Hi All,
I began gaming when I was 8 years old, back in 1989, with a fairly simple puzzle game on a handheld console and continued to spend the majority of my free time and energy (and an amount of money) on this 'hobby' until I reached the age of 33 in 2014. At my worst I once played a well-known PC MMORPG for 3 days straight, only taking a break from the monitor in order to cook food or use the bathroom. I don’t remember sleeping. On the third day after returning to my computer from the kitchen, I took one look at my screen and felt physically ill: My body was shaking and I felt weak, cold, sweaty like I had flu and also had a sudden piercing pain behind my eyes like a migraine… all of which came about within seconds of looking at the screen. I turned my computer off immediately and went to bed.
After that key turning point in my life I tried a number of times to end my gaming addiction until I finally cracked it a number of years later, the essence of which I've summarised in the forums under this post:
See http://www.olganon.org/forum/olga-member-discussion/how-i-stopped-gaming-after-25-years-it-free-july-2014
Please see www.howtostopgaming.com for more info on the book (now available to buy on Amazon)
All the best,
Dean :)