of duty is needed at times.. doing the same things every day without being satisfied but knowing we're making progress towards a distant goal that will be a lot more satisfactory in the long run..

Maybe you can go on a trip. specially if nature sucks where you live.
Also meditative walks don't have to be boring.. I get the feeling you have a need for unleashing your creativity. maybe use those walks for that to make them a lot more fun and engaging.

[AnthroHeart]

I saw this on Facebook.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

So I've been following Agua's instructions on self healing and cut distraction out of my life to focus on self healing.

I'm doing healing codes, chanting mantras, doing the Eckhart Tolle presence exercises every day, and now I'm starting to include walking meditations as well into my daily routine.

But this stuff is pretty boring; it doesn't produce much dopamine.

So I've been going crazy from dopamine withdrawal over the past week, especially yesterday.

And I'm wondering what I can do to produce dopamine that doesn't interfere with my spiritual healing practices.

I'm thinking maybe practice an instrument or something and try to socialize as much as possible.

Still, it feels like I'm going nuts with boredom. If anybody has any tips for how to deal with the dopamine withdrawal, I'd love to hear your advice.

Because I feel like I'm going nuts, and sometimes I do stuff that isn't productive or healthy, just to get that dopamine because of dopamine withdrawal.

I spent all day yesterday watching Lost in Vegas Youtube Reaction videos because I was bored and I wanted some of the fun they were having vicariously through watching the videos.

Thing is, I wanna do something healthy for me, not just keep myself mindlessly distracted with Youtube videos and stuff like that.

If anybody has any tips for how to deal with this dopamine withdrawal in a healthy way, I'm all ears!

I think this all depends on what you deem as productively spending time. for some it can mean simply ''being''.
To another person it may mean making progress towards a distant goal. but still we're always also searching for instant satisfaction.
But a sense of duty is needed at times.. doing the same things every day without being satisfied but knowing we're making progress towards a distant goal that will be a lot more satisfactory in the long run..

Maybe you can go on a trip. specially if nature sucks where you live.  
Also meditative walks don't have to be boring.. I get the feeling you have a need for unleashing your creativity. maybe use those walks for that to make them a lot more fun and engaging.

Naw I can't afford to go on a trip.

Yeah, I did a meditative walk for about an hour today, at Agua's instruction. IT wasn't boring. Although I got distracted a lot.

As for needing to unleash my creativity, you might be right about that. I dunno.

Agua says boredom is a defense mechanism of the ego.

Maybe that's my problem is my mind is putting up every bit of resistance to becoming present.

Trying to push through it is frankly quite exhausting, but Agua pointed out he spends more time and energy trying to keep me motivated and helping me out and answering my repetitive questions and stuff than I do doing these healing exercises.

So I should probably just stop complaining and go full throttle with the healing exercises, as much as it may be boring to do and as much resistance as I naturally have to doing it. It's the only way forward for me. I've already managed to get myself out of acute psychosis with Agua's help, so maybe I can heal myself with that same help. But it seems like I'm wearing his patience thin.

Gotta be more independent.

[RitaJC]

Boredom can be a great source of inspiration. The ability to utilize it is a skill that can be developed

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Thank you for posting that RitaJC. I'm sitting here at the university, with these emotions, just loving them as they come up.

[AnthroHeart]

EP, maybe one of the hypnosis sessions I posted here may help: https://www.bring4th.org/forums/showthre...?tid=16779

They have like 200 of them there. I posted the one I just listened to.

Maybe you could use that and get some answers to what you are wondering.

[EvolvingPhoenix]

Ok I'll check it out. Thanks Indigo.

[AnthroHeart]

Ok I'll check it out. Thanks Indigo.

Yeah, I never felt oneness like I did with that before.
I felt like I was glowing after, and still am like 30 minutes later.
That sure felt like a dopamine release that was steady and deep. Never felt so relaxed.

Good luck.