Hey, Well back here AGAIN!!!. I just cant shake it, have tried everything from downloading ssoftware to web page blockers but everyday i try and start a fresh there is this sudden urge to gamble.
It is like taking drugs or smoking, i need my gambling fix as it were and i have tried talking to people, i admit i have a gambling problem, i admit it is ruining my life, causing me financial difficulty and depression as well as making me more lazy. I can admit all the problems with it but i cant give it up but i want to because im down a place that i can only imagine will get worse.
In april i was up 1200 from 1 online slots then lost it all in a day, yesterday i was up 200 from 60 then lost it all, then this morning up from 50 to 120 then lost it all within 3 hours. Has anyone got a mental strategy to help combat, have spoken with couple of people on the gam care hotline but i wanna speak who has been there and come through it and am happy to give my phone number for someone to call me and talk as i really need help please
Hi Gambleez, welcome back to the Forum, I am sorry it isn't in better circumstances my friend.
You have posted before, a fair few times and received good advice. You are also good at giving it - your posts to others are very supportive, understanding and insightful; you clearly know your onions my friend.
When you have tried everything, then all you can do is get back to basics and tinker with your life and routine until you do find the right balance that helps you.
I have stopped for over five years after gambling for twenty; I woke, as you did, and had a permanent urge to gamble all through the day - it didn't wane in the slightest.
But, when I seriously started trying to give up, they started to lessen gradually; a few weeks and they were easier to cope with, a few months and they were more manageable, then a year was gone and it became almost second nature.
Some people have posted here who are ex-con's; some have spent years in prison because of gambling and then suddenly find they have no choice but to stop, and then their urges have to lessen; it is all in the mind, and there are ways and means to get through this time until they become easier for you to cope with.
My mental strategy has always been the same; I fear winning, I don't fear losing - I know that winning makes me want more of the same almost straight away, at higher stakes than ever because the previous smaller ones that I spent to get there wouldn't give me the new level of euphoria I craved now, which meant the winnings would go in minutes, hours, and sometimes days, which would lead me to spend everything else and money I didn't have. At least you don't get in a great deal deeper if you lose, and there is more of a chance you might walk away at some point.
I watch horse racing, and I am relieved if a horse comes in that I liked, not the other way around. I received an unexpected bonus at work several months ago and, as strange as it sounds, I almost felt like giving it back, because of the unexpected "free" money emotions that it brought out of me.
What you crave is based on a lie - that you will win, walk away, and spend that money on things would want - you won't, and will never be able to. Accept it, live with it and then try to find things in your life that give you genuine fulfillment and happiness.
The bottom line is that nothing is worth how you feel right now. It is a poor exchange for the lie-based euphoria you experience for winning money, or come close to winning money.
I find it wonderful to save and plan for things - I could never do that through gambling. Sometimes, you have to be patient and compulsive gamblers are not patient people, but that really doesn't matter too much when you have stopped for a good amount of time.
You can get there my friend - you and your mind has the capacity to change, just like any other situation in life. You have learned a lot in this time, remember it, use it, and make sure you don't make the same mistake again - if you do that, then this isn't "Day 1", this is "Part Two"
JamesP
Hey James, Many thanks for the message. Have messed up AGAIN!!! Was up to 1000 from 180 now im down to 0 again and spent all of last week playing and playing, now today money i had put aside to spend with my son is gone. I need help and i dont know what to do
If anyone has been in this situation and has managed to overcome it, here is my mobile number 07842206925 please text or call me as really could use a support buddy to help me get through this because i am struggling really bad here and its become an obession i feel like im going into deeper part of depression with no way out and i need help
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