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Original poster

What is an experience you never want to experience again in your lifetime?

625 replies

sooo4455 · 06/04/2026 14:29

The most stressful time in my life started about 7 years ago and went on for 2 years and my mental health took an absolute battering and im still not over it. And now im super paranoid about it happening again.

I had bedbugs and a rat problem under the bath at the same time and pest control were useless.
i had a toddler at the time and their was 7 of us and I was advise to put everything we owned (twice) in the garden while they tried to get the bedbugs under control. I had to wash every soft furnishing and beds, draws, wardrobes had to be emptied and placed outside in bags in the sun. Only thing that was allowed in the house was furniture. I had postnatal depression at the time and I just remember sitting in the garden with everything we owned (twice). With the rats they were running around under the bath and were huge. My bathroom is downstairs and they’d chewed from the outside in, the smell was not normal and the noise all day from them scurrying around 🤮
It finally got resolved after 2 years but at that point I was shot to bits. I don’t think people realise how traumatic it is the live with a bedbugs. I’m so paranoid about getting them again I try and stay away from public transport and hotels or I will research the shit out of them before booking and even then I’m hyper vigilant and can’t sleep.

What is something you never want to go though again?

OP posts:
JuliancoveyalittlebithurtNsoul · 07/04/2026 06:00

Having to tell DW her sister had died suddenly.
She had also lost both her boys one age 3 the other age 27.

mjf981 · 07/04/2026 06:02

GoldenCupsatHarvestTime · 06/04/2026 17:09

Seeing my husband go from a healthy 30 year old to being unable to leave the house or even empty a dishwasher. A nerve in his brain became infected and then inflamed.

He’s slowly recovering. Not back to health yet but we’re going on a picnic tomorrow which will be his first outing in 4 months. I’m making fresh sourdough and cookies and homemade lemonade for the occasion.

I've never heard of this? What was the infectious agent? And was it generalised meningitis or a specific area of his brain that was affected?

New fear..

itsnotjustaslap · 07/04/2026 06:20

Domestic violence. The abuse of trust by someone who was supposed to love you.

The physical abuse was nothing compared to the psychological torture of gaslighting, stalking, and co-opting by my charismatic ex, of agencies that were supposed to help such as schools, health teams, police and social services

The permanent estrangement of my son due to alienation by his father

Whettlettuce · 07/04/2026 07:02

A cardiac arrest and the month long coma I was in.

Fleas- a stray tom got into my house and was in it for ages, I didn't realise until one of my cats attacked the tom . The sheer amount of fleas on this poor thing that jumped off at the time ,was like a dark cloud there were thousands and completely overwhelmed my defences and took me months to get rid of

Bundleflower · 07/04/2026 07:07

My childhood.

Whettlettuce · 07/04/2026 07:08

MermaidMummy06 · 07/04/2026 03:19

An ever ill in law who expects DH to focus fully on them, acting like a homogeneous lump and waiting to be taken care of, for years. Having no life while DH tended to them. Went through it with MIL, who then demanded she not be left alone in her last 6 months. The DC stopped asking where DH was & I carried the entire burden at home. No one acknowledged me, or checked on me. It was saintly DH & horrible me for not doing a shift by her bed. I actually spent one school pickup with a vomit bag in the carpark because I was so ill, but had no support.

Unfortunately I AM experiencing it again. With FIL. Who had an unnecessary high risk operation last week, ended up in ICU Good Friday night & we had to come home from our non refundable holiday within hours of checking in 'because he's not going to make it through the night '. As always, he's survived, is weak & requires DH's full attention. This has happened many times. I won't get out of our town for the rest of the year now & spent Easter hosting his siblings family - beds, cooking etc. instead of enjoying a holiday. DH has an international conference & hobby days etc. I couldn't get out of bed yesterday. It's killed my marriage. I'm not even talking to DH. I'm cancelling our short holiday later in the year as it WILL happen again. Almost had to cancel our abroad holiday last year as FIL had a fall the night before & DH rushed off, leaving me to finish everything at home. FIL has also now declared he's not to be left alone.

I can't face years of this. I wish he'd just died.

Im really sorry to read this. This is so much to take on board with no support. And I commend you because I wouldn't be able to put up with it. Awful. You're being taken for granted and I hope you can get your ducks in a row when you're able to

Whettlettuce · 07/04/2026 07:11

sooo4455 · 06/04/2026 14:29

The most stressful time in my life started about 7 years ago and went on for 2 years and my mental health took an absolute battering and im still not over it. And now im super paranoid about it happening again.

I had bedbugs and a rat problem under the bath at the same time and pest control were useless.
i had a toddler at the time and their was 7 of us and I was advise to put everything we owned (twice) in the garden while they tried to get the bedbugs under control. I had to wash every soft furnishing and beds, draws, wardrobes had to be emptied and placed outside in bags in the sun. Only thing that was allowed in the house was furniture. I had postnatal depression at the time and I just remember sitting in the garden with everything we owned (twice). With the rats they were running around under the bath and were huge. My bathroom is downstairs and they’d chewed from the outside in, the smell was not normal and the noise all day from them scurrying around 🤮
It finally got resolved after 2 years but at that point I was shot to bits. I don’t think people realise how traumatic it is the live with a bedbugs. I’m so paranoid about getting them again I try and stay away from public transport and hotels or I will research the shit out of them before booking and even then I’m hyper vigilant and can’t sleep.

What is something you never want to go though again?

Always keep a can of indorex spray in the house op. Great for bed bugs ,fleas and general insects. You can spray soft and hard furnishings and it lasts at least six months until you need to do it again. Kills on contact

AzureStaffy · 07/04/2026 07:18

Being in an NHS psychiatric hospital. The cruelty and injustice I experienced and saw meted out to other people was horrendous. It went on for only about 105 days but was profoundly traumatising and had negative lifetime consequences. The year's stay each in an adolescent psychiatric unit and then a hostel were very bad but, still, nothing as bad as that so-called hospital.

Whoiam · 07/04/2026 07:32

Humhallelujah · 06/04/2026 16:05

An abortion. I know it was my choice, to a degree (failed contraception), but it was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s been 3 years and it still haunts me, physically and emotionally.

There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

BeardofHagrid · 07/04/2026 07:33

Any kind of public speaking. I was absolutely humiliated many times when I was at school. I’ve said I’m walking away if I’m ever asked to do that again.

theoneandonlyhydro · 07/04/2026 07:39

CloseEncountersOfTheLoveKind · 06/04/2026 15:12

Hi, would you mind saying which airline?
im due to fly this year, and your post had made me nervous 🤦‍♀️

Show quote history

Air France

keffie12 · 07/04/2026 08:05

The first 40 years of my life: abusive childhood recreated in adulthood. I finally took my 4 youngsters and ran after 16 years. We walked the fires of hell with the aftermath.

The passing of my 2nd husband 8 years ago, oh and lockdown too

MelanzaneParmigiana · 07/04/2026 08:06

Lockdowns -really thought I would lose my wits -was teaching secondary online lessons all day (private school so no slacking allowed) living with xh who hated me and was having assignations in his car with his scuzzy AP.
The ghastly toxic divorce that followed was a picnic in comparison to that appalling loneliness.

njg575 · 07/04/2026 08:07

Being stalked by someone I used to work with - he was disgruntled when i caught him doing something that ultimately cost him his job. I did report him as it was a safeguarding issue.

Him waiting for me across the road from my house, make notes, then sent the most vicious letters once the police warned him. It was relentless for around 18 months.

I was told to live somewhere else temporarily as it turned into a serious harassment case.

It got to court only for him to not show up and admit he was wrong by email to my solicitor (he'd obviously got legal advice but couldn't afford representation). I got an injunction but it turned my life upside down and I changed career because of it.

superchick · 07/04/2026 08:14

Watching my mum at my brother's funeral. She seemed so small and fragile. And Watching her trying to cope in the months afterwards. I hope beyond hope that she goes before me because I don't want her to go through that again.

CloseEncountersOfTheLoveKind · 07/04/2026 08:17

theoneandonlyhydro · 07/04/2026 07:39

Air France

Show quote history

Ahh, thank you for sharing, I’m relieved that the airline I’m using isn’t the same.
I’m sorry that you went through that experience.
Its amazing how when we look back, and think of how on earth we get through certain challenges life presents to us.

CelticSilver · 07/04/2026 08:27

Sitting with my dying mother in hospital for four days, then after she'd passed going to her house to find letter after letter saying what a terrible, evil person I was and how much she hated me.

Daffodilfor everyone on here.

Hereagain334 · 07/04/2026 08:35

Marriage to an alcoholic. My life is chaos, fear and frustration almost daily. When I get to a position I can divorce, I will NEVER get married again. Never.

200320max · 07/04/2026 08:40

Barbarella73 · 06/04/2026 15:22

I’m 53 now, so will never experience this again thankfully - hearing my younger brother being beaten with a belt by my father when we were children.

The reason for the beating was that my mother had found religious magazines in my brother’s school bag that he had been supposed to deliver to neighbours of ours (our primary school used to get pupils to deliver these magazines to neighbours that didn’t have any children of school going age). He hadn’t delivered them because our neighbours had several large and aggressive dogs, and he had been bitten by a large dog a couple of years before while out cycling and was understandably afraid of big dogs.

I will never forget how helpless I felt listening to him plead and cry.

I hope your “father” was done for child abuse and your mother for letting that happen

CocoaTea · 07/04/2026 08:43

Barbarella73 · 06/04/2026 15:22

I’m 53 now, so will never experience this again thankfully - hearing my younger brother being beaten with a belt by my father when we were children.

The reason for the beating was that my mother had found religious magazines in my brother’s school bag that he had been supposed to deliver to neighbours of ours (our primary school used to get pupils to deliver these magazines to neighbours that didn’t have any children of school going age). He hadn’t delivered them because our neighbours had several large and aggressive dogs, and he had been bitten by a large dog a couple of years before while out cycling and was understandably afraid of big dogs.

I will never forget how helpless I felt listening to him plead and cry.

This has made me so sad.

I am so sorry that happened to your brother, and to you.I hope you are still close.

loislovesstewie · 07/04/2026 08:43

I hope every person posting on here is able to give themselves some love today . So much sadness, distress and trauma, but you are all still standing and amazing. 💕💕💕

TappyGilmore · 07/04/2026 08:50

Having a lump inside my lower lip surgically removed twice, because it grew back after the first time. So fucking painful, I cannot describe how excruciating it was. Not the surgery itself because I had a local anaesthetic, but the injection going in (and I’ve had extensive dental work done so I’m no stranger to that!) and the recovery period after, especially immediately after, as the anaesthetic wore off after only twenty minutes or so.

mjhx · 07/04/2026 08:54

backagainohdear · 06/04/2026 14:40

I quite enjoyed the pandemic. 😂 Lockdown was lovely especially with that summer we had, was so peaceful!

Show quote history

Me too. I was furloughed through most of the pandemic. My daughter was 18 months old and I went back to work when she was 9 months. It was so nice to spend more time with her.

Although I have two now... Not sure if we would cope so well second time round with my wild 4yo son in tow 😂

RosesAndHellebores · 07/04/2026 09:07

Burying our baby.

user593 · 07/04/2026 09:08

mjhx · 07/04/2026 08:54

Me too. I was furloughed through most of the pandemic. My daughter was 18 months old and I went back to work when she was 9 months. It was so nice to spend more time with her.

Although I have two now... Not sure if we would cope so well second time round with my wild 4yo son in tow 😂

Show quote history

Me too. Obviously I wish lockdown had never had to happen, and I feel terribly for people who lost loved ones and suffered due to lockdown, but my first DC was born in lockdown, I spent almost all my pregnancy WFH, which suited me, and when DC arrived DH was still WFH so we got to spend a lot more time together than we otherwise would have.

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