How I quit

frosty3907

Non-Gambler
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Location
Australia
Although this (quit gambling) forum isn't seeing much action I'd like to share this with anyone out there struggling with addiction. It's what has worked for me but is dependant upon you being able to get the drug naltrexone;

"
The Sinclair Method is a treatment for alcoholism based on the use of opiate antagonists, such as naltrexone or nalmefene. It differs from other treatment in that patients use the drug while continuing to drink."

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There's a lot of good info out there about this if you're interested you can watch a documentary about it called One Little Pill.

What it boils down to is once or twice a week I now take a pill, wait an hour and then open a beer and sit down and gamble.

Now you're thinking "that's still gambling" and it is, but due to the drug it's now a joyless affair; every time I do it now it reinforces only the negative feelings associated with gambling and drinking; anxiety, stress, fatigue, headaches, stomach upset and so on.

And so now when I think about gambling I don't get excited, instead I feel ill.

The results have been astounding for me so far especially in comparison with GA or any other methods I have tried.

Anyway hopefully this will help someone out. I always used to think "I wish i could just push a button and never gamble again" well this drug is as close to that as you'll ever get. You've just got to be brave enough to try it.

Thanks
 
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It does appear to be quite useful in treating heavy drinking so although I was sceptical at first it does look quite credible and not the work of some quack doctor!

I still think willpower is best to combat addiction but not everyone has that. I like to think I can control gambling but it is a dangerous hobby let's be honest.

Even in one quick session you can experience amazing highs and then gut wrenching lows. Trust me I enjoy the endorphins as much as the next man but the feeling of busting out is pretty shitty as we all know. The things we do for a quick rush:(

I'm really glad the OP has found this method to be effective and glad they have recognized the need to stop. Best of luck in your future endeavours:thumbsup:
 
Although this (quit gambling) forum isn't seeing much action I'd like to share this with anyone out there struggling with addiction. It's what has worked for me but is dependant upon you being able to get the drug naltrexone;

I think it's great that it's helped you quit although my personal opinion would be for anyone considering taking a drug to cure a habit be fully aware of what it is, whether there are any side effects, what they are and who they affect before considering it. Everyone is different and virtually no drug guarantees the same effects for everyone: there are always people who can't/shouldn't take it or find many and varied adverse reactions. Even more so if you already take other medications. A drug should be absolutely a last resort IMO and only after its been fully researched by the person taking it.
 
Although this (quit gambling) forum isn't seeing much action I'd like to share this with anyone out there struggling with addiction. It's what has worked for me but is dependant upon you being able to get the drug naltrexone;

"
The Sinclair Method is a treatment for alcoholism based on the use of opiate antagonists, such as naltrexone or nalmefene. It differs from other treatment in that patients use the drug while continuing to drink."

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.


There's a lot of good info out there about this if you're interested you can watch a documentary about it called One Little Pill.

What it boils down to is once or twice a week I now take a pill, wait an hour and then open a beer and sit down and gamble.

Now you're thinking "that's still gambling" and it is, but due to the drug it's now a joyless affair; every time I do it now it reinforces only the negative feelings associated with gambling and drinking; anxiety, stress, fatigue, headaches, stomach upset and so on.


And so now when I think about gambling I don't get excited, instead I feel ill.

The results have been astounding for me so far especially in comparison with GA or any other methods I have tried.

Anyway hopefully this will help someone out. I always used to think "I wish i could just push a button and never gamble again" well this drug is as close to that as you'll ever get. You've just got to be brave enough to try it.


Thanks


Thanks Frosty. I shall give this a try -- particularly for my alcoholism. I gamble ... I drink. I do not remember the next day how much I lost. Not a good thing!
 
The efficacy for helping gambling addicts has not been proven with this method. It works well for alcoholism, drug addiction and other compulsive behaviours but not so well for gambling addiction. I am glad the OP is one of the success stories though.:)
 
One addiction at a time

The efficacy for helping gambling addicts has not been proven with this method. It works well for alcoholism, drug addiction and other compulsive behaviours but not so well for gambling addiction. I am glad the OP is one of the success stories though.:)

That's good because if it can stop me from drinking it will stop me from gambling. I somehow equate the two and it is never a good thing. Although I have to say I love doing the drinking and gambling.
 
That's good because if it can stop me from drinking it will stop me from gambling. I somehow equate the two and it is never a good thing. Although I have to say I love doing the drinking and gambling.

I wish you luck Barbara and it looks like this method is very successful in helping problem drinkers. So if you get that under control then the gambling will follow since these two are so closely linked behaviors for you. :)
 
Always interesting threads when it is about stop gambling. Maybe a tl,dr or a bit off-topic but wanted to share my experiences with you. :)

I guess like the big part of this forum, gambling also brought me a lot of problems. I could live a normal life without problems too serious but it was problematic sometimes.

Somehow I managed to have gambling a lot more controlled. Gambling will never go out of my life. It is in my blood. I was interested in it when I was a child. And that, ofcourse, unevitably turns you in a lot of problems besides the big fun.

In my late twenties I discovered poker, and lucky enough I was truly interested in that game, especially tournament play. The sensation of playing hours and hours in 1 tournament with a chance on a big hit with just a small buyin excited me. I discovered poker is in the small run a game of luck, but on the long run you can even the variance out and by making enough volume you will have a nice profit graph over the years, especially if you are capable of multitabling and play with HUDS.
Nowadays poker is becoming very hard. Players are much better then before and I myself have just been an average player with a small profit over 8 years. In fact a decent fish :( Really a laughable profit but it never have cost me a dime and it brought me a lot of fun! The few €10 deposits over the 9 years are countable at 2 hands and I have had some nice withdraws as a little extra.

If such game as a gambler interests you and you have the patience and the motivation to study a bit such games you can have a lot of fun gambling at least breakeven at the long run.

But... the last years I lost a bit the interest in poker because of the new gambling law in my country, which means I can just play against people from my country which makes it less interesting because of smaller pricepools and less sitandgoes to mass-table.

So I came back at slots :( So difficult to resist that feeling of joy when you hit big! Since 3 years I am totally in it again and in the beginning it did bring me problems again. I excluded myself for 6 months and was proud I did that. Thereby I had a lot of work to do so I did not think that much about gambling.

Bow, due circumstances, I have a lot of time to take it easy and relax. So it is very easy to gamble again and so I started again. But now, somehow, I managed to start to enjoy playing at much lower stakes. Looking good for bonuses, trying to extend my playtime as much as I can by betting very low if necesarry. I deposit much less and literally have a gamblebudget and a private budget. And this goes very well!

Not that my privatelife is perfect now, but things that have to be paid are paid. I will never be without food, even build up some reserve and keep my Neteller as my gamblingwallet. The key to reach this is to find the joy in gambling with MUCH less on stake then you are used too and if broke, find some ND bonus or put some nice info here at Casinomeister about your experiences.

And if you feel you will never ever be able to get gambling out of your life, but are not stupid and have some knowledge, try to get some money out of it in a honest way. Im trying to get as much information out of casinos (especially unknown ones) and try a bit which are generous and which not to gather knowledge and information which hopefully in the future can be important for me.
This is my second goal and I hope I make it but a VERY long way to go!


Good luck everyone who have gambling problems! Try whatever you can to control it or better leave it!
 
How I mostly quit

Frosty, I really want to thank you for bringing your experience here.

Topic of addiction has been at my kitchen table for a few months now. Nothing like milestone birthdays and funerals to bring that out!

One of my first piece of advice for anyone struggling with addiction is to talk to their doctor. But doctors are not always well informed with pharmaceuticals, so it helps if a patient can say what about this? I have someone close to me that his health issues has forced him having to something about his alcoholism to the forefront before it is too late. I have a few I have buried, including my own brother a few years back.

I had an interview recently where I was asked about addiction issues, phrased as you don't have addiction issues, do you, and I had to reply I smoke.

One friend said everyone that is addicted is addicted to MORE. It was pivotal for him stopping cocaine use 25 years ago.

Most people with addictions have cross addictions, it is not just one thing. Some are less harmful physically, or acceptable sociable.

I'm ADHD, and that makes us even more vulnerable. While I skirt problems by switching my behaviours up, there is that "addictive personality" thing. I am very very glad I never tried cocaine. Candy Crush is bad enough.

I battle my own demons, and for me gambling is mostly about avoidance. The OP's post made me look a little deeper into some research, and it appears that there are four basic brain chemicals responsible for happiness.

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Pretty superficial, but not at odds with more indepth reading I did today.

Who doesn't want to be happy? The American founding fathers were wise enough to just enshrine the pursuit of happiness as a right, not actual happiness.

I also did some reading on video game addiction, which I think is relatively closely associated with gambling. Seems it and gambling are not the same endorphin paths that alcoholism is, but more dopamine paths. Reward based behaviour.

For myself, I'd have to link both drinking and gambling on the avoidance of pain path.

But not everyone is the same. I do believe a close examination of your behaviour is a big part of healing. It's the foundation of most programs, so I can't be the only one thinks that way.

Interesting thing about the studies for naltrexone or nalmefene, and I read more than just what the OP posted. Greater long term success in those counselled for moderation over abstinence.

I have close friends that work in the field of addictions. Harm reduction strategies work well for many clients.

Nicotine is a very greedy addiction, and it is not the only one. Sometimes physically addictive substances get their own life.

Gambling, video games, sex, exercise, food, not so much so. You gotta figure out what you are getting out of it and if it's worth the price.

Sorry for such a long post, I am trying to work my own sh*t out.
 
I pretty much quit gambling online all on my own, I guess it was in part thanks to the greedy developers, I can assure you going over one year without a great hit is probably enough to make anyone quit or at least sick to the stomach. The whole thing becomes a put money in, lose it, regret putting said money in and you know how the old saying goes "Insanity is doing something over and over, but expecting a different result" or just tired of the same thing over and over again, it takes out all the excitement of playing because you know before you start that you're going to lose, and you do, put the money in watch a few crappy features and bam you're money is gone. Starts to get tedious after a while as well. I can't gamble much online anymore without feeling sick about the amount of money lost and all the SHITTY FEATURES (that right there is what really does my head in). I'll occasionally sit down and play on fun mode and let MG put on their Poker Face but I've had enough losing sessions now to know better than to play real mode.

I'm still playing at land based venues, but I've always had better luck there, and I've always preferred to play a real machine. I give Bet@ a little every now and then probably $20 every few weeks but that's nothing to me so I don't see it as serious gambling otherwise I'd stop there as well. I blame the developers/providers soon enough (unless you're really addicted) players are going to have had enough.

Oh and another thing that helped me curb my gambling online has been those new Facebook apps that are slots only you don't have to spend anything to play them, I'll occasionally throw a tenner donation their way, but once again that's very small money :)

I also quit smoking, I think when quitting something you need to remember that you're in charge, the object will still be there but it's up to you to remember to show some self control/discipline some of my friends were amazed at how quickly I quit, when I first started they all said once you start you're never going to stop, well I did, just like that, I'm pretty damn proud of myself.

P.s. I'm an avid video game player, which as an aside is where most of my gambling money goes these days. Entertainment is entertainment.
 
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I need to quit too, spent too much money last few months. last 10 days i did not deposit any money, i hope i can continue without deposit few more days. i was so much addicted that i used to deposit twice or more every single day.
 
I quit 1½month ago or so, finally got to me spend more money than i had and got worse every month, finally signed up at "Rofus" danish system that locks you out of all casinos took a year which is max but if i dont write to them before the year is gone it will be closed forever and even if i do write i still have to wait a year for it to open, and im fine with that first week was hard but now i rarely think about it and can already see money goes much longer, used to be close to broke some months in 10days max having to borrow money to buy food and stuff but end up playing again and again.

But now im free and i dont plan on starting again in a year if i remember it at that point, so if your strugling hang in there it can be done but its easier said than doing it actually.
 

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