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Sufferer I'm New To This Site And I Just Want Someone To Listen

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NetherWarper

New Here
I feel like right now a small weight on my body is being lifted. I have never shared this with anyone before, but things lately have gotten so bad I just can't take this any longer. If no one reads this so be it, but I'm writing it down, and maybe will even get some feedback, someone suggesting something and I will have told at least one person my story. Here it is.

I'm 25 years old. Doesn't feel like it. So much of my life was spent surviving that I still feel eternally a young soul. Firstly, my mother was a drunk an a serious addict. Not one of those friendly chattery drunks. She was (although I am an atheist) literally EVIL incarnate. Borderline Personality, Bi Polar, with a serious itchin' for whatever would f*ck her up most. She used men for money and stability for her crazy life.

She feel pregnant with me in 87 when she was still married to another man with one child (my sister) that she took not a bit of mind too. My dad was only 18...of course she lied about her age with her affair. They were all police officers in Memphis. You readers would be shocked to know how corrupt some officers really are. My mother did desk work, deemed to crazy for civilian interaction, she was stuck with the clerical end of police work. Around the time I was born things took a turn for the endless downward spiral that would be our family and my life. She divorced the first man, married the kid (my dad, and 18 is still a child lets be real here) and really started to evolve into a new type of evil.

My paternal grandmother was my saving grace, she loved me, she didn't want them to take me home from the hospital but there was nothing she could do, she told me that she would come over following the days/weeks/months after my birth and ask how I would sleep at night. My parents shook their heads like they didn't know or care. They were letting me "cry it out" at a week old...three months...one year. I was underweight. I have flashbacks I don't understand, I know that a child that young cannot possibly remember something like that, but I do. I do remember laying on my back, staring at a ceiling, wooden crib bars to my sides and crying. Wanting to see a face..any face... . My parents fought ALL of the time, my mother using all of those drugs would get violent and it would end in blood on the floors, we would be hurt from trying to break it up.

My sister would get me ready in the morning, an 7/8 year old getting a 4 year old ready... making me cereal, brushing my hair. My parents would be putting on their work uniforms like nothing happened the night before. Shining upholding police officers. I was allowed to go to my grandparents on weekends. We loved it there, Toys, fresh meals, love more importantly. But then Sunday night came and we were forced into the darkness. I can say literal DARKNESS because my mother ALWAYS wore sunglasses, even when she slept, showered, and always a hat or cap of some kind, she wasn't feminine at all, and in the daytime the curtains would be down, sheets on windows, no lights allowed. She hated light and it was so dark, it matched her and my father, their fighting. I cried for just a drawn blind to see out my bedroom window and I was beaten for it. We got one meal in her care. It was called Kids Steak. She said it came special from the butcher and that every kid has it for dinner. I am an adult now and I know now it was a ground beef patty that took her ten minutes to cook and serve with A1. I can no longer eat A1. It triggers me to remembering the hungriness I felt all the time, the awful taste of that meat every night.

My grandparents were good people and they tried so hard to get us out of that house, but the court system is so goddamn flawed and they don't like taking kids away from their parents. My mother was smart and would buy kits to clean her system, anything she could to hurt us and our grandparents as much as possible. There are things that hurt so bad to remember. She would fight with our dad at night, I would cry into my pillow, try and imagine I was somewhere far away. A bird flying in the opposite direction. Our door would SWOOSH open and it would be her in the darkness with those glasses "You whores ruined everything. You stupid bitches ruined my life!I hate you!" My dad would punch her for saying that about us, then when he would realize how much he physically hurt her he would just leave. He left us there with her. To what go sleep in a truck??I would've picked that truck too, the truck bed was much better than my bed!

She would lock us out of the house for hours and hours. Once a cop came to our door because a neighboor saw me deficating in the backyard. I was pooping outside because I could no longer hold it. And when I think about that memory I feel so shameful. I have asymmetrical breasts now as an adult thanks to her drug use during pregnancy. I do not feel beautiful or strong or independent. I still feel like that little ugly chubby kid I once was. At 18 I couldn't take it anymore. My parents both eventually screwed up so bad that they now are serving looong lengthy sentences in prisons. Divorced finally.

I packed my things and moved to Florida. Now I have a boyfriend of 4 years and we have a 2 year old son. Maybe its because of how it was for me growing up but I am the best mother in the world to that sweet little boy. I could NEVER imagine doing or saying anything like that woman did to me. My boyfriend is great, great family but they all live in Jersey, far away so its just the 3 of us. I try to see that my life is much better than it used to be but I CANT get passed so many things. The abuse for years and years, begging for someone to help.

One of the worst is when my parents were divorcing when I was 13. Because of school location I was stuck living with my mother in a nasty trailor (she had finally been fired from the police force)with a drug dealer. She had just served a 1 year sentence for holding her boyfriend hostage and having a standoff with police. I am not kidding, the night of my 12th birthday too. The drug dealer we were living with was a much older man, a dirty hippie looking type. He wanted me to call him Dad, the more I did nice for him the more drugs my mother was rewarded with. She took my Ritalin every morning and his drugs every night. Once I was taking a bubble bath and he came in and wouldn't leave. He watched me take that bath. I felt the same way I felt with I pooped in that backyard. Shameful. Embarassed. Low. Nothing. The nothingness of nothing. And when i think about it writing this right now i can feel the same emotions pouring through me.

I am by the American Standard, poor. We have a nice house we rent, but although I went to college I could not find a job in my medical assisting field and resorted to working and popular brand sandwich restaurant. I cannot afford a psychologist to listen to this stuff, to help me cope with the black hole that was my life. I still feel like I am just survivng every day. I put on such a front to everyone around me, and I hurt so bad on the inside. Because I lack health insurance I cannot afford to pay for someone to listen.

If anyone has any advice, and opinions good or bad, or inouts, please feel free to share. Thankyou so much for reading this. Are there anyways I can get through all of these flashes and triggers?
 
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I read your post. You've done the right thing to unload, to speak your truth. You have friends here. Welcome to the forum!

You'll find lots of great people here that will share their strength with you. You may find yourself occasionally in the role of giving some of your obvious strength to others.

Your story is of course unique, but I think you'll see a lot of similar stories in others here. We're here to help each other.

With that, Welcome to the Forum!
 
I know you sometimes feel like that chubby kid and unattractive but reading your post, what came thru to me besides your horrible hell of a childhood was how beautiful you are. Other people come out of something like you and sometimes / sadly - do not do the right thing with their children. You are a fabulous person and a fabulous mother. And that makes you beautiful thru and thru in my book.

I am glad you are here. There is much to learn and lots of great support.

P.S. I know a lot of cops are great people, but I do know there are terrifying exceptions - just as there are in any field. I dated briefly a cop until he told me what he did to some of his prisoners. Shudder.
 
Nether-

I am so sorry for what you went through. Every time I read/hear a story like yours, I am struck with mixed feelings of awed-disbelief and sickening-realization. Part of me cannot believe that things like this are happening in today's world, and yet another part of me recognizes the truth and wishes it wasn't so- that there was a way to prevent these horrid things from happening.

I have been through some terribly traumatic abuse, but nearly every story that has been shared with me seems infinitely worse than what I experienced, and I cannot fathom how anyone endures it, let alone comes out of the experience stronger.

My heart especially goes out to those who went through abuse and neglect as a child. I was immensely lucky- and every day reminds me just how lucky I was - to grow up in a happy, healthy home. Sadly, experiences like yours, mine, and the many members of this forum are all too common, and my own home life is the rarity. If it were not for this healthy upbringing, I would not have been able to recover from the trauma of my abusive relationship.

Children who are raised in situations like your own have no healthy comparison, no way to know that what they are being forced to live through is wrong. That they deserve better. That there is better. That the world is not all grim and dark. That there is so much more out there than mere survival.

I was so naive before my experience with my ex-husband. I heard stories about the home lives of some of my school friends, but never truly understood. In a way, though it was horrendous and awful and something I would not wish on anyone, my trauma opened my eyes to a world that I never understood. The lessons I learned from it helped shape me into the person I am today.

Though I am still plagued with PTSD and some permanent scars that will never fully heal, I believe that the knowledge and understanding we gain that helps us make better, wiser decisions for the future of our own children, is how we benefit from our suffering. We know, first hand, what is wrong and refuse to treat our children/spouses/etc in a way that will leave them with the same scars.

Sharing your story will help you unload your pain, so that you can heal and focus on providing a brighter, better future for your children. You were handed a wretched lot in life which no person deserves. While nothing can make this better or fix your past, I believe that the cliched "lemonade" analogy pertains to exactly what you are striving to do. You are taking the lessons learned from your sour past full of lemons, and you are adding the sugar that will provide a future supply of lemonade.

That you've been able to endure as much as you have and get yourself as far as you have in life entirely on your own is a feat to be proud of. You are a strong, capable, independent woman, and you have the experience to prepare your children for the world.
 
Mostly I feel compassion and sorrow for you. No one should have to live how you did. One small note: everyone has asymmetrical breasts. :) everyone. Symmetrical breasts are a myth that only exists with photoshop.

I'm glad you found the forum. There are some really neat people here.
 
Sending strength your way! I think you are very courageous to post all of this. I can't imagine how you must have felt growing up.

I am with rightkind, no one has symmetrical breast. How boring would that be anyway? You are made just how you should be!
 
Welcome to the forum, and thank you for sharing your story! As others have said above, you're doing the right thing by finding somewhere to open up. You'll find a lot of people here who understand what you're going through from similar experiences.

You've survived all this and gone on to make a better life for your own child, which makes you strong. You've gone to college, which means you're smart. You've managed to do all this with the grace of a loving woman, and that makes you beautiful. I know from experience that compliments like these are hard to accept, but I'm giving them anyway, because they're absolutely true.

I'm also going to agree with rightkindofme and Rumors - there's no such thing as symmetrical breasts. Personally, mine are different enough that I avoid shirts with fabric that crosses over in the middle, because it'll never stay that way while I'm wearing it.
 
Welcome to the forum! I'm with Heidi. Good for you! And you're great to have posted your story, we all know it's very hard to do. You are so brave and obviously a great mother. You'll find lots of great information and supportive people on this site.

Hang in there,
D
 
Hi NetherWarper,

Welcome to MyPTSD forum! :)

You did a great job in writing your introduction, and an amazing job for leaving that environment and creating a new life for yourself. There is a lot of information on the forum you may find helpful in dealing with your PTSD symptoms. Take your time and look around. The Articles section is a great place to start.

Wishing you the best.

Debbie
 
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