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Double Whammy Today

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Klmisc

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I spent November of '07- September of '10 misdiagnosed with Bipolar Disorder (it turns out that it was actually C-PTSD). The doctors began to remove the medications and by New Year's Eve, I was med free pretty much (except a Xanax every once in a while). During the detox, I had a major flashback of an event that happened with my mother and adopted father during Christmas. If I gave the whole background on my mother and I's relationship, it would take up the whole site. Anyway, my mother knew. She was there when it happened at Christmas time. She watched. The flashback was clear as day. I tried to explain to my husband at the time what was going on, but like usual, he didn't care too much. He just wanted to make sure that we were going to have sex.

I left him New Year's Day. I stopped speaking to my mother. The three years that I spent diagnosed, I was in intensive DBT treatment and because I couldn't emotionally feel anything, I was able to deal with a huge amount of my thoughts about my childhood and myself. I've gotten it down to the point where I know now, in my head, that the abuse is what really scarred me. I was in denial over it for my entire life (I'm 37 now).

Today, I go in for my first mediation meeting with my ex over child custody and divorce. He claims that I am an unfit parent, that there is something wrong with me because I don't want to have anything to do with my mother. My mother doesn't understand how I could've left my husband or why and has taken his side. She doesn't see the abuse that I endured with him for ten years. And she doesn't appreciate the fact that I now have to fight for my child. None of her four previous husbands ever wanted us.

Last night, a nationally syndicated television show re-aired a piece on my mother. She's a professional psychic who got caught giving out bad information (no, she was NOT the psychic in Texas). So now, all of my friends are contacting me and asking about it.

I feel so overwhelmed by everything that I just want to hide but I feel like I don't want to be by myself. I just want to be numb.

My only saving graces are my son, my friends and my incredible boyfriend. I don't know what else to do... I've pushed myself for so long to be close to her. To try and give her an opportunity to be my mother, but she has never done it. In the past few weeks even, I've begun speaking with her again, but it leaves me empty.
 
You are a very strong woman.

I am so proud to read that you left that unsupportive, abusive husband. And, your mother sounds despicable!

I'm so sorry that you have to fight for custody of your son.

I have felt an emptiness after talking with my mom before. It's very sad... it made me melancholy. Nostalgic and lonely. Like I was floating without any ties to the world.

Stay strong, and be proud of standing up for your rights.
 
Kimisc, I really hope things went well for you in court today and that being near your mother wasn't too stressful.

My only saving graces are my son, my friends and my incredible boyfriend. I don't know what else to do... I've pushed myself for so long to be close to her. To try and give her an opportunity to be my mother, but she has never done it. In the past few weeks even, I've begun speaking with her again, but it leaves me empty.

I did that with my mother too. It's like all I ever wanted was for her to love me. I even enrolled my daughter in a Kindergarten close to a nice senior living community. So that, If/when she moved to be closer to me, I could stop by in the mornings while she was still sober and have a cup of coffee and give her the chance to be my mother. It was a painful fruitless, ridulous idea. She liked to pitch me and my brother against each other. I took her complaints about my brother seriously. That's why I went to the trouble of finding her a nice affordable place to move to. But in all honesty, I looked for 'mothers' every where. Sad, speaking with her left me empty or more needy than before.
 
It went really well. Actually, I just kept my mouth shut for the first fifteen minutes and let him make an ass out of himself. The mediator saw immediately that he only cared about one thing: money. My ex wouldn't care who our son was living with as long as he didn't have to pay child support. He started arguing with him about percentages of parenting time for the child support calculator and how long I actually have our son.

The mediator did, however, stop him and asked me how I was doing through this whole thing. I told him that I was still recovering from being on unneeded psychiatric medications for three years (oh yeah, my ex totally convinced me and a shrink that I had Bipolar) and from PTSD. This guy was also a family therapist and he responded with his own story of coming back from Vietnam and battling PTSD. It was a nice connection. He also reaffirmed that I was a devoted mother and that it was wonderful that I was willing to make such sacrifices for my son. But that I also needed to take care of myself, that that was important to my son too.

All in all, it went very well. It was incredibly uncomfortable to be around him for two hours though. And I did call him names in my head every once in a while (I love having that talent. Gets all of the anger out!).

Thank you all for being here. I'm always amazed at how strangers can show such kindness and love for another human being... I hope that I can do the same for you someday.

Thank you and have a fantastic weekend! Go do something fun for yourself!
 
Love Love Love your post! Glad you can call him names and maintain self control. Your son will appreciate you taking care of yourself. Sounds like an affirming experience! Kudos Klmisc!
 
Thank you! My therapist will be very pleased! And I couldn't do anything less, I have a little boy who's heart is on the line with this. He'll figure it out someday, but it's not for me to tell him.
 
I have a little boy who's heart is on the line with this.

Yes,yes,yes. I'm so glad you used the words 'his heart is on the line'. What a deep capacity for empathy you have. He is lucky to have you for a mother. Even in your tough times, I'll bet you protect him as best you can.
 
I'm raising my son the way that I wish that I had been. It's what you do for your kids, you give them everything that you had that was wonderful and everything that you wish that you had had. That's all. To me, it's nothing, it's part of my job.

I am an incredibly aware empath. If there's anything that PTSD does to you, it heightens all of your senses and capacity of feeling. You are forced to do it because your intense fear is that one day, you could cause someone to go through an ounce of what you have. And you want to be there for anyone who might be in pain because you know what it's like to be alone.

My son is a born empath and me reacting to anything in this situation will only harm him emotionally. It has definitely caused me to remove myself from my emotional mind and live in my logical mind. And I prefer to live this way. It's taken me so long to get here but it was so worth the work.

If anyone is interested to know, I went through an intense DBT program for three years that I graduated from in March. This is the first time since I was ten that I have not been in therapy or on medications. And I am doing this well. I do amaze myself sometimes.

Thank you for the encouragement. I just hope that in my own small way, I can help someone else on their journey. At least to see that it's possible to live a healthy and productive life as a survivor.
 
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