So its come to this..

firstly welcome to this site you will get plenty of support here, i rpomise that ifyou stop gambling within a few weeks you will feel better, it might not seem that way now, good luck and keep posting

Hi

First of all, well done for making the bold (and correct) decision that you have. It is not easy and it took me 17 years of gambling and at least 14 of those knowing I had a problem to stop. You will find that people on here have all been through the same experiences that you have and will offer a good deal of support.

I feel that you have got a handle on what is required to stop. You need to self exclude from everything that you use (bookies/ internet sites). This will be useful in helping to stop. However, we CG's are a crafty bunch and will find a way to gamble if we want to. The only thing that really stops you in the short term is a lack of funds. You need to put in place a mechanism by which you cannot access large amounts of money. At the moment it sounds like you have little money spare, but beware payday when there is some short term respite. You may consider temporarily handing over your finances to a loved / trusted one. However, in your case as in mine, you seem relustant to tell other people of your struggles. I have removed all personal borrowing facilities from my own accounts and transfer all my money into our joint account. That way, my wife can see whether I have been taking money out and I would be far to ashamed for that to happen. Whatever is best for you....but I would strongly recommend putting several barriers in place.

If you are anything like me, the next few days are going to be pretty tough. Keep the faith because pretty soon you will start on a long road to sorting your life out.

I hope that you keep with it and look forward to hearing about your successful progress.

Warm regards

T and G

You made a good decision to come here for support!

Your choice to stop can only bring good things to your life. Think of the losing feeling every time you get the urge on your lunch break, think of the wasted cash and the good you could have done with it.

All of us on here have wasted sooooo much (not only money) on this addiction. That one bet that could make things even. That tip that never won. We have spent so much money on trying to win. We never do in the long run mate. We've tried.

Get that payday loan paid and look forward to using you salary to benefit to YOU. Gambling will only hurt you in the end. You are not going to win....plain and simple!!

My best wishes to you. Remember, you've not given anything up. You STOPPED!!

Hi There

and welcome to the forum

""..i'm too ashamed to admit it to family and friends""

Boy .. I can so relate to that sentence...

I thought, I cannot tell anyone because they will think bad of me and I was trying so hard to paint this picture of me, that just wasn't me at all... but... they knew something was not right, I had changed in my behaviour without being able to see it myself... I thought I was covering things up nicely when in fact everyone saw I was being different... my family, my friends, my work colleagues...

until I was found out by my partner...that was tough at first but it was also the best thing that happened to me... I was fortunate enough to have someone in my life that wanted to stay and support me and for that I am grateful.

Like t and g said, do what is right for you... By reading the diaries here you will find bits and pieces you can apply to your own life...

I wish you well

GOd Bless

Sabine

Hi all, thanks very much for your support and pearls of wisdom. So today is day one and I am hoping I have put everything in place to help me. T and G I took your advice and have confided in a friend, giving him my bank card and keeping myself a card with access to only £50 a day. I think you have highlighted something for me there though, come payday thats when I am going to be finding it hardest as thats my biggest gambling day of the month, but as thats 4 weeks today I guess I have a while to get used to it! I think another reason I dont want to admit my problems to anyone is because I feel no one understands me. To most my freinds gamblings a bit of fun and if they win £20 they get excited by that. I cant remember the last time a £20 win excited me. Its as if I feel nothing when I win but terrible when I lose.I honestly get no enjoyment from it, I dont even care about winning I just need to gamble and whether I win or lose is just part of it. When I am actually gambling I am oblivious to any feeling its like been in 'the zone' then when I have lost £100 - £200 I can then leave the bookies/Amusements/casino and the second I leave the building I also leave 'the zone' and the realisation of what I have just done hits me. I guess there is going to be plenty of people on here who can understand me. Anyhow, I have Self excluded myself from all the bookies/casinos/poker rooms I have accounts with, I have got the £50 Max withdraw card as previously mentioned, confided in a pal and now feel ready. So lets hope I dont go get some scratchcards when I take my first break this morning!!

Thanks for listening! ICC

Hi ICC,

Welcome to this very supportive forum full of people just like you. And a massive well done for admitting this and really wanting to change yourself for the better.

And you CAN!

We all fully understand the position you are in as we have all been there before. To many people. gambling continues to be a bit of fun but not for us any more. I always remember this to stop me from throwing money away ever again...

"One tiny bet away from disaster."

We all know that just one tiny bet (which we will lose) will lead to larger and larger bets (which will be lost).

And yet more misery.

Stay very strong and very positive. You are making such a good start. And don't get any scratch cards today!

Have a great gamble free week.

Getting There

ICC, well done on making it onto here and great news about confiding in someone. Whilst it may be embarrassing, it gets rid of some of the pressure.

I know what you mean about friends being excited about small wins on bandits or football coupons. But they know the value of money, unfortunately, we don't... Ask yourself, when was the last time you really got excited about a win of any amount? Personally I can't remember when, as it was never enough.

Don't be ashamed to tell anyone about your gambling. Hold your head high and enjoy every gamble free day!

Good luck,

M

ICC

Well done on putting those block in place. I am sure they will stand you in good stead. Also, much admiration for you telling (and relying on) your friend. It really takes balls to do that (much better than me I'm afraid!).

Now keep up the good work and don't let your mate (or yourself) down.

Looking forward to hearing about your gamble free days!

Warm regards

T+G

Yeah, pleased I told someone, its good to talk about it because the more I do the more my situation hits home about how bad it is. Today's day 2 and all is going well so far, this could be because I have no money to gamble as I already lost it all! Or it could be as I have no where to gamble as I am self excluded from everywhere. I hope it is because I am never going to gamble again! Last night was hard because I stayed up late and would normally be throwing money at ******* once my girlfriend has gone to bed. But I just said no (to my urges) and came on here instead, that helped. On lunch now so thought I would type this instead of my usual 'Walk' My Walk costs me too much! Which reminds me, still need to self-exclude from the amusements!

Anyway day 2 of my gamble free life and its ok.

16 days till I have spare money again, time to prepare I guess!

Thanks for listening.

ICC

Hi ICC.

Well done on your efforts and for not giving in to those late night urges. That really rings true to me, I would have a very acceptable day of sensible trading and betting on the horses, then blow all my winnings and more betting on premier league snooker, or darts, or the online casino. It is a really sad and lonely existance gambling alone while your loved ones are asleep....one which I refuse to let recur.

Join me in another day gamble free?

Regards

T+G

Hi all, Now on day 4, things are going good. Still not had any money to gamble so cant be 100% I wont when I do have it, but on the other hand I would usually be taking a payday loan out to gamble with when I am sat in an empty house with a Laptop on a friday night. May be recieving some money tomorrow so guess we shall see how I get on then!

Looking forward to waking up tomorrow without that sinking feeling you get the morning after the Loss before.

Thanks for listening

ICC

Hi ICC.

Nice to see you pop into 'chat' briefly tonight. You should come back as it is very helpful to sit down and talk with others who are fighting the same battle. The mood in there is often quite light hearted which i think helps. Overcoming gambling is a serious issue for us all but it helps to approach the battle with positivity and a smile.

Well done on your few days in recovery. Do not ruin it tomorrow if you are handed access to cash. Remember what brought you here in the first place. Remember that sinking feeling you described which i and many here will know so well.

I think the worst thing in all this is the lies we have to tell to cover up our losses. It's time to stop the lies. This can only happen if you stop gambling.

Have a great gamble free weekend and well done again on taking steps to improve your life.

ICC,

well done going 4 days without gambling as anytime spent away from indulging for a compulsive gambler is a miracle. You have taken your 1st steps on the mountain of recovery.

With regards to that money you may be getting tmw. Well think of it this way, if you elect to gamble with it ( and believe me this illness is the only one that tells us we have not got it and has the power to obliterate bad memories) you'll have fallen off the mountain and be back in base camp once you've placed the 1st bet, win or lose.

There are no answers in gambling for people like us, never have been, never will be.

Best Wishes on your quest for you to become the person you were meant to be

Firstly I have changed my name from ICC, I feel that doesn't represent the positive steps I am making so from today (the new Day 1) I will be known as 'Gamble Free Me'.

So the weekend didn't go quite as smooth as anticipated.

Saturday - Sold my bike for £50 then ended up on my own in the pub watching the footy scores roll in, ended up on the fruit machine but managed to get off after only losing around £10 - £15.

Sunday - Returned an item to a store and got a £35 refund, ended up back in the pub on my own watching footy, lost about £15 - £20 but again managed to get off before blowing the lot.

Monday - So I guess today is the new Day 1. I received £105 this morning so at lunch went to Teddies Amusements and *********. I walked in picked up Self exclusion forms and left without slotting a pound.

I understand that I didn't have a successful weekend with regards to the gambling but I guess its easy to slip up sometimes, whats important is knowing you did wrong and learning from it. Also I only lost about £35 this weekend - any other weekend and that would have been ok!

So I am back on Day 1 and as I have money in my bank and its not getting gambled I would say its going very well. Got my pin through for my £50 limit card So can now give my mate my main bank card, and going forward never gamble again. Guess I need to avoid been in pubs on my own!

Thanks for listening, looking forward to having a chat with some of you guys soon.

Gamble Free Me