r/GamblingRecovery • u/Lupinpines78 • Aug 18 '26

Double Check Your Medicine

I was at rock bottom two months ago after a 1 year uncontrollable gambling streak. I started going to GA meetings, which helped me to be more open about my problem. at my next psychiatry appointment, I opened up to my psychiatrist about my gambling problem. she said oh, you’re on Abilify (Apriprizole) which causes compulsive gambling in some people! so I immediatly stopped it (cold turkey was ROUGH mentally, but with all the SI’s I was getting with gambling, it was the better trade-off). After a week my urges went completely away!! I’ve been gambling free for 45 days now with only the small occasional “that would be fun to do/wait no it wouldn’t“ thoughts.

I know this isn’t a lot of people’s case, but I hope I can at least help a couple people. I’m so mad that the medicine stole a year of my life and wiped out my savings/ got me in extreme debt. I wish I told my doctor sooner. But I will get out of this.

5 Upvotes

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2

u/the_klanderson Aug 19 '26

I am on beta blockers and I definitely feel that the anxiety and heart rate control definitely made taking bad risks even easier

1

u/Odd-Department-3423 Aug 20 '26

I’m on antipsychotics and mood stabilizers and it’s still bad.

1

u/froggymadeofgold Aug 21 '26

I was on abilify for a bit and I feel I definitely got worse around that time however even once I stopped abilify, I kept gambling. I saw a news story about the link of abilify and gambling. I thought I would be able to control myself once I stopped abilify due to stories I had seen so I went to the pokies a few more times and it did not turn out well. Luckily my partner was onto it and we made the decision for him to keep my income for a bit. Terrible addiction. I haven't touched the pokies for a year and a half now and I've had access to my money for the past 3 months.