Why Living Healthy Feels Impossible When Your Loved One Suffers from Gambling Addiction

These days you can’t get through a day without hearing something about how to live a healthy lifestyle. But what if you are living with someone suffering from gambling disorder? How do you live a healthy lifestyle when you are engulfed in stress, worry, grief, and anger? You are not alone in these feelings, and it is difficult to even begin to believe in or find ways to live differently in a more positive way.

The first step for loved ones impacted by problem gambling is to reach out to Florida’s 888-ADMIT-IT HelpLine to connect with support, free resource referrals and ultimately, hope. It is impossible to find a healthier way of living until you have some understanding about what you are dealing with in compulsive gambling. You must first understand the disease before you can figure out where you have control and where you do not.

Some commonly acknowledged steps to healthy living are to eat well, exercise daily, limit alcohol, get outdoors, be social, and stay hydrated. Though simple on the surface, these important basics can still seem unreachable as a loved one of a problem gambler. When your life has been turned upside down with uncertainty – as you watch your loved one spiral out of control with their gambling habits – and you experience the side effect of pathological lying that comes with the addiction, healthy living habits are likely to be among the first things to fall by the wayside.

Did you know that gambling addiction changes the chemistry of the gambler’s brain? Over time, the brain gets used to gambling as a way to feel good and loses the ability to produce dopamine (the feel-good hormone) itself. In other words, an addicted gambler cannot feel good without gambling! This is important as a first step to understanding what it is you are dealing with. As they say, information is key to successful change.

Once you understand this, you can take a step back and make sense of the resulting relationship problems. Because gambling has become this person’s sole source of enjoyment, any kind of confrontation with you or others that threatens their ability to gamble sends them into an uncomfortable fight-or-flight mode, which starts firing off all kinds of reactions – both physically and emotionally. It also means he or she will choose gambling over even the most important people and responsibilities in life. How can you enjoy a healthy lifestyle when you feel like you are walking on eggshells every minute of every day?

Self-care is not a waste of time. Set boundaries and take the time to make your soul happy.

You need to keep in perspective what you are dealing with. Recognize that you cannot change the disordered gambler on your own. You must take care of yourself first, or you will not be any help with the battle you are waging against this disease.

It takes a team, but recovery is POSSIBLE! Treatment is available, not only for the disordered gambler, but for the loved one as well. Call or text the 888-ADMIT-IT HelpLine for a completely free, confidential, and non-judgmental conversation and referrals to licensed and certified gambling addiction treatment providers, the FCCG’s A Chance for Change Workbooks for loved ones, the FCCG’s Peer Connect Program, self-help support groups, and so much more. The HelpLine also offers multilingual service and is available 24/7/365.