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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

i dont even know whats right any more

186 replies

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 09:38

hey. its the first time I have posted here so please be nice. I am a stepparent but not a real parent but I just need some help.

This is probably going to be a long post but I need to get it out there. My friends wont talk to me about him any more because they are sick of the way he treats me so I have no one.

He moved in with me after a week. I know that this was stupid but he was kicked out of his house and had no where to go. HE was supposed to move out but it all fell through so has been with me ever since. He has only paid £25 a week in bills and then in time he lost his job and fell into a depressive episode. then he paid nothing towards the house at all.

The arguments started pretty early on. HE would assume I was being jealous if I asked who a girl he knew was. If I wanted a cuddle I was being needy. If I wanted to have a rant about work, I acted like no one else ever worked in their life (Im a teacher so I get stressed!) It was like walking on eggshells. HE makes derogative jokes about me all of the time but if I make a joke back, im being serious and i really mean what I am saying.

At times its been terrible. He says the worst things about me. He has called me a fat, ugly c**t several times. (Im a size 10!) and then when i get angry or cry, he gets angry even more.

BUt when he is good,.. he is so good. and thats why I stay. I want us both to be so happy but its like I am fighting against everything. He uses his depression as an excuse. HE says this is the way he is and he is never going to change. I have to just accept that.

But the thing I really want to talk about is the last week, culminating in last night and the state I am in at the moment.

It was valentines day last week and i joked that he owed me a good present as he had missed our anniversary because he didnt have a job. I ordered him something from the internet but it didnt come in time. He got me my present and it was stuck in the sorting office until the next day. WHen it came, i felt bad because his hadnt, so I ordered him something else that cost like £100. I text him saying "Ive ordered you something else!!!" and he got so angry at me. Started shouting at how I never buy him anything he wants and I am useless and cant get anything right, then he threw my present in the bin because I was too upset to open it.

After that, he apologised and things were ok for a week - in fact i felt like I had him back. But I noticed a week ago he hasnt been taking his antidepressants so I was waiting for an argument. Last night was that night. I have been decorating the living room for three days solid and was about to get in the bath and hvae some me time when he called me and asked me to pick him up. I did, took him everywhere he needed to go, bought him food and we went home. We were on the sofa watching tv and he was rubbing my feet. When he stopped i tried to give him a shoulder rub but I was too hard and hurt him accidentally. He tried to hurt me back to "show me" but i pushed him off because he is really heavy handed. It was a genuine accident. I was just trying to do something nice. Anyway, he completely lost it and spat in my face. I was in complete shock and started crying. I had a cigarette in my hand so went in the kitchen to get away from him and he pushed the sofa at me, cutting one of my toes. Then he followed me around the house shouting at me. I didnt even really understand what I had done. this just kept getting worse and worse until he eventually snapped and said he didnt give a f*ck about me and didnt even know if he loved me any more. I have been up all night crying and I just feel alone.

I dont want to not be with him but he does this to me so much. he is like jekyll and hyde and when he is bad, he is so bad. He says so many terrible things to me. and he doesnt listen. I have to text him a bit later if I have anything to say and its breaking my heart. When he lost his job in october he sunk into depression and i made him go see a doctor. He met a 'mental health nurse' in a pub - i am dubious - because apparently she told him im his trigger. I have enough knowledge of the mental health system to know a professional wouldnt put the blame on someone else after 10 minutes in a pub. Especially not when he is exactly the same with his son.

He has all of these female friends and most of them i get on with but he also tries to make me feel jealous about them. tells me he would rather go out with them than me. he has more fun with them. HE constantly likes pictures of girls in their underwear online. He doesnt care that it bothers me.

I dont know what i want the outcome to be. I do love him. but i also wonder if I am just scared of being single again and having to go through all of this again at 34.

OP posts:
stitchglitched · 22/02/2018 10:27

How old is his son? You say he treats him the same way so it sounds like he is abusing his child as well as you. Do you have any contact with his son's mother? I would be kicking him out and speaking to his ex so she can safeguard her child.

ClemDanfango · 22/02/2018 10:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Thisimmortalcurl · 22/02/2018 10:29

He already is violent though. He hurts your shoulder, shoved a sofa into your toe and spat in your face.
I bet if he hadn’t managed to erode your confidence so much only one of those incidents would have been enough for you to show him the door.

rocketgirl22 · 22/02/2018 10:31

You lack of self worth stems from your family.

You are young, beautiful with your whole life ahead of you, get the hell out!

Spend time pondering how you ended up with a man so awful, and vow to choose my carefully next time.

He is an abuser, he will never change, your only hope is to gather your strength and leave. In a few months you will wonder what you ever saw in him.

elisenbrunnen · 22/02/2018 10:37

The house is mine. Part of me wonders if he using me. - only part?

100% of me knows that he is using you.

Change the locks. Chuck his stuff out on the front doorstep. Block contact.

You will feel SO much better when you cut this cancer out of your life.

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 10:37

I have never felt this broken before. All I ever do is try to make him happy but I am never going to be enough... nothing I do is enough. I buy presents - they arent right, i make an effort to get dressed up - he hates my clothes. I literally just feel alone. ANd its all so hard.

OP posts:
Ebeneser · 22/02/2018 10:39

As others have said, you are in an abusive relationship. He is mentally and physically abusing you. LEAVE HIM.
You say your friends won't talk to you about him anymore. I bet if you got some of your friends together and ask them for help in leaving him, they will all rally together. I'm sure they will more than happily help you pack his stuff, get a locksmith in to change the locks and chuck his sorry ass out in the street.

Men like him will never change, and his behaviour will escalate - you've already seen this yourself.
If you can't ask your friends, then please get in contact with a support organisation like Women's Aid. The sooner that cancer is out of your life, the sooner you can start to heal and move on.

Waratah · 22/02/2018 10:41

You are being used...you need to focus on yourself before he ruins your life. Be brave and move him out, being in a relationship like this can end up destroying your life and your career, develop some self-esteem and take control of your own life. When you meet someone normal, you will wonder what on earth you ever saw in him. There are are good men, nice men out there, who will treat you well and as a partner in life, but you are not likely to meet anyone whilst you are involved with this awful, manipulative person.

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 10:43

its weird because i have never been as happy with any one as when he is good. he literally always makes me smile, is thoughful and attentive, he does cute romantic stuff and its like i am living in extremes - from being the happiest i can be to the saddest.

OP posts:
HebeJeeby · 22/02/2018 10:45

Perhaps instead of trying to make him happy you should try to make yourself happy. I know you say you are 34 and don’t ’ Want to be single but ask yourself Ona scale if 1 to 10 how unhappy are you now and how unhappy would you be single. You might find without the drama and fights that happen every day you are much less unhappy single than you are with this nasty abuser.

He’s upping the abuse now and frankly spitting in your face is disgusting and so contemptuous. How can the good times possibly make up for that?? I know it’s hard but tell him to go and do it today. You need to have respect for yourself. Yes, it will be hard to kick him out and you won’t want to but do it and then take one day at a time. We’re all here for you to help you.

springydaff · 22/02/2018 10:45

Girl, are you listening to what people are posting?

You and me and MILLIONS of others have been, or are in, relationships like this. These relationships are all the same even tho some of the details may be slightly different - that is, loads and loads of people have experienced what you're going through now.

To the point we generally know what you're going to say next. Which is, guess what, all about him - what he says, what he does, what he thinks. Nothing about you or what you want or what you think. It's all about him, obsessively about him.

He is an ABUSER. Millions of us have been in relationships with abusers.

The only way is out. Did you look at the link I posted upthread about finding a freedom programme course? Click on the link now, find a course, go along

Start thinking about YOU.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 22/02/2018 10:47

This is awful to read.

I understand it's hard to gain perspective on a situation when you're right in the middle of it, but you've invited a monster into your home.

I'd suggest calling Women's Aid if you feel too frightened to confront him and ask him to leave. They can help you plan how to get him out of your life. You're being abused Flowers

I don't understand your references to being a step parent? Sorry if I've missed something.

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 10:48

i did look but there are no programmes here. I know what he is doing is so wrong I just feel so small and powerless at the moment. I love him. I love his son. I love our life when its good. but when he argues with me he says whatever he can to hurt me and make me feel rubbish. I am reading every single post and I know what everyone is saying is true and i know that it would be hard but I would better out of it but its hard to say good bye to someone who you love and you had such good times with.

OP posts:
ObscuredbyFog · 22/02/2018 10:49

In the nicest possible way, read all of your posts on this thread in chronological order as if they were written by someone else.

What would you advise that person to do?

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 10:49

I thought this forum was only for parents - hence the step parent comment. But i read the relationship pages a lot.

OP posts:
springydaff · 22/02/2018 10:50

Click here for your local Women's Aid.

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 10:50

Oh I know. if it was one of my friends or someone confided me I would be saying the same as everyone else. Its just hard when you are in the middle of it.

OP posts:
springydaff · 22/02/2018 10:51

Yes we know. Been there.

Do the Freedom Programme.

gingergenius · 22/02/2018 10:51

OP how old is his son? This is important. If you love his son but this man is abusing him like he is abusing you, please, please do something about it.

dirtybadger · 22/02/2018 10:51

ALL people are nice sometimes. Men who end up murdering their partner were kind and thoughtful and funny sometimes with them! Dont be sucked in by this. Abusive people are still people, they arent monsters 24/7, that is how they maintain control over their victims.

You need to get him out.

PasstheStarmix · 22/02/2018 10:51

OP you say you’ve never been as happy with anyone but you’re 34 and have been with this abuser a long time? You said yourself you don’t know what’s right anymore. This isn’t true happiness, if you cut this dead weight and move on maybe you’ll look back and realise what you thought was happiness really actually wasn’t. You don’t have that great amazing relationship with an decent human being to compare it too. If you were really happy than you wouldn’t be on MN with a thread of this nature chain smoking.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 22/02/2018 10:53

God don't stay with him because he occasionally throws a few crumbs of niceness your way! He's shown you who the real him is and it's not when he's being "good".

Please don't leave it until he has left your self esteem in tatters and you don't have a scrap of confidence left to leave.

This is why abused women end up trapped in abusive relationships; they are progressively isolated from friends and family and stripped of their own self worth.

This will only get worse now it has escalated to violence.

gingergenius · 22/02/2018 10:53

@Feelingsolost you can do the freedom programme online if there isn't one near you. www.freedomprogramme.co.uk/online.php

PasstheStarmix · 22/02/2018 10:54

Cut him loose or you’ll only have yourself to blame twenty years from now. Do something before it’s too late. Flowers pack this things together and make him leave. Tell him to get his own place since he said he can so easily afford it.

PasstheStarmix · 22/02/2018 10:54

his*

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