Hi, my names Joe. I am 22 years old and have been gambling since I was 15!
Its got worse as the years have gone by and with so many attempts to stop by myself I have tonally had enough and decided to seek help. I have found myself stealing from family and friends because of my addiction and it can't continue.
This is how gambling makes me feel
This is me. A horrible, boring and naive person!
I used to be happy, enjoy life like a normal young guy until I met gambling the one thing that has ruined my entire life it has drained everything from me. My friends, family, emotions, money and anything else you can think of. I just can't control it!! It's like a f*****g disease and I don't know what to do. I can't live like this anymore I'm no good to anybody I'm really not. Every night I lay there thinking what it would be like to just be happy not just smiling but on the inside.
Hope to meet some people in the same situation and fight this disease together!
Hello Joesph,
Your title is totally right, you do need to accept/admit that you have a problem in order to truly combat it.
It's great you've decided to seek help there's an abundance of helpful people and posts on this forum.
What can you do to help yourself? Self exclude, give up control finances and tell someone you can trust about your problem are all positive actions to take.
It won't be easy but I'm sure you can get to a time in your life again where you're truly happy again.
All the best
Conradnose
Thanks for the reply!
I have self excluded my self from everywhere but that was not made easy for me!
I am seeking help but it will take time I guess, I will keep updated here.
Hi Joseph,
A few positives first, you are 22 and recognise that you do have a problem. If you tackle this addiction/compulsion now you can beat it and go on to have a happy productive life. I am 38 years old and only now confronting the issue, I wish I had your wisdom in my twenties.
The real change for me came when I started going to GA meetings, here I met people of a variety of people from all backgrounds who share this issue, telling my story to them, listening to what they say and hearing their stroies has help me really confront my issue and deal with it. Its 22 weeks since my last bet but already I feel like a new man, the people I have hurt and betrayed also see the change in me. The battle is not easy as I am a compulsive gambler and will be for the rest of my life, but the 12 step program has shown me that it can be tackled on day at a time. I still am paying off my debts from the gambling but already Im in a much better place emotionally and finiancially all beacuse I have stopped gambling and looked for help.
I have no doubt you can do the same, it will take real honesty and hard work as its not easy facing our demons but you can do it. I wish you the best in your efforts.
Thats exactly right all those years wasted thinking I was cool with gambling, in fact I was quite good at it, But gambling is a greed sport. If we had £10 and win £20 we should thing excellent a quick double up i'm off. A CG does not think like that we try and flip £10 to £100 and if we get there we keep going as all CG are greedy and do not have a normal gamblers stop trigger, obviously we have all withdrawn at times. Very early on playing slots online I once won £1500 from a £1 stake, I would always remember that and always chase it again, never happened. Three weeks ago I knew gambling had me, I knew I had a problem and chose to end our relationship, every day gambling asks us to get back together and so far I have resisted and know I dont want it. Your only 22 throw yourself into what you want, go get it and leave gambling far far behind.
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