Gambling Addiction & Recovery Support Group
Compulsive gambling is an urge or addiction to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. A preferred term among many professionals is problem gambling, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word. Problem gambling often is defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others rather...
More on the food/sugar thing: I have had 2 heart attacks in the last three years. I have recently done more research about sugar and its effect. Mainly because I notice I have sugar cravings now when I never used to. Even as a child, I would rather have citrus fruit than sugar. Now, if I don't plan whom to give it to, if I make a pan of fudge, I will eat ALL of it.
Anyway, one thing I found out was the beta blocker medicine for my heart has a side effect that may give people sugar cravings. Secondly, other mineral deficits such low magnesium can present as a craving for sugar. Also, for gamblers who have been addicted to dopamine, which is likely everyone on this board, sugar is one of those things that stimulates dopamine production. Dopamine gets produced and sent to our brain for anything that is "good". But "good" is based on the rules we had in primordial times. Sugar and fat were rare in our environment before modern times and needed in small quantities. So our brain are prewired to love sugar and fat and salt among other things. Now those are abundant in our environment. Those of us who used to drink, even moderately, but don't anymore: our bodies were used to getting those extra, albeit, pretty empty calories that alcohol carries and we metabolize it quickly into sugar. Our bodies are searching for other "quick" sources of energy and any carb or sugary thing will do. If we do the Atkins diet, (which I don't) but by eating NO carbs, there is an adjustment period of our body learning to regulate/release stored sugar and fat better. Lastly, this is also related to fasting, (which I don't do either, but I am considering talking to my doc about it) and physical activity (this I aim for 30 mins a day). Fasting helps kick in the process of using your stored sugar or fat (apparently it just needs to be part of a day). It should be discussed with our drs because diabetics should not fast and there are implications for other conditions, I am sure. Lastly, for former cigarette smokers like me, (or current), I found out that nicotine acts as a catalyst to make your body release its stored sugar. Which explains why cigarettes stave off hunger. (They also spur us to produce dopamine.)So for me, for most of 40 years, I was getting dopamine and/or sugar from smoking, drinking and gambling, pretty much all at the same time. It seems understandable that I am craving sugar nowadays.
Well, geez, it just seemed important enough to have its own thread and I stuggle with this almost every day. I don't want never eat a piece of cake again, but I don't want to risk what health I have, with over indulgence either.
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Okay, sugar, a bag of candy isn’t safe around me because I feel the need to finish it off! That just sounds so pitiful, sunflower seeds can really keep me busy! lol
I know that being an addict I’ll always try to replace one addiction with another, yet it never ceases to amaze me when it happens.
Today I have no urges to gamble and I’m grateful for that.
Qwit, I love when a post makes me think like this one does ❤️
My cardio rehab folks suggested fruit for desert. If the fruit is ripe and sweet that works for me. But winter leaves us with just canned or frozen choices.
I handle my depression similarly to how I handle my addictions, by being proactive and using some of the tools I have learned in treatment for addiction. First, let me say that I have learned that some depression is normal. It is okay and normal to feel depressed at times because we are aging or our bodies are taken over by gravity/don't work right, or friends have passed away. (Elongated depression for no apparent reason is a better definition of clinical depression.) With that said, I must be aware of my thoughts in order to not allow myself to take things into the spiral abyss that can become that paralyzing depression that has me hiding in bed with covers over my head, unable to motivate myself, nor care much about anything. So like my gambling addiction, I must redirect my negative thoughts, before they get too far down a scary path and not allow myself to dwell on them. The last 2 months I have begun to employ a trick I learned on Oprah some years ago, I tell myself every morning, in the mirror, "I love you", I look myself in the eyes and wait until I feel a connection and say it. It sounds silly, but it does really help with how I feel about me.
Next in my morning routine is to read an affirmation from "Affirmations for Adult Children of Alcoholics" - I then usually, not always, (as I don't really want to be military about it), write a journal entry that relates to the affirmation. As I eat my toast and drink my cup of broth to get my morning meds down, I usually write out two or three things that I am grateful for on little slips of paper. I have a glass jar with a wired lid on my table that is about full with little pieces of paper that remind me what I have to be grateful for. If I get down, I pull some out and read them, especially if I can't think of any reason to be grateful. It helps so much to focus on what I do have, rather than what I do not have. It has gotten me out of my former habit of long periods of depression.
Thanks to journaling, posting here, talking to my counselor, talking with my friends about these issues I do not feel the need to engage in my addictions, I won't gamble today.
And Qwit, yes, the sugar addiction is real. I can almost feel my depression begging for anything to change my head, especially since I quit drinking just over 2 yrs ago. I’m grateful I haven’t experience strong urges to gamble since I quit over 2 and half yrs ago (33 months ago), of course I still think about it, and when I say think about, I mean I still remember the pain it caused me, I’ve had moments where I think “oh yeah, this is where a drink would do me good”, those are always stressful times, and I know the reality is “a drink wouldn’t do me any good at all”. That’s why I quit.
I wish I could quit depression. I’ve lived with it so long, I’m use to the ups and downs, the waves, so to speak, and hiding it as best I can. I’m on meds and have been for most of my adult life. It’s strange how my depression can cause me to forget (I guess that’s what I’m calling it) to take my meds, sometimes for days. And to go long periods of time without eating, then bingeing on late night sugar crap.
I’m gonna stop there for now. Well except to say, our group is little compared to the depression group here, but it’s where I need to be.
Thank you all
Today I will not gamble