Medication to help compulsive gamblers?

I am not a doctor.

I have heard g.a. members pooh-pooh the possibility of medication helping a compulsive gambler to stop.

But…medications have certainly caused people to START…

http://www.oregonlive.com/metrosouthwest/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/metro_southwest_news/121064553193970.xml&coll=7

They say there is no ‘magic pill’…and I agree…there is no quick-fix…
But

Our brain chemistry is certainly affected by gambling….

And it’s important to get our brain chemistry back to ‘normal’….

Many people do this without using medication…but…doesn’t it make sense that medication COULD be helpful for some of us?

Isn’t depression fairly common amongst us?

I can only share my own story…

My mom died in 1996.

Sometime after her death, I had an appointment with my Primary Care Physician…I don’t recall what for…but she recognized immediately that I was depressed..she even had to convince me to try an anti-depressant….she prescribed Wellbutrin in a small dose.

I took it for a few months..felt better…didn’t need it any more…stopped taking it.

Then became depressed again.

That’s sort of been my experience with anti depressants…..some time later…when I was really really bad, I’d see her…or some other dr….for whatever symptoms were bothering me at the time, and they would prescribe one anti depressant or another…

I’d feel better…
I’d stop taking it…
I’d get depressed again.

As stupid as it sounds…I didn’t see the pattern.

In 2002, when the sh*t hit the fan at my house, I knew I was depressed and made an appointment with a psychiatrist.

He prescribed something.

I began taking it.

I stopped gambling…using meds, therapy, g.a., and giving up all access to money.

I didn’t gamble for 20 months.

During that 20 months…I was doing great, right? So I stopped the meds….and therapy….and g.a……and I was carrying money again.

And I was fine.

Until I wasn’t.

When my life began to fall apart again…..and I was grieving…and became depressed…I began to gamble.

Eventually I contacted my therapist….and my psychiatrist….and got back on meds.

I continued to gamble.

My therapist urged me to see a DIFFERENT dr….one who specializes in addiction…I did.

He taught me TONS about addiction.

He said that he thought I was on the WRONG medication (for me)….and weaned me off of what I was on…

And put me on..Wellbutrin….a much stronger dose than I had taken all those years ago…. (I currently take 450 mgs)

He discouraged (and eventually withheld) meds for anxiety…he said ‘a pill is the OLD way…RECOVERY is the NEW way’…

But I remain on Wellbutrin.

I was on it for a while….many months….and continued to gamble….it was NOT a magic pill….it did not instantly make me ‘better’ and make the desire to gamble leave me…it wasn’t like that.

But

When I finally had enough

This time…when I decided….

Enough

It was much easier (than it was in 2002) to walk away.

Much
Much
Much
Easier.

I’m nearly 20 months gamble free now.

I last saw my dr. in January…he has given up his private practice in order to train other dr’s in addiction..and run some facilities for addicts…

I was heartbroken.

He said ‘the good news is…you don’t need me any more. Your recovery is stable.’

I agreed….and we talked for a while.

He gave me prescriptions….and said that my dosage is stable…I can get future prescriptions from my regular dr.

I asked…’will I need to take medication forever?’

He said ‘I don’t know if you will always NEED to…but is there any particular reason to NOT want to take it…and...is it worth the risk to experiment with it? after all...stable is stable.’.

I was aware…a year or so before….when he parted company with his partner…there was a difference in opinion…his partner felt like there was a place for medication…in the BEGINNING of recovery…and that once the addict had broken free…the medication should be discontinued….my dr. felt like medication should be part of an ongoing treatment program.

I know people who no longer gamble who were never medicated for depression…

perhaps I could’ve broken free without it.

I don’t know. I don't really care.

All I know is…stable IS, indeed, stable…

And

If I was struggling to break free….I would seek help wherever I thought I could find it.

I repeat...I am not a doctor.

Take care of you.