[gregorz]

Hi everyone, my name is Chris and I live in Italy. I am 21 and…well, you know the story. Is the same as everyone here. Big win led to losses, then big losses, then lost every money.
My only luck in all this mess ( 20k lost in a couple of years more or less) is that I didnt hurt anybody but me. Nobody will have to skip a meal because of me.
Now it’s enough.
Yesterday I didnt have any money to gamble, my sister had left 250€ in her room and quit home, she’ll be back tomorrow. Yesterday I took that money and played it… I won…. then I put her money where it was and gambled my winnings away…
It was like everything was normal in my head, tonight I realized how in deep troubles I am. I was about to do that again, take the money that didnt belong to me, the money I had risked just some hours before, and play with it.
I am starting to understand all the bad I have done. Many times I asked my parents for money telling them “it’s for tennis” “it’s for the train” just to have the chance of gambling. Just to ruin my life even more.
TODAY it needs to stop. I promised myself to write here every dingle day.
I need some suggestions from you. I blocked myself from every gambling website. But too bad, I can place my sport bets everywhere in my city….. I really need some help, I really need some suggestions.
I need someone to tell me I can quit this mess more than everything else.

[charles]

Hello Chris and thanks for starting a thread in the Gambling Therapy forums

Here at Gambling Therapy we pride ourselves on being a caring and diverse online community who can help and support you with the difficulties you’re currently facing. We understand that this might be a tough time for you, particularly if you’re new to recovery, so come here as often as you need to and participate in the forums, access online groups and connect to the live advice helpline if you need one to one support. We’re in this together!

Here on the forum you can share your experiences in a safe, supportive and accepting environment. The beauty of writing it all down is that you can take your time and you will be creating a record of your progress that you can look back on if it ever feels like you’re not moving forward. So, share as much or as little as you like but do try to stick to keeping just one thread in this forum so people know where to find you if they want to be updated on your progress or share something with you.

As well as the forums New Members are invited to join Charles in the New Members Practical Advice Group On Mondays at 21:00 (UK) and Thursday at 19:00(UK)

And on that note….

I’m going to hand you over to our community because I’m sure they will have some words of wisdom for you 🙂

Take care

The Gambling Therapy Team

PS: Let me just remind you to take a look at our privacy policy and terms and conditions so you know how it all works!

[charles]

Hi Chris. Firstly – yes you can quit this mess and stop gambling.

You are not alone with this problem. Read the other stories here and you will see a lot that you will relate to. You will aslo read the success stories – what are they doing that you can apply to your own situation?

There are a lot of places to gambel in your city? Well the good news is that probably means that there will be at least one meeting of Gambles Anonymous near you as well. That would be a great place to get support as well as coming here. Here is a link so you can find a meeting.

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/addresses

Talk to your parents. They can help with accountability. If you borrow money “for the train” then they should expect to see train tickets and a receipt. Of course though if you ask them to help you with accountability properly then you wont be able to gamble and will be able to aford your own train tickets.

Keep reading, keep posting. You can stop gambling, let us know the positive steps that you are going to start taking.

[gregorz]

Thank to you I found a meeting right in my city, looks like it’s every monday. I will have to find some courage tho, I am pretty ashamed of it and sharing with others puts me in huge discomfort… I will think about it ( it would be undoubetly helpful tho).

I also managed for the first time after months to get out my house without having any bets placed or money in online sites to pass the nught to mi girlfriend house. Usually she falls asleep before me so I have to have some fun with gambling. Haplened almost every single night I went to her house for the night in the last two months. Not today!
Doing this I also resisted the urge of asking my mom for 50€ ( I had an excuse ready ) .
First step is taken and I took it seriously, thanks lord.
Thanks for ghe support everyone is going to give me!

[Raynor98k]

Hi Chris,

Good job on seeking out help, this is a step that sadly not a lot of people take. I can see you really care about your future and your family, so well done so far.

In regards to GA, you should absolutely not feel ashamed at all when going to seek help. Everyone is there for the same reason as you, they are fed up and tired of not being in control. They want to change their lives, just like you. In fact, there are a lot more people than you think that are suffering from some kind of addiction. The fact that you want to help yourself shows that you are serious about moving forward.

Different techniques work for different people, and I’ve found that learning as much about addiction and what it does to the brain was the most helpful to me. The more you can understand the illness, the better you can plan your attack to recover. Basically, the brain can get addicted to anything. It is the prolonged engagement in a highly stimulating activity that leads to addiction. Your brain will make connections, and whenever you think about or experience a trigger, these connections will light up causing cravings. The more you resist urges and cravings, the more you recover. The brain is a highly complex organ, and it is constantly changing. Whenever you resist a craving, those connections made earlier become weaker, and when you explore new healthy activities, you will create new connections. I also found that having goals is super important. Anytime I get an urge to gamble, I just talk to myself and say, “I know I am having a craving, but I also know that if I act on this craving, the outcome will be the same. I want to save up for a house, and throwing money away to gambling will put me further away from that goal”. This usually works for me, any technique you can do to delay the action is a positive one. Good luck and keep posting.

–Nick

[gregorz]

I woke up some minutes ago. Usually my first thiught would have been open my phone and look at the results of my last bettings since I’d almost always fall asleep before they ended.
Feeling free is awesome

[Author]

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