I have been trying to kick this gambling problem for about a year now (but I am struggling) I keep coming on here after a major loss, read post, guess think I'm cured, time elapses then I'm back at it. I have virtually blown all my pension pot over the last six years on roulette (on-line FOTB's). I always feel better when I play roulette ( I may win 20 days on the trot then ............. that loss and all that chasing resulting in thousands of hard earned pounds down the drain) I don't want to get into debt it really scares, so I need to stop the gambling finally once and for all. It's just now my spare monthly cash is so poor (no loan re-payments though) funding my meagre lifestyle with my girlfriend is going to be difficult. (Ah my fantastic partner - that's another thread to be typed) Please read and contribute, feeling very low to-day as we all do after a big loss, need some support from you good people, be back later - Spain gone
Hi LML,
I am no expert on recovery I have had my fair share of relapses, and I know as much as I do not want to gamble again, I can never say, never.
However since my last relapse and that feeling being low and desperate helped me to tackle things differently. Like you I was able to abstain for periods and then suddenly relapse until I lost every penny. The guilt and the depression drove me almost insane because I have had so much help with this addiction that it sometimes made me think I was never going to kick it.
I suppose we are all different in why we gamble, but for me I am most tempted when I loose a sense of reality. Now every time I start to fantasize about that big win and what I am going to runaway to, with it I read a poem that I wrote, it reminds me of why I must not gamble and why I am thinking of gambling. It probably sounds corny and maybe it is but it helps and that's all that matters.
The usual suspects are also there so if I have access to more than 50 per week of money I am tempted, if I am bored I am tempted, if something angers, hurts or upsets me I am tempted. Sometimes taking five minutes o break down the urges actually helps to eliminate them.
For the last 4 days I have been tempted I know payday is in two days I can't but help work out in my head how much spare money I have to possibly gamble with. Having to hand my card and finances to another human being absolutely kills me every month but I know at the moment without that help I would be straight on line, straight in the bookies and in the casino until it was all gone. Every bit of logic and every bit of reason goes out the window when compulsion sets in. That is the danger of this addiction.
So my suggestion is find a deterrent and a real one preventing that bet will eventually feel a great deal better than curing the lows from placing that bet.
take care,
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