Time to stop the madness

You are welcome yorkslad. We all need somebody to be there when we are feeling so low, and being a gambling addict myself means i understand exactly where you are coming from.

It must be very hard on your wife. Trust in a relationship is a massive thing. I hope you can talk this through with her today and she could maybe help you put more barriers in place.

I imagine you are feeling like s##t today but get through it and start again. You have been doing well and you can do well again. If you really want to stop you will try, try and try again, just dont give up.

These are things i tell myself so by trying to help you i am also helping myself. I am feeling very determined at the mo and keeping strong. Keeping busy is a great help cos it stops your mind wandering to the dreaded. Maybe you could plan ahead for your weekends in future and make sure you have commitments that you have to keep as i know you said you find weekends hard with no work.

Let me know how you are later on and try to keep your chin up

You sound a bit depressed right now yorkslad. Feeling sick, wanting to sleep all the time and having bad thoughts are all signs of this. Is it all gambling related? Could you speak to your gp about this, maybe he could see about getting you some counselling if you wanted it.

Dont think you are a bad or selfish person. You would not be worrying about hurting your family if that were the case.

Start all over again now, get back into your recovery, join me here and we can help each other. I am just telling myself to never have that first bet cos when i do i know i wont stop.

Come on yorkslad, you can do it, i can tell you really want to stop. You dont deserve to keep feeling bad about yourself like this. New start for you now. Take care of yourself

Have you thought about giving G A another try yorkslad? That is what i am going to do if i fail again. Dont know why i've resisted going in the past. From reading a lot on here and another site some people think you won't succeed without going there.

God, i hate this addiction and what it does to us. Makes us feel like the worst people in the world, turning our lives upside down.

How can something that starts as a bit of fun turn into such a nightmare? I suppose in the end only we can change things. One day at a time is working for me so far, not looking any further ahead than today and trying to let go of the money i've lost in the past as there is no way i am getting that back.

I hope things are a bit better for you today and your head is starting to clear from the gambling hangover yorkslad. Keep strong, you can do this and so can i

Genuine question - if you aren't going to stop now, when are you going to stop? In the end I suppose you can attend all the meetings and counselling sessions you like but they will only work with a genuine desire to end the situation we have gotten ourselves in to.

I think that no matter what anybody says to us, what advice we are given, we will only really stop when we have truly reached the point when enough is enough.

There may be times when we think we have reached that point but are not quite there yet. I feel i am truly ready to stop, dont know what is different this time from all the other times, just really really had enough of going round and round in circles.

I am realising i need to deal with my life and stop trying to switch off by using the gambling. The same problems are still there when all the money has run out, i am just making more stress for myself, which makes me do the same thing over and over.

How you doing today yorkslad?

First day of a new month. Lets try and make it to the end with no gambling. Wouldnt that be great!!!

I've been good thanks yorkslad. Had a few urges, but been at my daughters most of the day.

I'm trying to let hubby deal with all money for now so i'm not constantly thinking about it. Since i started gambling i have become obsessed with money.

​I've self excluded from as many bookies as i can, but there are always more so a lot of it is gonna be down to willpower and how much i really want to stop.

I live in fear of when the urges get really strong cos i find it hard to fight them, but so far not been too bad. I am not counting days as i havent found this helpful in the past, but would be over the moon to get this month out the way gamble free.

Put your last gamble behind you now yorkslad and move forward. Dwelling on it will make you feel down and more likely to want to do it again. Fresh start now

Its hard for you yorkslad if you have no support from family ( not blaming them). Do you have anybody at all you can turn to with all this? My husband is in this with me, so i always have somebody to talk to, rant, rave shout and cry. Cant imagine having nobody at all to turn to. Trouble with gambling addiction is we feel so ashamed of ourselves that we hide it from everybody, so cant get proper help.

I notice you were posting in the early hours this morning. Not sleeping very well, are you still stressed over your fallout at the weekend.

Would love to give you a big hug yorkslad cos i can tell you are beating yourself up over this. Please dont feel on your own with this, just come here and i will always check to see if youve been on and just be someone thats here to give you some support. I hope its helping you coming here daily. It seems to be working for me so far.

I know what you mean about finding hobbies,we've made gambling our hobby and everything else seems boring compared to it. I used to love going to the gym and excersising but have had to put that on hold for now. How about you, is that something you could do? We have to account for our time as much as possible so we have no time for gambling. We need to start finding fun and enjoyment in other things but thats not gonna happen over night.

One day at a time, i like that saying

Make sure you have your barriers in place for the weekend yorkslad. You are just getting over your slip up, you dont want that to happen again when you have some free time again (you know how our minds work). You dont want that slip sending you back into chase mode, that will only ever end in disaster. You do not want to be going out and working hard all week for no money.

Do you deal with all the finances in your house? i am finding it helpful to let my husband deal with all that for now. It stops me thinking about money all the time which always leads to me thinking about gambling.

My mind tricks me into thinking we need to win money to pay for things, but if i never gambled we would have plenty of money anyway.

Hope things are ok at home for you. You can get that trust back and have a better, happier life, it's just gonna take time and hard work. You can do this, i know you can. You are here everyday just like me, fighting it. Stay strong

Gutted for ya yorkslad. The bookies should come up with a better way for self excluding, but doesnt look like thats gonna happen so at the end of the day its all down to us.

You will never walk away with winnings for the same reason as me. We are compulsive gamblers and cant play for fun. We have to keep on and on until we run out of funds or something else forces us to stop.

Have you ever looked around you in the bookies at other people who play the machines. None of them look happy or seem to be having fun. Those machines turn us into zombies. They do something to our brains. We are not in our right minds when playing on them.

I would never dream of spending money in shops or anywhere else like i do when playing those games. At least if i did i would have something to show for the money. You might just as well walk into the bookies and hand over all your money before you even start cos you know you will be walking out with nothing.

Get yourself back to ga yorkslad, get focused again. You dont want to go back down this road, it only leads to one place and you know you dont want to go there. Things might seem bad now but they can and will get worse. Think of your future and your familys future and where you want to be. I dont know how old you are but get the feeling you are quite young, you can have a good life still if you can just get control of this. Dont let it drag you down anymore. Take care