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You have to remember that its all about your dopamine tolerance and the things that increase it. For me it was high energy electronic music, binge-watching youtube series, gaming, and watching youtube videos about the games i was playing. All of those things increased my tolerance and contributed to my addiction. For example, you can think of your dopamine tolerance as a computers cpu. The more high-stimulation activities you do, the harder that cpu has to work. Eventually it has to work so hard that it starts to heat up, and this can cause numerous issues in a computer. Similarly, if you have too much stimulation, it will cause you problems such as gaming addiction. Its better to choose several low-stimulating activities and only one or two high stimulating activities to keep your tolerance from increasing.

I’ve seen this video before! Glad to see someone else has as well. This video helped me to discover that it’s not just video games that contribute to high dopamine tolerance and make other activities less fun, but several other things contribute as well. take me for instance. When i first moved out of my parents house, i was just watching tv and playing games intermittently. This was not much stimulation, so i still viewed other activities as fun, such as hanging out with friends, eating out, rock climbing, and board games, and i put these things first over games, even though i still filled any leftover time i had with games and i had trouble getting enough sleep because of it. However, soon i started to listen to high energy electronic music every time i drove my car and eventually i started watching youtube videos about random things. This made things worse, but i could still put other activities first even then. However, it was when i started regularly watching youtube videos about the games i was playing that games started becoming my prison. That was the proverbial last straw. I always wondered what made my situation worse than what it was when I moved out of my parents house, but now i know. Between high energy electronic music, 5+ hours a day of video games, binge-watching youtube shows, and viewing youtube videos about the games i was playing, i was being buried alive by my extremely high dopamine tolerance. It got so bad that when i lost my job in April, i was playing 24 hours and then sleeping 12 hours. At that point, I felt like my life was over and i wanted to die, but thankfully my parents helped me back on my feet, and thankfully i found the game quitters community. I realized that in addition to quitting games, i needed to make some changes to other parts of my life. So far i have started listening to electro-chill instead or high energy music, and i’m currently reducing my time on youtube. If i do watch something regarding games, I don’t watch anything regarding gaming communities that i may be tempted to join and contribute to. for example, I watch hermitcraft, which is an exclusive minecraft community for youtubers, and i feel no temptation afterwards as its not an easy community to join. This has helped tremendously with my dopamine levels and i now find other activities enjoyable. knowing what i know now, if i ever wanted to try to play in moderation, i now know what to avoid in order to maintain balance in my life. Anyway, i hope this makes it much clearer to other people that other activities can indeed contribute to gaming addiction.

Yeah, i think its for those who have low dopamine levels, which obviously isn't anyone who has gaming issues. Then again, someone could be born with lower than natural levels, and maybe that’s why some people can play for hours without becomming addicted, because games would only serve to balance their dopamine levels then. Who knows. My dad used to play rts games like starcraft and supreme commander for hours and stop whenever he wanted, and yet he never understood why i couldn’t manage to control myself while playing the exact same games for the exact same amount of time. This lead to a lack of empathy between us, as he was the one who disciplined me more often. A dopamine antagonizer could theoretically make you resistant to increases in dopamine levels and tolerance, but i think you would be playing with fire if you went that route. Most meds that do that are anti-psychotics. Plus, if your dopamine gets too low, it may reduce your attention span and cause depression. You might end up having to flood your brain with stimulation just to reach normal dopamine levels. Then again, I'm not a pharmacist or a doctor, so i could be way off left field with all of this.

Hello, I take bupropion, which i thought would help me focus better since i started losing my focus right after quitting games. When i started taking the medication, it helped me focus, but soon i started to get stuck watching youtube videos for hours. However, this does not count as an addiction since i’m able to quit when i need to. Its just worrying. I recently learned that medications like bupropion and concerta inhibit dopamine reuptake, which means that it increases dopamine concentrations in the synapses of the brain. Logically i would conclude that this medication is making things worse, as this would increase dopamine tolerance, making instant-gratification activities even more desirable than long-term reward activities. Let me know if you’ve experienced similar symptoms or have taken bupropion after quitting games.

Sorry guys, a lot has happened I. The last 5 days and I haven’t been able to post it. I can say that I haven’t played games though. I’m now on day 20, well, in 30 minutes I will be. I’ll try to post the journals when I wake up tomorrow.

Day 15: I got to talk with my friends this morning on zoom. It’s good to be able to keep in touch even during the pandemic. In the evening I went out. I had several minor drives to play games today, but those were triggered by seeing images that reminded me of them. what I’m grateful for today: my friends, zoom. why I want to quit games: I’ll develop stronger relationships with my friends. Why I play games: because the process of building something from the ground up is Very fun, especially when you have a good friend with you. What triggered me to play games today: I saw a picture that had black cubes in it and it reminded me of Solid fuel from Factorio. In fact, I also think of Factorio every time I think of power lines, malls, trains, pollution, etc. I loved that game, and still do. It’s just so sad that I’ll never be able to play that game again. But I can’t, or else I’ll never find true enjoyment in life.

Day 14: I think I’m spending too much time on here. I need to focus on my life and getting a job. I’ll still write my daily journals and respond to messages, but I really need to focus on other things in order to get my life going again. Nothing major happened today yet. I haven’t had cravings today either, but it’s 12:46 PM. I’m just trying to study for my Windows 10 exam and it’s been hard to concentrate on it. I’m also having trouble keeping to a routine, since I keep forgetting to do certain things. What I’m grateful for today: my car, subway restaurant, my mom, having a place to live. why I want to quit games: because I’ll be able to think clearer and have a strong routine. why I play games: to escape the guilt of my own incompetence. What triggered my cravings today: nothing so far.

Ah, so DHA Omega 3 also helps improve brain synapses on top of being an anti-inflammatory. I never thought reading, sports, and going for a walk would have such an effect on synapse growth. Thanks for this info @creationlist

I found more information: DHA Onega 3 fatty acids are a natural anti-inflammation in the brain and can be easily supplemented with cod liver oil pills. Although the might not be an instant cure for mind fog due to brain inflammation, they can help to reduce the severity of brain inflammation in the future based on how much you take. In other words, if you take them daily, you’ll get less severe mental fog. They are definitely a better source of anti-inflammatory than medicines like ibuprofen because DHA omega 3 already exists naturally in the brain, although the effects are much more subtle. I hope this information helps. I’ll be taking them myself.

Thanks @Erik2.0, I’ll do my best.

Day 13: Going out to town today. It’s 10:30 am now. Will edit this post later with more info. Things I’m grateful for: my car, restaurants that let me chill for an hour or so and work on my phone, department stores. Why I want to quit games: I wouldn’t be able to go to town very often if I played them. I would have more time to think about other people and my feelings wouldn’t be so dull why do I play games: because I want to be a part of a community, but my cravings for better highs force me to frequently leave the game and look elsewhere. what triggered my cravings today: i saw a gaming video on my YouTube homepage that I could’ve watched, but instead I hit the not interested button. That makes videos from that person appear less frequent on your home section.

Thanks for the welcome and advice, I’ll definitely give that a try.

Thanks @BooksandTrees, I just found that the burning brain feeling Is asociated with brain inflammation, while brain inflammation is asociated with mental fog. Another site asociated brain inflammation with cytokines and drug and alcohol addiction. This must mean that the brain becomes inflamed due to gaming addiction, but it’s not strong enough to be detected as a burning sensation, but strong enough to create mental fog. However, if you push hard against that fog, the inflammation gets worse and you get all kinds of nasty symptoms, like burning brain, headache, and lightheadedness. That would also explain the massive headache I get for playing games for too long or trying to work hard. sources: Burning Brain feeling and brain inflammation: https://www.holisticcharlotte.com/is-your-brain-on-fire-symptoms-of-brain-inflammation/ Drug/alcohol addictions and brain inflammation due to autoimmune response: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804710/

Glad to here, I’m having trouble with painting though. I’ve never done it before and I’m trying to start from scratch.

Day 12: the hurricane is gone. I haven’t really done much at all today but look in this forum. I write a big reply to a post about mental fog today. I thought of games a little today, but no serious urges today. Why do I want to quit games: I want to have a life and a routine that I can control. I want to get rid of the mental fog, exhaustion from getting 4-5 hours of sleep every night because of games, going to bed worrying if I’ll wake In time for work tomorrow even with multiple alarms set, and the loneliness that comes when you push you’re friends away. I want to have a happy life, and that’s not going to happen while I’m addicted to games. why I payed games: for an escape from my negative feelings and because I have an obsession with organizing things. what triggers me to play games: stress, guilt for past mistakes, boredom, loneliness, a newly released sequel to a game that I loved, gaming youtube videos

I’ve had it all of my life. I never knew what it was, I just chalked it up to me being autistic and the fact the autistic people often think slower. I never knew it was a thing until I read @BooksandTrees introduction post and realized it was a symptom of gaming addiction and withdrawal from it. Now that I’ve had about a day to think about it, mental fog has been at the route of some of the most traumatic events in my life and all of the trouble that I’ve had in my jobs. when I got old enough for my parents to leave me at home during summer break, they would give me stuff to do, like clean the kitchen, vacuum the floor, and pick up around the house. Since I was addicted then, the first few times that they left me home, I would play games, thinking I could play half the day and work the other half. But then when my parents came home and nothing was done because I played all day, they were understandably pissed at me. So then my parents told me to get things done before games, which I thought was better since my plan would be to do those things as fast as possible to get to the games, and that is when the mental fog hit me. For the first 15-30 minutes, I could focus, but after that, I would lose focus, I would have to “buffer think” by breaking what would be normal thinking into small pieces and rest for a moment after processing each piece. There were some points where i fought it with such ferocity that my brain would feel like it was on fire and my head would start to ache. In this state, what would normally take someone 2-3 hours of work to do took me all day and then some, and this happened every time I did something that wasn’t fun. The only time I could really work at normal pace was when I was working with mom or dad, and that was still miserable. So when this happened and my parents came home, I still wasn’t done with what they gave me, and I hadn’t gotten to the games either. So my parents would accuse me of playing games for the entire day like I had done before, and this would cause me to lose even more of their trust, and this is where all of my childhood troubles started. This more or less continued until my parents sent me to college in 2011. while in college, I lived in a dormitory with three other roommates, and they all played games. I played with two of them for the entire first year of college. During my entire time at college however, the fog would come and go. It always stayed with me through the day and into late at night, but would leave at around 1 or 2 Am. I got more done after 1 or 2 am than I did the entire day before. At that point, I thought I had a lack of energy due to not sleeping enough, but I now know it was mental fog. I would often feel the burning brain sensation when I tried to keep up with my instructors at school with taking notes, or when trying to do homework in my dorm, it was excruciating. I finished my associates with a 2.7 gpa. when I moved out of my parent’s house, I worked as a stocker in a store called target. I had to be there at 4am and we worked until 8, or later if more needed done. The work was hard and we had to be fast. The quota was 1 box every minute, which I obviously couldn’t keep up with. My buffering fog brain was able to go at a reasonable pace, but not at one box a minute. Caffeine would really help, but even on my best days and after 2-3 mountain dews, I would still be reprimanded for being too slow. The “brain on fire” feeling was much more frequent at this time and also brought disorientation and fatigue with it. it was a more distinct burning feeling, staying more to the front of my head, but always inside my head, not on it. Since I had to work hard, I was always pushing my brain to its upper limits with the fog, and this no doubt caused those ailments. I would get times where I was ready to double over because I felt like I was sick to my stomach. I quit that job because it was too much for me. well, more like I quit moments before I was fired, lol. During that time I had a second job working for advance auto parts. The work there was much less intense, but even then, the fog caused me trouble, and i would get lightheaded and nauseous on many days. doing simple tasks and resting during lunch helped me though. I quit this job when i got a better one. This job was an it Helpdesk support job, but I learned how to do many things that didn’t have anything to do with Helpdesk support. In fact I gained experience in almost all fields of IT, with the exception of software/sql/website development. I loved that job, and the fog didn’t make me Ill too often then. It did slow my work because my teammates and managers were in other countries, but I was still able to provide good help when it was needed. My main problem there was keeping my tasks organized and being punctual, but otherwise, I got things done before I went home. Right now, I’m on day 12 of 90 of my detox and I’m seeing the fog come and go very frequently. When it’s not there, I can focus on what I’m doing easier, but when it is, the most simplest of things can become a ten foot brick wall of an obstacle. All I can say is that I’m glad that I learned this and I can’t wait to be free of the grips of games and mental fog forever. Edit: it also affected my driving. There were some times where I could drive normally and my focus on the road was crisp and clear, but there were other times where I just couldn’t focus on anything, even with high energy dubstep music playing in the background, lol.

This entry is for days 10 and 11. I thought today, Monday, was day 10 until I saw that my last post was for day 9 on Saturday. Day 10: we set down in the morning and watched parts 5 and 6 of the regional convention series that’s on jw.org. Then we went out to do some shopping. We came home and I didn’t feel good so I went to bed early. It’s noon on day 11 and I’ve been cleaning up our house. Not much has happened today. Edit: Hurricane Isaias came later this day. I spent this evening trying to paint but I was having trouble making anything at all. Acrylic painting is very hard. My brain fog didn’t help either. I got very angry at painting and wanted to throw everything in the trash. I managed to calm myself down last night though. Still not sure what to do with painting. I feel like I’ve hit a brick wall.

Thanks Stanley, my dad gave me some encouraging but sobering advice. He said that my brain will never get over games and that the only way to fight those urges for the rest of my life would be to replace them with other things to do. He said that not a day goes buy where he didn’t wish he could get high again, but he knows that if he did get high, he would immediately become addicted again. Right now he gardens and brews alcohol. He likes to build and repair things as well, like right now he is renovating a room in their house, and after that he will start working on the upstairs bathroom. It’s when he can’t do all those things that he starts going crazy and has to look for other productive things to do. Mom thinks that splitting my free-time between 2 or 3 non-game activities and getting into a routine with them would ensure that I don’t become obsessive over one thing. Someone with addictive personality can make anything an addiction.

I can’t wait to get to that point. I’m on day 9 now and I’m really feeling it. I want these games out of my life and out of my personality!

You also have to consider that gaming addiction is just like substance addiction. Once you get addicted the first time, it becomes easier and easier to become addicted after detoxing; just one hit could get you hooked again, and a gaming hit would be like an hour or two of gaming. you also have to consider that there are some personality traits that can make it easier for you to pick up or return to an addiction. Addictive personality disorder can make it hard to avoid addictions. For example, I have an addictive personality because I like the act of organizing things into groups. When I was younger, I had toys that I would play with like any child, but instead of using my imagination to play, I just put them in rows based on specific categories. i did that for all of my childhood until I grew out of toys and into games. Games like roller coaster tycoon, sim city, sim tower, the sims, starcraft, spore, Star Wars: Empire at war, and Final Fantasy 8 fed into that obsession all the way until after I graduated from high school in 2009. The Metroid series was addicting as well, but only because those were my favorite puzzle/action games. In college, minecraft became my addiction. I played on the stompzcraft and great light desert servers. The fact the Minecraft can satisfy all four of the known gaming needs(Escape, growth, objective, and challenge) as well as my obsession made it the most addicting game that I’ve ever played. Even after college and until recently, I would periodically play Minecraft. After college, I was able to completely replace gaming with game programming, and that became an addiction as well. But eventually I went back to gaming. At this point, I think it’s safe for me to say that I’ll never be returning to games if I make it to 90 days. There is just too much at stake for me to go back. I’ll go find something else to organize.

Day 9: Feeling moody today. I went to town. Listened to some music and got lunch. Feeling better. I really need to get a job, that’s what held my routine together. Now I’m lost. Sure it’s Saturday, but without a job, the days are really starting to blend together.

Thanks @amchow, I’m glad you appreciated them.

Hello everyone, I found some scriptures from the Bible that pertain to gaming addiction, and there are a lot. Let’s look at 3 of them. Whether you read the Bible or not, these scriptures no doubt apply to your situation. I’m using the revised New world translation of the holy scriptures, but these scriptures should bear the same message in every translation. “If, then, your hand or your foot makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or lame than to be thrown with two hands or two feet into the everlasting fire(Matthew 18:8)” - This one is self explanatory. If we want to have a better life and a brighter future, sometimes we have to sacrifice something that’s almost a part of us, and that hurts, almost as much as cutting off a hand or foot. Verse 9 of that same chapter gives the same message, except with the eye. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If, then, your eye is focused, your whole body will be bright. But if your eye is envious, your whole body will be dark. If the light that is in you is really darkness, how great that darkness is!“(Matthew 6:22, 23). In the scripture, Jesus said this statement mainly to discourage the trusting of wealth to bring happiness and protection. However, it still applies to gaming addiction, or really anything that steals your focus away from what causes you true happiness. Another translation of the Bible puts the word “simple” in place of “focused.” How can any of us say that our lives are simple if we are slave to an activity that causes us undue stress and risks our relationships and livelihood? simply put, we can’t, and because of that we are in figurative darkness. Also, I love that last part. Basically if we think we have our ducks in a row and we really don’t, then we must be very oblivious to our situation. Sometimes it’s like that when fighting gaming addiction. It’s easy to fool ourselves into thinking we are completely in control, only to be toppled by an unexpected urge and relapse. I’ve fallen victim to this kind of thinking and relapsed before. “ Deaden, therefore, your body members that are on the earth as respects sexual immorality, uncleanness, uncontrolled sexual passion, hurtful desire, and greediness, which is idolatry. On account of those things the wrath of god is coming.”(Colossians 3:5, 6) - This scripture has a lot of information for us, but let’s just take a look at the very last part of verse 5 “ hurtful desire, and greediness, was which is idolatry.” What is idolatry? It’s the worship of idols devoted to deities. What is greediness? It’s being excessively or inordinately desirous of something. One could say that an addiction is a sort of unintentional greed. so by being addicted to something, you are inadvertently being greedy over it. So what’s the point? The point is that if you let something control you to the point where you are a slave to it, then you are worshipping your own false god. Even if you profess to be atheist, you are worshipping a false god right now if you continue to play games while addicted. Think of that next time you go to play games, and I will too. Anyway, just wanted to share this info because I thought it was helpful. The Bible is not just an old outdated book, it has practical advice for almost any difficult situation.

Thanks so much @amchow, I’ll follow that advice. My Dad and I haven’t always been on the best of terms, but we’re good now, so I will talk to him about it. I won’t push my mom away either though, I just have to save the practical stuff for Dad.

@ceponatia, I used to drink 2 liters of Diet Coke a day too, only it came with a large pizza. I gained 30 pounds of water weight over the years. I lost it as soon as I stopped drinking that stuff and it freaked me out. I thought sonething was wrong with me. All I can say is when I game, I drink soda.