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Sufferer Many Traumas Over A Lifetime

  • Post starter Post starter TeddydaBear62
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TeddydaBear62

Hello.

First I would like to say that this site doesn't seem to support android, so I likely won't be posting very often. I am Teddy......I have PTSD. I was never diagnosed until a year ago. It all came to light over a relatively short couple of years. I didn't have an ideal life, but it was relatively ok. I lost my job in 1997......yes........that is 17 years...... I tried for over a year to find another.......but no luck. I had fallen through the cracks in education. employers used to value ability and character. But now they only value credentials (college degree). You see.......I had the God-given ability to draw.

Short of moving to New York or Chicago.....there were no such jobs in my area at the time. This was my home and I wasn't interested in leaving. My family was all here. So I entered the engineering field. I could draw and use my math skills. I was exceptional, because of my drawing ability. I rose to the top quickly. I was a self-made person and proved a degree was not necessary to do a complex job. Then the computer came into use. Then any monkey could draw. No one was exceptional. My ability meant nothing. I did learn to draw on the computer.....but it offered no satisfaction as drawing by hand did. After that period of time.......it was nearly impossible to get a job. Employers did't care about experience or ability. Greed drove the business world like never before.

And they were only hiring those with a degree. I am sorry....there are those of us that are just not able to go back to school. I knew mentally I couldn't do it. Anyway........my loving wife could see what a stress this was on me. She was working in a factory and making bunches of money. I was very proud of her. She told me to stay at home, take care of our little farm and try to start a business. Which I tried, but I had no entrepreneurial spirit.

Soon after my mom got sick. She had luekemia. We almost lost her. Doctors wouldn't see her with a pre-existing condition. Finallly after calling sixteen different doctors, I found a doctor that would see her and helped to save her. My wife and I took care of my mom 24/7 at our home for four months. She finally recovered enough to return to her own home. A short couple of years after.....mom was having problems living on her own. She was then diagnosed with alzheimers disease. So back she came to our house to live permanently. She was with us for about a year, when she suffered electrical failure of her heart. She had a pacemaker installed, but only after nearly dying on the operating table. We got her home and began taking care of her once again.

Now up to January of 2012....

Prior to January......my wife got notice of a massive lay off at her work. Prior to that notice....I noticed a dark change in my wife. She began to read this series of books. They were religious books. My wife was a loving and caring person. I could literally see the light in her eyes. But now her face was dark and sullen. I always asked her nearly every day......what was the matter? She would always answer.....nothing. Then she got annoyed at me asking. That was not like my wife. After the layoff.....I caught her chanting in tongues.....and reading other books on identifying demons. This scared my mother and I. I started to have night terrors. I would wake around 3 or 4 in the morning.....just shaking. I didn't understand it. I cried a lot.

That brings us back to my mother coming back home after getting her pacemaker. My wife and I were having conflicts about her religious expression. One day in June was my 50th birthday. I was so looking forward to it. But no one remembered. No party. Not even a card. A week after that....my wife and I had another conflict. She went outside to read the bible. I went inside to talk to my mom. We talked about all the bad things that were happening. We talked about family. And through the discussion....she revealed I was adopted! Oh my God!.....I was devestated!

Later after a few months, my wife left me after an argument. She abandoned me with my sick mother! And no income! She went all the way down to Florida to be with her mother....how sad. I found out later that her mother was the influence in this nutty religious practice. She interfered in her other two daughters marriages too! And broke up those relationships too! My night terrors were getting worse and worse. My wife finally contacted me after a couple weeks. She wanted to come back and do couples therapy with me. But that wasn't true. I began to see a psychiatrist, and that is where I got diagnosed. With no income...I could not afford to continue seeing him.

What the doctor told me was.....a person needs at least six months to recover from a traumatic experience. But my traumas kept coming one after another. There was no recovery time. In February.....2013 my beloved greyhound died of pancreatic cancer. Everyone encouraged me to divorce my wife... They kept telling me if she incurred a major debt, I would be 50% responsible for it. So I did so.... June 24, 2013 my divorce was final. Two days later my mom died. I almost didn't live through that week. Now as executer of the estate I had to deal with that and the disposition of property to my wife at the same time. My family was gone, my loving and caring wife was gone......my friends that were few, don't want to be near me.

I have no job.....no income......
I often ask "what did I do to deserve all this?"
I am to the point......I can no longer function.
I don't see any purpose in my life.
I am sad, alone.....and cry a lot.
 
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Hi Teddy, I'm so sorry you're in so much pain. As you can see, you are not alone in this. This may be a silly question, but have you tried to do work as a volunteer? You wouldn't get paid (much), but at least you could choose to do something you like and be truly appreciated for it. You deserve that.

Welcome to the forum. I hope you'll find at least some of the help you need (and deserve) on here.
 
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Hi Teddy, I'm so sorry you're in so an see, you are not alone in this.

Thank you Snow White. This sites functions "stink". There is a time limit for writing apparently. I have been trying to reply for 20 minutes. I already do more for this world than is realized. And unfortunately.....the definition of "volunteer" is no money.
 
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You sure have had a lot of lousy stuff thrown at you. Does drawing make you happy? When I write fairy tales or color, I get into a different zone and any pain I feel is more tolerable.

Sometimes in life it's just one foot in front of the other. I hope you can find for just one day, today, some enjoyable thing to do that can take your mind off of everything.

I don't know what you draw, but there are sites like 99 Designs where people enter contests everyday to design book covers and tee shirts, etc. If you win, you are paid cold hard cash. That may not be your thing, but your artistic ability should not go wasted, especially if it brings you pleasure.
 
Francie..........I haven't drawn anything since computers came into being. If you read back through my ridiculously long intro.......you can see I was in engineering. So I drew engineering related parts and machines. I was first a graphic artist, then designed speakers and microphones, aerospace, custom designed machinery. And now I am being turned down for simple "grounds keeper" jobs. Can you even imagine it? A person such as myself is apparently not qualified to "mow" a lawn.
 
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I totally get it. It's insane really. I hate when society changes like that and abilities get outmoded. I worked in the marketing of architectural engineering firms for years. I remember when CADD came along, and my buddy architect who went to Harvard had to either learn the new software or he was out - that was a huge paradigm switch.

I just thought maybe in addition to the engineering knowledge and ability you have, you might like painting or whatever. Since you are really an artist it sounds like. But I understand if the only way you liked to use your abilities is in engineering. You have to mourn that for sure. It's natural.

I wrote proposals for years at A/E firms. When the crash hit and building stopped here in Chicago, I was out. I couldn't get a job regardless of my degrees and experience. Now I write books about whatever I want. I don't make the same money, but it's more fun.

As for your chanting wife - sheesh. You might want to get your house blessed or sage it. There might be residual trauma energy hanging around there from all that's gone on there. If this sounds looney tunes, feel free to ignore. I understand!
 
Welcome to this site, I think it is one of the safest ones there is.

You are not alone.

I am so very sad for you with everything seeming to happen all at once. I hope some real good happens to you very soon. You deserve something good to happen to you after all you went through.

I was a care giver to my husband who had severe dementia for three years and he died last year and I am starting over.

Being on this site will give you so much support so do not be afraid to post threads for advice, support and help and I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me. The people here got me through some very intensely rough times and made a huge difference.

I hope something of a good job comes your way soon. I am sad about your wife and her religious beliefs turning her away from you. That is pretty crazymaking and it really hurts so much. Big hugs.
 
This sites functions "stink". There is a time limit for writing apparently.
There is no such time limit, and in fact, your post automatically saves into draft for you if your connection is lost. It is your device and your connection, not the forum, as everyone else seems to be able to use things just fine, without such issues you're citing.
 
No Francie, it does not sound crazy. My minister said a couple months ago that it seems to him that I was under "spiritual attack". But that would not explain all the bad experiences since I was in 1st. grade. I was a very happy and outgoing child. Hence forth I liked to talk. I was repremanded once by my second grade teacher. The second time it happened the teacher put me in a corner and surrounded me with file cabinets like a cubical. It was then a very dark corner and I could not see the blackboard. I could only hear the teachers voice.

And that is where they put me for the entire year! For two talking offences! Being a little kid.....I didn't know what was normal punishment. And I learned later in life......they never told my parents! I never told for fear of getting into trouble with them. My parents were very good parents. But I thought, why bring on more punishment? That dark corner ruined my vision and I had to start wearing glasses. I really feel now.....the school should have been sued for this. But the teacher and principal are both dead. But no telling the long term effects it had on me.

Yes, I used to oil paint. But not for many, many years[DOUBLEPOST=1404863591,1404863430][/DOUBLEPOST]Thank you for the kind words Gizmo.

Yes Anthony......I might be crazy....but know I saw a message that my time for the session expired.
 
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