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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

What is happening to my life?

127 replies

SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 07:59

I have set up a mumsnet account just for tris purpose. Someone please give me a bit of perspective. Am I being silly and a total or drama queen or is this as terrible as it feels?

My husband, who I love so very very much, recently told me he doesn't love me. It is his 'go-to' line every time we argue. When he says it, I can see he means it. He doesn't talk to me anymore, doesn't want to do anything nice with me and is so incredibly distant. He used to be the nicest person I had ever met. Now he is nasty, sometimes quite cruel. He is selfish and self-centred. He barely notices I exist.

After reading a post on here about a woman not coping with her husband's affair, things started to seem ... similar. My husband recently changed all of his passwords on everything and encrypted his phone. He takes it everywhere with him. When I asked him why, he got angry and said that he was just being security conscious and that he would take everything off it - he said he has nothing to hide. I checked it when he was putting our daughter to bed. I know that I shouldn't have but I did. He has been logging into his work email account in the evenings and weekends. The password was already entered so I logged in and found that he clearly is having a ... something ... With a woman from work. He had a week off work at Easter and when he went back there are emails saying she missed him and him telling her that he was thinking about her. She writes things like 'thanks for listening earlier'. They arrange to meet in the kitchen at work and exchange playful/ flirty emails calling each other naughty and cheeky.

I haven't found anything else. He says that this woman brightens his day a bit but that there is nothing else.

But the way he acts makes me feel that there is something really wrong happening her. Without going into detail, something has changed intimately. He treats me like meat. I hate it but I let him because I don't want him to leave me for someone who will let him do these things.

I can't sort myself out. My head is pounding and I haven't slept in two days. I can't eat, can't drink. I can't stop crying. I feel devastated. I feel sad, sick and ashamed of myself.

Please, somebody tell me what the hell is happening. Is this normal? Am I overthinking things? How do I get on with life now?

OP posts:
SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 13:52

Tribpot - I agree I am doing myself no favours at all. I am torturing myself and I don't know why. The thought that he has infected me with something makes me want to scream at him.

I feel so much hate right now.

OP posts:
wigglylines · 02/05/2015 14:07

You're getting angry, good. It's about time you recognised your own feelings do matter. You're not going crazy. You're facing up to what a shit your DH actually is.

Now you need to use that anger constructively, and take some control.

If he wants to leave, show him the door.

Vivacia · 02/05/2015 14:10

It really feels as though you're in complete denial, as if you've been in some kind of fog. The things you hint at... are they very far removed from the rest of your experience/relationship?

SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 14:16

Viva is - I am sorry but my brain can barely function. Can you clarify what you are asking? I feel like I can barely think properly. Sorry.

OP posts:
SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 14:17

I meant vicacia sorry

OP posts:
SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 14:18

Wigglylines - he has decided he wants to stay now. Can I make him leave? What if he physical won't go?

OP posts:
Vivacia · 02/05/2015 14:19

There seems to be a strong disconnect in what you are posting OP - almost two opposite stances. (Does anyone else sense that?).

I'm wondering where this disconnect comes from, and I wonder if it's the things you have hinted at, but not described. I'm wondering if the acts are things you feel so uncomfortable about that you can't acknowledge them as part of your experience.

Sorry, I'm not being very clear.

Vivacia · 02/05/2015 14:21

Wigglylines - he has decided he wants to stay now. Can I make him leave? What if he physical won't go?

I feel that you are in some kind of danger. I certainly think you need time and space away from him. Tell him tonight that you want him to leave and stay somewhere else for a couple of nights. Explain that you need to think what you want. Tell him that this is what you need if he wants a chance of saving the relationship.

Do you have the option of staying elsewhere for a couple of nights?

SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 14:24

Vivacia- you are being clear I just can't think straight. I honestly feel like I have two voices in my head. One tells me that's loves me, he doesn't want to treat me like this. I feel like he needs my help to overcome this.

The other is disgusted by how he has treated me. I am almost shellshocked. I think I keep choosing to forget it temporarily. And then anger boils up when I remember.

I think that how he is approaching this is confusing me too. One minute he says that the emails are nothing, the next he tells me that he just wanted some attention.

One minute he is leaving, the next he begs to stay.

This is why I can't string my thoughts together. I am so confused.

OP posts:
SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 14:27

Vivacia - I have nowhere to stay. He could go to his mother's house by I just don't think he will go.

Long term, what would happen? I have no job, no money and nowhere to stay temporarily. How do these things happen? I feel like from a logistical point of view I have no options.

OP posts:
Vivacia · 02/05/2015 14:42

He could go to his mother's house by I just don't think he will go.

Well, think about how important this is to you. Think about where your line in the sand is. It's ok to say, "I need you to give me this time and space so that I can think. It's what I need to even consider staying in a relationship with you. If you refuse, then there's not even that chance, I will end it".

Long term you gather information. Information is power. Knowing the facts will enable you to make informed decisions. There's an "entitled to" website you can find out about finances and you can get a lot of help and advice on here if you let us know the current situation (e.g. renting or mortgage, whether your DP is your child's birth father etc).

AyeAmarok · 02/05/2015 14:45

Agree with Vivacia, you do sound completely detached here. This isn't how good relationships feel. You don't need to be treated this way, you do deserve better.

You say he had started treating you like meat, does he watch a lot of porn?

AyeAmarok · 02/05/2015 14:46

Sorry, X-posted.

AyeAmarok · 02/05/2015 14:46

Sorry, X-posted.

wigglylines · 02/05/2015 14:51

"I feel like he needs my help to overcome this."

This, right here is very dangerous thinking. You cannot "help" him.

If you try to put his needs before your own you will suffer more. Sadly I did this, I thought I was doing the right thing by trying to help my ex. I see lots of women try the same here. It's nonsense, it honestly can't help the situation. You are a good, kind person. But more love for him is not what's needed here. You need to focus on helping yourself and your DD have a better life than this.

"The other is disgusted by how he has treated me. I am almost shellshocked. I think I keep choosing to forget it temporarily. And then anger boils up when I remember."

This is the truth of it.

SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 14:52

I am looking at law firms now, thinking maybe I could go and get some advice. I will go on entitled to, thanks.

He hates porn. He has never been interested in it. He has never been a sleazy kind of person. This is all very out of the blue.

OP posts:
wigglylines · 02/05/2015 14:57

If you're feeling very confused, I wonder if he is using FOG on you?

FOG = fear, obligation, guilt.

I have to go now, but will be back later and will find a link if someone else hasn't already.

wigglylines · 02/05/2015 14:58

"I am looking at law firms now, thinking maybe I could go and get some advice. I will go on entitled to, thanks."

That sounds like really wise, practical stuff, good on you Flowers

Vivacia · 02/05/2015 15:56

Perhaps start keeping a journal OP? Just to keep a record of your feelings, discoveries and observations. If you feel confused you will have a record to refer back to.

SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 16:54

Good idea. Dear god I just ended up kissing him. What the bloody hell is going on here? Confused

I still hate him so much.

Thanks all for your advice/ support.

OP posts:
MatildaTheCat · 02/05/2015 19:05

What an awful situation for you. One thing jumps out at me: he is the wrongdoer and cheap at. The one who says he doesn't love you and forces you into acts you hate. Yet you are allowing him to be in charge of what happens next. no! this is so wrong. You MUST start to assert yourself. Tell him to get out and stop fucking with your head. He has to leave you alone and let you decide what to do next.

Fwiw I cannot see a happy ending here, I'm so sorry. He's so nasty to you that you should never be able to forgive him. Part of the price for such nastiness is that he loses the right to have his daughter with him all of the time. (And btw, playing with a baby for a few hours on a Saturday morning does not equate to a great dad, it's dealing with the terrible times well that is more of an indicator).

Grab back the steering wheel. You are the injured party, you get to call the shots. Not him. And please stop kissing him. He's just messing your head up.

Cloudhowe63 · 02/05/2015 19:31

Matilda beat me to it! It is not just up to him to decide. I know it's difficult OP, but you can take control.

SomeoneHelpMe · 02/05/2015 19:51

Can I take control and still stay with him?

I am not going to be stupid. I will still go to a solicitor and I WILL set up a bank account of my own. I owe it to our daughter to make sure I can keep her housed, clothed and fed if he decides to leave.

But I really am very weak. He cried, told me he loved me. He just enjoyed some attention from women at work. He doesn't want to demean and degrade me during sex. He says he is just lost and confused. I want to give him a chance to be a better man. But will another chance just allow him to carry on doing as he pleases? And how do I stop thinking about all of the terrible things that have happened?

Will we ever be able to talk to one another how we used to? Will I ever be able to kiss him without my skin crawling?

OP posts:
AttilaTheMeerkat · 02/05/2015 20:00

He cried did he?. Tears can be crocodile ones and manipulative, designed to tug on your heartstrings.

He can go and be lost and confused somewhere else, he should go. You certainly need some space away from him now.

Do not give him the green light to hurt you any more; words are cheap after all. Look at his actions instead. He has still not really taken any responsibility here for what he has done nor really shown much if any real remorse. You also cannot rescue and or save him from his own self either, a person cannot act as either a rescuer or saviour in a relationship.

Love your own self for a change.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 02/05/2015 20:01

Take some control back, he does not get to call all the shot still and particularly now.