gambling

Its not easy mate, we are compulsive gamblers, you cant just flick a switch Im afraid. But at least you realise that gambling is not the answer even though you are gettign urges to do so. Try and identify what is triggering it (maybe take a break from watching football games etc), or have soemthing to do like hit the gym when you feel a strong urge, something that will occupy your mind adn takes effort to help overcome the urge. Do you go to GA? I find it a big help to me personally, also I find making a budget for nice things (holidays etc) and watching the money add up each month helps. You need to have finacial barriers up also to help when urges come, so you need to make it virtually impossible for you to gamble should you get an urge.

I like to think I am not that bad but I know I am. I have always gambled probably from the age of 16 but it was mainly scratchcards but my wages practically was spent, looking back that was bad then but no im just out of control and spend 4/5hours on online slots sometimes I get to a point where I can take money off but I dont I just continue to gamble and then spend more. I want to stop but I don't at the same time, its like an escape for me. Maybe it's my excuse I don't know but otherwise I just struggle with day to day things or having anything to think about. Cant remember the last day I didnt gamble 🙁

i relapsed yesterday after 50+ days gutted ended up on roulette machine mate put couple hundred in and ended up winning it back walked out level whats the point in that

Alexs,

Actually there is a point. You must find the reason for your slip. On the 9th Feb you posted that you had some “mad feelings” then two days later you gave in to these feelings and gambled?

How can you prevent this happening again? Did you reach out to any close family or friend?

It could have been a very costly slip by the sound of it. You’ve had the “buzz” again and more. The gamble, the loss, the chase, the win, then luckily walking away. As easy as that, for what? You’ve lost your 50 odd days of recovery. The hard work starts again but with the understanding how open we are to such slips.

I’m a firm believer after years of gambling we will always have thoughts, but they do decline in number. However turning these thoughts into actions is what we the CG must control. Ask yourself how many physical actions you performed to complete the thought of having the gamble?

Good luck my friend. The hard work starts again. One day at a time.

All the best.

Have you put the blocks in place so on these mad days you can't do anything like multi self exclusion from all bookies and self exclude from any online ones you can believe you me they work

Hi Alexs,

I may be chastised for saying this but what you did was a 'lapse' but doesn't necessarily have to be a 'relapse'.

I went 5 months previously before, out of the blue, found myself on autopilot playing a machine in the pub (weirdly, I didn't even have an 'urge' I just walked up and started playing). I was, of course, annoyed at myself and I did lose a bit of money BUT I didn't dwell on it. I 'had a word with myself', accepted that it was a mistake but didn't beat myself up too much.

I, for one, don't count days (although lots of people do with great results so I'm not saying it doesn't work). The idea of being 'back to square one' can be sufficiant to trigger a 'What's the point?' attitude which will turn your lapse into a full-scale relapse. You were doing well so just keep that up.

HOWEVER, all this said, as the poster above me mentioned, you need to take action based on this 'slip up'. If you were able to gamble then you need to increase blocks. The obvious one here is to exclude from that (and every) bookmakers you have regular access to. Consider, on a day-to-day basis, how much cash you need to actually carry (and don't take cards you can use for gambling). Do whatever it takes to make access to gambling as difficult as possible. It's unlikely to ever by completely inaccessible but buy yourself some thinking time.

All the best.

Phil

Edit 1: I should say that, after my slip, I confessed my gambling addiction to the landlord of my local pub who subsequently threatened to ban me if he saw me playing (whether or not he would I don't know but, 4 months on, it worked!). I only mention this as it would be hypocritical to say 'you must take action after a lapse' without detailing what I did.

Edit 2: Pre-paid cards (try CashPlus) generally WON'T work in bookies for loading FOBT's so maybe get one of those and stick a bit of money on it for emergencies so you can leave the rest at home. Of course there's always a cash point but it's all about making it difficult for yourself and buying valuable thinking time.