Get help!! Either a treatment center or GA. Your life depends upon it. There is no denying withdrawal from compulsive gambling is a bitch and that is why most of us return. But others have done it and you can too. But you have to want it like you would want fresh air trapped in a dark cave. Make it happen. Turn your life around and leave gambling where it belongs. In your past.......God Bless

Try to not be so hard on yourself. Nothing is 'wrong' with you. Having an addiction just makes us do things we wouldn't do under normal circumstances. Maybe you could try living without cash. It takes some work to figure it out and it is inconvenient at times but it can be done. No cash, no gambling. It takes some of the pressure off when an urge pops up out of nowhere. Most importantly, take good care of yourself, and do some planning. You can find lots of ideas on prior posts that may work for you. I wish you all the best.

If you're like me, one of the problems is the debt. Having created so much debt gambling it is hard to stop because the debt is still there. I wish I could go back in time and never gambled and never accumulated the debt. Or go back in time to when I was actually winning, cash out and walk away. I can't sleep thinking about the debt. Maxed out credit cards, loan. How am I supposed to provide for my family and at the same time clear this debt. How did God allow this to happen to me? I feel ruined.

We all have lost a lot and have had massive debt. The only way to turn it around is one day at a time. We did not get in this fix overnight and should not expect it to disappear all at once. There is no miracle win that will turn this all around waiting for us. And believe even if there was it would just escalate into another gambling binge. It may take years but without gambling eventually the debt will start going down and your life will return to a somewhat normal one. Patience is the key and acceptance of our addiction and what it has done to us. It could always be worse and will if the gambling does not stop.

One of the big problems with this disease/addiction is "magical thinking". Very childish logic (or non-logic) is infused in this addiction, as with many other addictions. For example, in my "magical thinking', I had some FALSE beliefs that had to change in order to change my behavior: 1) Gambling is harmless fun 2) I can get ahead by gambling. 3) I can be a social gambler again - (by the counselor waving a wand or a Dr. giving me a pill - without any effort on my part) 4) I don't deserve a better life - I am a bad person. 5) I am not lovable.
The first three were easier to analyze and come to the conclusions that gambling was no longer harmless fun for me, nor could I get ahead by gambling. Nor was there a silver bullet held by counselors or doctors - I had to make the changes necessary. The feeling that I did not deserve a better live and that I was not lovable took much longer and much more work, but are just as necessary for abstinence and mental health as ending the "magical thinking".
Making friends or rekindling friendships with people who do not gamble is also essential, to win this fight we must attack it on multiple fronts and on the deeper emotional/phycological front of healing the causes or roots of our addictions. Finding new, healthy, ways to cope with life and the feelings we have because of life events and making life itself have meaning is the challenge ahead of us, and it is worth it!

You have a disease--compulsive gambling. I was first an alcoholic, now sober 30 years,but 10 year ago changed addictions. I self-banned a few years ago and accept the fact that I am an addictive person, must be glad I stopped and we can't look back and beat ourselves up.

I hate hearing you hurt yourself again. I understand the feeling of panic and hopelessness, struggling to get through the next few minutes, wishing it would all go away, after gambling, again. I also know you can start at day one, again. Give yourself time, you've felt the relief of abstaining before, it's not a cure, but it is your best defense. It might sound silly, but I feel better telling myself I no longer have to gamble, because I quit. I don't have to gamble. I don't want to gamble. It's okay to give up on gambling, it's not okay to give up on ourselves. Start again.

Hey there. Good thing is your not alone! This site can help support you through recovery. I'm gonna throw out something I did that has really helped. I have a hard time having extra money in my account. I started using a budget app called "every dollar." Every month I now know where every penny is going. This helps me stay focused on being debt free again and plan healthy ways to spend my money. Instead of thinking I have this much "extra" money, I now know what is designated to go where and which dates I will pay it. Every penny is accounted for. This includes an emergency fund, general savings, paying off debt, and all the other expenses in life we plan for. Find something your passionate about. Think about what you used to be passionate about in the past and build hobbies and a productive life through that.. If you ever need to chat message me anytime❤️

Thank you so much for your support ... I am 2 days free of gambling and I hope it will carry on ... my son found out I was gambling again and cried ... he doesn't know what to say anymore ... he told me I was so selfish ... it's breaking my heart xxx

I cried. Yesterday and today. I will cry again tomorrow. I question whether my existence is of any value to anyone. Us degenerate gamblers are just a strain on people. We have no reason to be a part of anyone else's lives. All we do is create problems. I hate myself,

Oh my crooked zebra that really hit home xxx I have no answers I'm a compulsive gambler xxxx big hugs be strong xxxx we have each other xxxx

Wrong! That defeatist attitude of "we have no reason to be a part of anyone else's lives" is part of the addiction. You already are a part of other people's lives, you are hurting them as you hurt yourself when gambling. You deprive them of you, so the attitude of permanently depriving them of you is again self-centered and part of the addiction. Time to do the next right thing and it is NOT giving up, giving in and gambling again. You will be doomed to doing the same addictive behavior over and over - if nothing changes, nothing changes. These kinds of self defeating thoughts need to be replaced with affirmations, something positive. If you continue to tell yourself negative stuff you will feel negative, unmotivated and continually be 'less than' in your own mind. Don't take this negativity from anyone, not even yourself!

You are right. The past is the past and can't be changed. We have to just move forward. The only thing to do now is make amends and move on.

Move on as you make amends knowing you're doing the next right thing. Personally, I think we are an intelligent group of individuals here. We have a lot to share with each other, the good, the bad and the ugly. I can understand that feeling of no one wanting or needing me, but I also know it's not true. Self hatred leads to these negative thoughts about ourselves. When a bad thought about myself enters my head I tell myself to stop and to think about something else. It works. It surprised me, too.