And here we are yet again

Hi Mask - I don't know what to say other than I really want to help you. You have a serious problem. We all have. Please go and see your GP tomorrow. I only know you from your posts and I care about you. You need our help and I need your help.

Hey you, don't throw your life away for money! Go to your GP, ring the Samaritans, go to your local church & see if they can refer you to the foodbank, get help because you are not strong enough to do this alone! You're not a disgusting vile person, you're as addict & 10 years may seem like forever but you have a whole future in front of you that with the right help can be a future worth living!

Please Mask, don't give up!

Hi mask,

I hope you are feeling better this morning, I can't say much more than what change and ODAAT have said.

Please get some help, no matter how low this addiction gets us, we can be fixed,

Take care and stay safe.

Suzanne xx

I'd throw in get some counselling, go to GA, phone up Gamcare, ANYTHING!!

Thanks everyone for your continued support.

If I get through this month it will be an absolute miracle. I can't lose my job, so I'm trying to sell stuff on eBay. Sadly, I am left with nothing of any real value. I have applied for another credit card and surprisingly got accepted, so that card cannot come quickly enough. If it doesn't come by Tuesday, and nothing sells on eBay I don't know what I will do.

I haven't washed in ages, I look like s**t. I feel like s**t. What way is this to live? Endless worry, panic attacks. Trying to scrape enough money together so I don't die of starvation. What a horrible horrible way to live.

Once my short term money problem is taken care of I will book an appointment with a doctor. I'm depressed, I need medication of some kind. My mind is completely frazzled.

Then, I will start attending ga meetings and do everything neccessary to stop. My debt is huge, and everything right now feels so hopeless.

Great to hear from you 🙂

Get in the shower/bath, have a shave, you have to start somewhere!

Why wait to book that appointment? I'm sure the thought of booking it is terrifying but you owe it to yourself to have the best shot possible @ life because you are barely existing @ the moment!

You only need a few pounds to eat so if needs must explain your predicament to your local shop & see if you can get the basics & pay in a week or so.

Good to have you back Mask, time to move forwards now - ODAAT

Either contact your GP or arrange for counselling through Gamcare at the earliest opportunity.

Find out where your next local GA meeting is and get along there.

Whilst you are a bit short on money, get along to all your local bookies and self-exclude, go there with a photo and it can be filled out there and then, if your a tad embarrassed go 10am when it's quiet, don't wait until you've got money and visit because it will only end in losing wherever you have, I've been there got the t-shirt, ensure you go without a penny in your pocket, they will be all smiles when you approach the counter and then as soon as you ask for a self-exclusion form you will see a different side to that friendly face who normally offers you free coffee, you will see the bookies for what they are, greedy suckers who don't give 2 hoots that you and millions of others like us are struggling.

Most importantly start these steps now, I foresee you getting a credit card and maxing it out by visiting the bookies - please prove me wrong, make these steps before you receive the ability to easy cash that way you can feel better and use the credit card sparingly to get you out of a hole until next month.

I wish you well and hope you will return here with your thoughts and any steps you have taken.

Just for today I will not gamble.

ODAAT. Even with safeguards in place I still manage to go back. Even now, if I found 100 quid on the street, instead of using it to get to work and for food, I fear I would gamble it. It's like I come here when I don't have a penny to my name, moan about it for a few weeks, get paid and everything is fine for a week or so. Then the cycle repeats.

I am desperate to put this behind me, but my actions don't follow these intentions. All I do is worry, constantly. Anyway, I appreciate your support.

Thank you Andy for taking the time to post. I don't have money for a photo at the moment, maybe I can print one off from my home computer? The credit card is solely to get me out of this hole, although the company haven't told me what my limit will be. The temptation will be there, but I must only use it to cover my living costs til the end of the month. Pay it off in full, and then destroy it. I doubt the card will be here before Tuesday anyway, so I'm pretty much f****d for travel costs.

Hey mask, have just done 2 posts to you that have not saved, have had LM all day today, and I am not a patient person lol ,

but I am persisting in getting this message across to you, you have to really want to stop,

Needing to stop and really wanting to stop, by putting 100% into recovery is two different things.

I know you now want to stop, so just reach out for all the help you can get, you have done nothing horrible, it's that horrible addiction, be kind to you, by letting everyone help, be it on here, family, professional, let it all out, and let go.

Take that mask off and start again, it's never too late,

Walking with you as always.

Suzanne xxx

I walked in those shoes, for years, saying enough was enough but going back the second I had cleared funds! It's a mug's game & we can pretty much find a way round our barriers but @ least when they are up, they make us stop & think! The shops will accept photos from a printer, so do it now & do it for every single bookies that you can because if you don't, as you say you will be back here in a few weeks time, assuming you make it through your next bout!

Only you can make you stop just like only you can make you gamble...If you don't start taking responsibility for your actions & start making the right choices now, as you say, you may not be around to tell the tale!

Go & ask your GP for help, phone Gamcare for some counselling don't be the person some idiot yesterday suggested this site was all about! It's going to be hard, I'm not going to lie but you can do it & more importantly, you must!

C'mon mask this is serious stuff now. Get yourself a shave and shower first and get some food inside you this weekend. If it has to be a food bank so be it.

There is some cracking advice from people above and I am not going to repeat it

Addiction puts us all in a very dark place. Let's look for some light.

I wish you all the best and will be keeping an eye open for future posts.

Sending you best wishes

TheMask wrote: ODAAT. Even with safeguards in place I still manage to go back. Even now, if I found 100 quid on the street, instead of using it to get to work and for food, I fear I would gamble it. It's like I come here when I don't have a penny to my name, moan about it for a few weeks, get paid and everything is fine for a week or so. Then the cycle repeats. I am desperate to put this behind me, but my actions don't follow these intentions. All I do is worry, constantly. Anyway, I appreciate your support. Thank you Andy for taking the time to post. I don't have money for a photo at the moment, maybe I can print one off from my home computer? The credit card is solely to get me out of this hole, although the company haven't told me what my limit will be. The temptation will be there, but I must only use it to cover my living costs til the end of the month. Pay it off in full, and then destroy it. I doubt the card will be here before Tuesday anyway, so I'm pretty much f****d for travel costs.

re self excluding, yes you can print off your own photo, as long as it's a good likeness and they insist on colour.

Alternatively, be t fr ed and co ral will accept a self exclusion via email, you need to contact there customer services and they'll email it to you, wm hill will post it to you with a prepaid envelope for returning but lad brokes insist you must visit a shop to fill form in.

Please do this asap whatever is the easiest way for you, but the quicker the better.

And get cleaned up and some grub in you, even if you have to visit a friend or relative, I'm sure they will be more than happy to help you out at this time?

Take care.

Hi Mask... this is really serious stuff now and gambling needs to be totally out of the question. I think you need to think really deeply about what is making you gambler at this stage. Please get the help you need asap and do not delay. The problem needs to be arrested immediately. Good luck to you sir and hope you find the solution!

Thank you all for your support. The best thing I can say about today is I didn't gamble. I have stopped the daily cycle. That being said, I don't have any money to gamble with. I have a friend who is going to loan me some cash to see me through the month, I will buy all my travel up front, and then make some affordable lunches for work. I will get through now, but as you all have tried to drill home, this has to be the time to quit once and for all. This isn't just something I'd like to stop, continue like this for any further time and my life will be taken. I have to stop. I will do everything it takes to stop.

When the new credit card arrives, I will either shift some credit card debt to it to make use of the 0% balance transfer, or if the limit is low, just destroy the card. Every time I make a payment, I will phone and reduce my credit limit until it's paid off. I have designed a spreadsheet with a financial plan of action, the money situation will take care of itself. I have made a doctor's appointment, and will no doubt be diagnosed as depressed. At least then I can take some medication, and begin to feel a bit better. My life is a mess, time to piece it back together a bit at a time.

Once more, I'd like to thank every single one of you for your continued support. I don't deserve it, but it has pulled me through the last 24 hours.