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Support for essbee 2

423 replies

anorak · 26/09/2004 10:51

Here it is...

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
essbee · 25/10/2004 19:35

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essbee · 25/10/2004 20:34

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EvesMama · 25/10/2004 20:44

hi essbee, im sorry, i havent read all the posts, but if you are having a really bad time with your son, cant anyone offer you respite care?
i can see you clearly need a break and some help, and maybe the constant struggle is why the ad's dont work as you dont get chance to relax.
like i say, you may have already answered this b4 but i just wish i could help you out

Eowyn · 25/10/2004 20:45

Hi there, sorry things are still bad. Have you been checked out physically, maybe it could be some kind of virus thing as you say, so hard to know.
It's such a shame you can't get away on your own to relax, with only one relatively well behaved dd I still need to get away especially after a whole day with nothing much happening, so I can't imagine how I would cope with two on my own.
Sorry nothing useful to say but am thinking of you & things will get better one day I'm sure, you just don't know when..

LIZS · 25/10/2004 20:47

Sorry essbee, please don't think you are being ignored. I look in from time to time but don't feel I have any constructive words to add to what has already been said, what I contribute somehow feels really hollow.

It must be really difficult especially handling ds atm. Is there any "carrot" you can offer him for behaving better at least to help you get through this week or has it got beyond that. I really hope that his appointment helps you all.

[hugs]

essbee · 25/10/2004 21:26

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EvesMama · 25/10/2004 21:28

im supprised your gp or someone hasnt offered you respite care? have no solid experience, but have heard that your sone could me looked after by people used to dealing with his problems from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks? ask your gp or ring the surgery and quiz themhth

essbee · 25/10/2004 21:33

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blossomhill · 25/10/2004 21:57

Essbee - you would need to get an assessment done by social services. They basically look for a care package that would suit you. Honestly it is not as scary as it sounds. I don't have respite with dd but in the summer holidays they do fund 2 days at a summer scheme for her and ds (nt) and they also pay for dd to have 1:4 support. It is worth giving it a go.
My dd has a language/communciation disorder!
BHxxx

essbee · 25/10/2004 22:08

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blossomhill · 25/10/2004 22:09

Sorry essbee I haven't been following your posts. The only bit I did pick out was that your son was being assessed. Is that happening soon?

essbee · 25/10/2004 22:24

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blossomhill · 25/10/2004 22:27

I do know exactly what you mean essbee. I was in a real state over dd last week. I have really good weeks and bad weeks where I really can't accept it.
I really hope it all goes well on 3rd November. Fingers firmly crossed for you. BHxxx

EvesMama · 25/10/2004 22:27

dya know, i feel very humbled reading this!

i find it hard looking after my 18month old daughter as i have no friends or family(barring dp and one friend with own little one) so also get no help.
but you must be going through the mill!
definatly ask for some help, it is totally reasonable for you to want some 'me'time and you deserve it.good look hun.
will think of what you have to deal with next time im feeling sorry for myself.x

essbee · 25/10/2004 22:34

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EvesMama · 25/10/2004 22:49

well you speak to the gp and we'll be HERE for you for however long it takes!
hope you get some hard earned sleep. you are a good person, you deserve to be you again as well as mum.

blossomhill · 25/10/2004 23:59

Just remember essbee whatever label (if they do that is) they decide on, your ds will always be the same person. It took me a long time to see it like that but it has really helped. Although our label is still a bit "hazy"!
Labels, when correct, really do open doors and hopefully that is what will happen with ds!
Again good luck, I will be thinking of you. BHxxx

MummyToSteven · 26/10/2004 00:38

hi essbee sorry you have had such a difficult few days. re:your question as to whether it is depression or not. i think the only way you can find that out is to get your GP to refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist (i.e. a mental health expert) and for you to give them a lengthy history of past/family life/past problems/current problems and see what they think. from what you have said/posted i just don't think there is enough info to say whether or not you have justdepression, depression and something else, or something else completely different. sometimes tho if you have an anxiety disorder that can "tick along" for several months or years, and it's only when you get depressed that you seek help.

essbee · 26/10/2004 01:55

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MummyToSteven · 26/10/2004 11:42

just spotted this now, essbee, and sorry i didn't check your thread earlier. my gut feeling is that although you are finding ds's behaviour very difficult to cope with, that your past experiences (lack of supportive partner/lack of supportive family) have an impact as well. if you have very critical parents I think that does make a huge difference to how you feel about yourself and how you cope with life - e.g. if you have been brought up to believe that when you are out, people are staring at you for your supposed misdemeanours, you will be more sensitive to what people think of your kids when you are out, which adds a lot of pressure on. i guess what i am trying to say in my rambly way is that I still think that you would find it helpful to get some good therapy/counselling to get you to look at yourself more fairly and less negatively.I do hope that once ds has seen the CAMHS that there is sufficient diagnosis and paperwork to get ds and you the support you need at home and at school.

essbee · 26/10/2004 19:46

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MummyToSteven · 26/10/2004 19:59

re:the stigma point. fair enough you might not feel comfortable with being referred to a psychiatrist/psychologist etc - but it is all confidential - no reason that any of your friend's don't know. I may seem like openness itself on here, but very few RL people know that I see a psychiatrist or psychotherapist. alternatives i guess would be: getting GP to refer you to a counsellor, getting some good self help material, or arranging a private referral to a psychotherapist (which of course costs ££s). it's very hard, but not impossible, to work through things, and think more positively (i.e. do CBT on yourself) by yourself.

i just don't know what to say about what you are going through with the behavioural probs. i guess just hang on in there till ds's appointment, and flag up how difficult it is to manage his behaviour.

essbee · 27/10/2004 02:30

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tigermoth · 27/10/2004 07:16

essbee, I really, really think you are being too hard on yourself. Your son messing up your house, not listening to you, and you feeling exhausted and resentful does not make you a bad mother, but a mother doing her best.

From what you've said, and FWIW, I think some of what you feel stems from your own relationship with your parents. I get the impression you weren't that close to them when you were a child? I come from a different angle. I was very close to my mum as a child (my dad was ill). She was very tolerant(I was living with my boyfriend at home when I was sixteen) she spoiled me, she was not that ambitious for me, she did things her way - not always the accepted way. However, she was always there for me and showed her love for me. She in turn had been very close to her mother, who had been very close to hers etc etc. I come from a strong line! Even when my sons are at their worst, when the head teacher said my oldest was one of the worst behaved boys in the school, when the nursery said my youngest was 'beyond normal behaviour limits' I never felt it was primarily due to me being a bad mother. I never could take on lots of personal guilt about it.That's because I have a strong sense of what it's like to have a good mother. I hope I can do the same for my sons. Even if I can't, I feel what I am doing for them is 'ok' as I have a template to copy off.

If I did not have this template, those memories, and also had no one around me in real life to look at what I was doing and say, well done, I couldn't do better myself, it would be so esay for me to feel I was failing. I can't analyse your situation - I am not you, but I know why I don't feel like a bad mother. A lot is to do with my parants.

Glad you had a productive evening. Take care.

essbee · 28/10/2004 13:26

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