Evening all, after finding myself an the end of the long dark road that is coming to terms with being a gambling addict I'm sat here typing this happy at last for the first time in a long time, Thursday evening after having left the bookies with just short 800 quid I went home to find my beautiful girlfriend waiting to go out for her birthday we went out had a blast woke up feeling rough as pig s**t, I took the remainder of the money with me to work , come 12 o'clock early finish first stop bookies 20 mins later the remainder of the money has been blasted an I'd done the b******s in on the bank card as well,I'd hit rock bottom in previous 2 weeks leading up to this I had won 4,750 on a slot machine an 8,500 on online roulette, hours later to be left with nothing I was heartbroken, altho having enough money to get by an live I realised that what was going on was a terrible horrible disgusting habit, abit of harmless fun betting £20 on football on a Saturday had turned into me gambling thousands of pounds in what felt like the blink of a eyelid, following Friday's antics I have gone on the get in touch with a local family friend who attends GA meetings,I've known this lad years an never knew we shared the same horrendous problems he hasn't gambled for over a year now"
I'm meeting him tomorrow for a pint to seek advice an I look forward to hearing everyone's views on my story so far this is day 3 not gambling the 3rd day of the rest on my life
hope you have all had a good weekend
DeadThanRed xx
Hi DTR, welcome to the forum 🙂
Good skills recognising you have a problem, it is indeed a horrible feeling to realise that what started @ a bit of fun is pure destruction. We cannot win because we cannot stop as you have realised...Nothing is big enough to make us stop, it's just all gambling tokens. The decision to meet with your mate is a sound one. Please make sure you follow it through with getting to the meetings...They are your best shot for getting to grips with this!
Well done on your 1st 4 days....Time to knock this on the head for good - ODAAT
Hi RatherBeDeadThanRed,
A warm welcome to you to the forum, and thanks for sharing your story here.
It seems like you’ve been struggling with your gambling problem for some time now, and you have eventually come to admit that you need professional help to stop gambling.
Gambling problem gets worse if you don’t do anything about it; and it can easily get out of control as you have come to realise. This is because, the more your gamble, the more you lose, and the more you chase your losses. Just like a vicious cycle, really.
It’s good that you’re putting in the effort to tackle your problematic gambling by arranging to attend the GA meeting with your friend, and that is a start towards recovery.
I suggest that you continue to read from our Chatroom/ Forum to learn from others’ experiences, and apply their strategies to help you to overcome your gambling problem.
Maybe you would like to contact our free phone Helpline on: 0808 8020 133, and speak to one of our advisers for more help and support. For instance, we can refer you to 12 sessions of free counselling, and nearest to where you live in case counselling will help you to overcome your gambling problem. Also, we can sign-post you to other charitable organisations if we think you’d benefit from their services.
It’s important that you stick to our advice on strategies to help you overcome this.
Do your best to keep up the good work, and please keep posting.
Best wishes,
Beatrice
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