Breaking the cycle

Have you got Gamban installed on all your devices and are they not being blocked ? You can always report them to Gamban and they will block them.

I'm only on day 54 but in case any of this helps this is what I've done

1. Installed Gamban and self excluded with Gamstop. Joined Moses and Sense to self exclude

2. Put blocks on my bank cards for gambling (I know points 1 and 2 might not work for the dodgy sites)

3. Plenty of walking and exercise to replace the dopamine

4. Joined Gamblers anonymous both in person and online (Gamblers in recovery there are zoom meetings 24/7). Found a GA group which works for me and I get on with the people there

5. Come on the chatrooms here and get advice from long term Gamble free people. The 8pm one each night is the busiest but on Mondays they are 6pm 7pm and 8pm

6. Talk to the advisors on live chat here or on the phone. They can really help and you can ask them anything

7. Open up and talk to friends and family

8. The most important thing you can do is build a support network of people you can talk to openly

9. Let someone else look after your money or at least let them "check" up on you so you are accountable for your spend by looking at your banking app each night. 

10. Only carry the amount of cash you need to or cards and no cash

11. Watch recovery videos on youtube

12. Listen to the podcasts on Breakeven

13. If you feel it would help, ask about counselling via the live chat here and ask for a referral with CBT or mental health counselling

14. Read as much online as you can on recovery. Not just UK sites but there are some excellent Australian and American ones which help with advice.

15. Chatrooms, GA, videos, podcasts, reading online are all a form of medicine. Try and do at least one of these daily i.e. taking your medicine to stop

I gambled for 44 years so recognised it wasn't going to be easy to stop but I've used all of the above and will for the rest of my life as I will never be cured but am learning to cope.

Good luck

Stuart

Hi 

How's it all going and have you kept breaking the cycle ?