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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Am I over dramatic? Advice needed.

86 replies

Materialgirlxxx · 06/12/2018 18:09

Sorry, I know this is really long but I really need some advice.

I think I'm in a relationship with a narcissistic abuset and have been for the last 11 years, I've become isolated from all my family and friends over the years, my parents and brothers basically disowned me because they did not like him from day one and now I've found myself isolated and over the last few years i have started to notice another side to him, like jekyll and Hyde. The problem is, I think I've been gaslighted by him so much over the years that I don't know whether the things he makes me upset and angry over are even true or whether I am just over reacting. I started writing the arguments down after they happened so that I would know for sure it's true, but It's like I still doubt myself. This prevents me from ending the relationship and trying to salvage things with my family. And I guess what I'm asking you guys for is your opinions, am I being dramatic and over reacting?

The latest incident, I have been wanting to put the lights on the Christmas tree and three days ago he was supposed to bring the extension lead in from the garage, he said he couldn't be bothered and would do it the next day, I said okay no problem. The next day he worked a 5 hour shift, and after work I asked him to bring the lights in, he said he would do it in a bit, again I said okay. I meanwhile cooked his tea and then reminded him again about the extension lead and he said he'd do it in a bit. After tea, he asked where dessert was, I asked him if he would go and get the extension lead first because it's getting late and he just said no I'm not doing it now I can't be bothered. I said I've been asking you since last night, he started shouting how he's been working (he works 3 or 4 days a week) and that he doesn't have to do it if he doesn't want to, and said go and get it yourself (the garage doors broke and he knows I can't lift it, plus I'd just cooked tea and cleaned and washed up all while he sat down playing fifa and watching football). I started getting annoyed and told him the next time he asks me to do something for him he'll get the same response, he just said he didn't care.

The next day I was still annoyed so I didn't speak to him and he didn't speak to me. After a minor disagreement over the fish tank that morning, which involved me telling him over the last few weeks that there was an issue with the heater and him telling me it was fine, he decided to tell me that day there was a problem with the heater, and when I said I'd told him that the last few weeks, he started saying "YOU are a liar" and no matter what I said he just kept repeating it over and over that I'm a liar. I don't lie, I'm known for being a bit too honest if anything. I then asked him why he had to make such an issue out of getting the extension lead in and he got really close to my face and looked me in the eyes and said "Because I didn't want to do it, because I didn't want to do it" and kept repeating himself over and over about 5 times, and he does this regularly in arguments and it really freaks me out, it's a bit like Jack Nicholson in the shining and it just leaves me feeling confused and wondering what the hell just happened.

The rest of the day we ignore each other, inside I'm fuming at being told so coldly that he just didn't want to do it, again and again and again, I've never experienced anything like this, the coldness and callousness of him.

A few days ago he tripped over a box that had just been delivered by the postie and he started shouting saying how he's always tripping up over my things and I just said to him he should open his eyes and look where he's going then, as that is what he says to me when I trip over something of his and he turned round and said "Shut up, you nobody". I've never been called a nobody so it really throws me like I don't know what to say back to it.

After an argument he will literally leave me upset for days on end and do nothing to try and resolve it even though the vast majority of the time, the argument started over a promise he broke or over him shouting or being nasty. He just leaves it and then tries to talk to me like nothing happened, and I can't work like that. I need to know he's sorry for what he said and that he won't say it again, but instead he just ignores it and when I bring it up I get called morbid and a cry baby, he mock cries when I cry because of something he did to upset me and will call me a shit bag and a wimp and morbid. When I'm none of those things, I'm normally really happy until he treats me like crap. And it is really like he feeds off making me unhappy, he's happy when I'm unhappy. I don't eat for days sometimes because I'm so upset and feel anxious, but he doesn't care cos he can still eat so it doesn't affect him. I never had anxiety once before I met him, now panic attacks are pretty regular.

The extension lead is not a massive thing I know, but it's the hurtful things he says like he just doesn't care about me and like I don't matter. He will do anything he can to get out of taking any responsibility for anything he's done wrong. I could literally be standing in front of him crying, begging for him to stop torturing me by repeating himself and let me speak and get my point accross and he will tell me I need locking up, I need mental help, he's convinced me I'm crazy with all kinds of conditions over the years. He puts his earphones in when he knows I've got a valid point during an argument so he doesn't have to listen to it and it drives me insane.

Another example of a recent incident. My friends mum died a few days ago and I was telling him about it as we were catching up because we'd not spoken much the day before due to work and he turned round and said God all you do it talk, it's the morning. Who says that when you've just told him your 32 year old friend has just lost her mum? It's like he's got no feelings whatsoever and there is literally loads of examples that are much worse I could give you but I would be here all day, I just wanted to go over the recent things and get some opinions because my head is all over the place and I literally don't know what to do. I've tried talking to him and telling him how it makes me feel but the response is always the same, that I'm over reacting, I'm a drama queen, and that he doesn't give a shit if it upsets me because it wouldn't upset any one else, only me because I'm not normal so why should he apologise.

OP posts:
Catmum26 · 06/12/2018 18:51

i couldnt even finish reading. this is wrong on all levels. it sounds abusive, exhausting and quite frankly life is far too short. you need to ask yourself how many good times you share together compared to these arguments. most couples argue occasionally but this doesn’t sound normal to me. him getting in your face and repeating ‘i didnt want to’ made me feel uneasy. abuse doesn’t have to be physical. id say what he is doing is abusive and you need to get out before it does become physical.

AmIRightOrAMeringue · 06/12/2018 18:52

In a healthy relationship you should respect each other and be able to talk things through - you should be able to say 'it upsets me when you do this, can we come up with a different approach / can you stop or do something else instead' without aggression, without gaslighting, without being called names, despite how annoyed you both are.

I get it that you've spent so long with him that it feels wrong to walk away without trying one last time, but he won't change - this is who he is. Most decent people would be mortified if their actions caused someone they love to be upset. And would try and change their behaviour so it didn't happen again

It doesn't matter if he is abusive or not (to me he is) - he doesn't make you happy overall. And it sounds like he isn't either. Cut your losses and leave while you're young enough to start again

Pachyderm1 · 06/12/2018 18:53

Are you incapable to going into the garage and finding the extension lead? You could also buy another one, they aren't that expensive.

Don’t be a bitch @jessstan2. OP explained that she couldn’t get the lead herself because the garage door was broken and she couldn’t lift it. And how is her buying a new one a reasonable alternative to her partner spending 2 minutes getting the one they have from the garage?

As for ‘whittling on’ - she was telling him about her friend’s Mum dying. However much you don’t like chatting in the morning you are not a decent person if you can’t summon an ounce of empathy in a situation like that.

I know some people think it’s fun to selectively misread the OP’s post and then berate the OP for imaginary failings, but it really just shows you up as an unkind person who takes pleasure in deliberately savaging others.

3luckystars · 06/12/2018 18:54

Yes he may be a bollocks but why cant you get the lights yourself?

If you are starting to sound like a broken record, just do it yourself. Good luck.

PurpleFlower1983 · 06/12/2018 18:54

I was with a dick like this for 9 years (mine was secretly physically abusive also). 9 wasted years. Similar situation, although I didn’t become isolated from my family, he never socialised with my friends as there was mutual dislike and most of my family just tolerated him. I finally came to my senses after about 7 and a half years and eventually left for good. It was the BEST decision I have ever made in my life and I’m now very happily married to a wonderful man with a baby on the way. I didn’t know what a proper relationship was but I wouldn’t give up on the twat because I knew his ‘good points’ when no one else could see them. What bullshit that turned out to be!!

PurpleFlower1983 · 06/12/2018 18:55

Leave him. It will be hard but you will feel so free.

3luckystars · 06/12/2018 18:58

Go home to your family. He got worse, it doesnt mean you were wrong, but he got worse and now you cant put up with it amymore. Go home and get away and sing at the the top of your lungs ' I'm FREEEEEEE to do what ever i want.......' as you walk away to your happy life.

Loodally · 06/12/2018 19:02

He sounds very much like my ex. The same ex who has narcissistic personality disorder. He abused me for 5 years and I also used to think I was being over-dramatic and maybe it wasn't that bad.
Google a woman called Melanie Tonia Evans, she's an expert in narcissistic abuse.
Good luck.

happyclutterchucker · 06/12/2018 19:02

You will be so much happier without him. He treats you appallingly.

Say nothing to him, start gathering paperwork together, and make plans. And talk to your family.

Materialgirlxxx · 06/12/2018 19:04

It is so exhausting to the point I fall asleep for a couple of hours after an argument. It completely drains me and then even though he can see I'm still upset, does nothing to try and sort the situation. I feel like it all has something to do with his upbringing. His brother has physically abused every single woman he has been with, to the point they have been put in a refuge. When one of the women contacted me for support I was berated by my boyfriend and by his brother for getting involved, even though she contacted me because he had just trashed her living room whilst her kids were there, but I got told I was wrong for getting involved by my boyfriend, his brother and his dad. I once phoned his dad during a blazing row asking him for support because his son was constantly arguing with me and I can't cope with it, and do you know what his dad did? He put the phone down and ignored me. It's the first and last time I ever asked him to do anything for me or got him involved in any argument.

OP posts:
TheLastNigel · 06/12/2018 19:08

I beg of you to get out now and don't look back. Try to picture another 30 years of this. Is it a happy thought? No...don't waste your life on someone so horrible.
As they say on here 'when someone tells you who they are, listen' He's screaming it as you mate-and who he is is a spectacularly unpleasant person.

7yo7yo · 06/12/2018 19:12

WTAF.
You know this is wrong and your sticking it out for your pride.
If you were my daughter I’d be so so happy that you got away from this loser.
Ask your family and friends for help.
Guaranteed they’ll welcome you back with open arms.

toxic44 · 06/12/2018 19:13

The incessant pressure of trying to please him and of 'just trying a little harder' is eating your ability to leave him which is what it is supposed to do. But you know that. What a dreadful dilemma, that you want his approval, you fear his abuse and can't manage to decide what to do. It sounds as if he won't ever change. It is an awful trap to be in for you. Make your peace with your parents so that his isn't the only view you hear. So they were right and you were wrong. So what? Every failed relationship sounded like a good idea at the time. Save yourself whilst you can. His 'remorse' is only another manipulation tool.

eddielizzard · 06/12/2018 19:13

Shock this is so horrendous. YES IT IS THAT BAD! Fucking get out!! If you can't do it on your own, phone up family and ask them. They've been waiting for you to dump this twerp for 11 YEARS! OMFG.

Sorry, I know this is so hard for you. You can't fix him. You can't make him get better. He ENJOYS hurting you and making you doubt yourself. He's an abuser and he's not going to change.

Prepare yourself for a difficult extraction. Keep posting here, start contacting old friends and family for some rl support.

You CAN do this.

BlueSuffragette · 06/12/2018 19:14

You need to leave now. He has no respect for you at all. Drag what bit of self respect you still gave and leave. If you stay he will wear you down even more, he already told you that you are nobody. Please leave before you have children.

BarbarianMum · 06/12/2018 19:14

Just because you have made mistakes doesn't mean you have to keep making them. I mean, the relationship won't become any more right just because you refuse to admit you were wrong.

Quartz2208 · 06/12/2018 19:15

OP it is that bad BUT even if it wasnt you are not happy - you are sacrificing yourself for what to make a point that somehow you havent done so for the previous 11 years you are continuing to do so.

Just go run and never look back and starting living your life because what you described isnt living life

mimibunz · 06/12/2018 19:16

Geez, leave him. Isn’t it enough that he’s a narcissist abuser? How much more do you need to leave? You deserve better.

supersop60 · 06/12/2018 19:17

3luckystars - read the post above yours.
OP had already said the garage door was broken and she couldn't lift it.
OP - please leave. You know this isn't right. Please don't spend another minute with this awful person, just to save face with family and friends. They will be there for you. He won't.
This is not normal and it's not your fault.

hen10 · 06/12/2018 19:22

TBH, I think you'd be wasting your time doing much analysis on this. You've no children, you're not married (I think that's right) and your family would welcome you with open arms. I would rather turn up on my mum's doorstep prepared to say "You were all right and I was wrong - please help" than spend a minute more in his company. Seriously, what have you got to lose? You're certainly not bringing out the best in each other, are you?

HollowTalk · 06/12/2018 19:24

I think you should phone your mum and dad up as soon as he leaves the house tomorrow and ask them to come and get you. It sounds as though that would be the best call they could ever have.

I wouldn't tell this man I was leaving. I'd leave a note saying that I didn't like him and didn't want anything to do with him. And then I'd block him on everything I could.

He's a horrible man and your eyes are now opened to what he's really like. That's great - now use that knowledge to take action.

Knittink · 06/12/2018 19:24

It is that bad. And it sounds like you know deep down that your family/friends have been right about him all along. But you don't need to have confirmation of that to justify leaving him. You have no need to prove anything and no need for his abuse to measure against a specific level. He is horrible to you. You are exhausted by it all, and unhappy. That is more than enough reason to leave someone, regardless of how long you've been with them.

HollowTalk · 06/12/2018 19:24

And when you have left, go on the Freedom Programme (online) - it'll open your eyes.

MatildaTheCat · 06/12/2018 19:25

Get away from him and clear your head. Everyone here can see this for what it is but you can’t see the wood for the trees. Make contact with someone sympathetic in your family and consider going to stay for a while. 11 years is a long time but do you want this for another 50 years?

That’s if you can’t just pack and go. What’s your living situation?

bertielab · 06/12/2018 19:26

You don't need a reason to leave him.
You have plenty.

Easy pack up your stuff, hire a van move out -it's simple you can do it tomorrow. You don't need to have any conversations, try and change him, justify yourself or anything -just move on.

You don't need a lot of strangers to tell you that you aren't happy, yes he doesn't sound pleasant at all and that you should leave -you need to tell yourself and crack on.

With men like this you don't need a discussion -just go.