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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:
Singerleon · 22/02/2018 10:57

He is abusive. And using you. The things he says to you plainly are not true. You can do better and you deserve better.

Hopefully he was being serious last night and he is finished with you. Help him pack his stuff and wave him on his way.

You can do this!

BitOutOfPractice · 22/02/2018 10:59

I dont think he would get violent

He already has.

Is he there now?

If he's not get the lock changed and his stuff bagged up outside. Let him go and live in this "nicer" place. Get angry OP. This man is abusive and violent bully

Zoo33 · 22/02/2018 11:00

OP I'm 34 and left my controlling / emotionally abusive bf two months ago - and your situation sounds far more abusive than mine! He'll get worse and you'll become more and more miserable. It's so hard but you can do it and you'll be much happier in the long run because of it. You don't deserve to be treated like that, nobody does. Thanks

actuallyithinkitdoes · 22/02/2018 11:02

Hi OP, understandably, you are in a different frame of mind because you have been horribly emotionally abused. But in time, your own perspective will take over and you will see him as a very sad, very pathetic loser who 'likes' pictures of girls online and can't hold down a job.

I have suffered terribly with mental health problems and especially depression. But I have always worked. I also sought counselling and worked through many of my problems. He could have done the same but instead he has chosen to live off you and use you as an emotional outlet for his own issues.

This is so wrong but it's time to get away from him now. You will be ok on your own I promise.

Orangecake123 · 22/02/2018 11:04

OP you are being abused. Loving someone is not enough if they don't respect you.His behavior will only get worse.He's already hurt you.I grew up in a house watching my father beat my mother and she never left him.

That was my standard of a man. I let the first boy I fell in love with treat me so badly, because he was all I thought I deserved and I loved him.It was nothing but hot and cold and it was so toxic.We'd stop talking for 3 weeks, then I kept going back until something in me knew enough was enough- so I do understand how it's hard to stop but he is my never again.

You deserve so much more than him. I only started believing I was worth something after spending a year in therapy.

It's up to you if you let this continue.

HebeJeeby · 22/02/2018 11:04

Op, you seem paralysed and unable to act. You don’t love him you love the idea of the man he is occasionally. Be honest, how often is he nice 10%, 20% of the time? The correct answer should be 100% of the time. Yes all couples argue and have disagreements but they shouldn’t end in abuse and spitting. You need to go against your instincts now and do the opposite of what you want which is to tell him (not ask) to leave. Don’t use ‘love’ as an excuse to do nothing, there’s no love here, only abuse. Dig deep Op and find the strength to do it, you won’t feel better straight away but you will down the line.

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 11:07

my last relationship broke down very naturally. My partner worked away every day and after a while we were just best friends. even now he is a good friend still who i talk to every now and then. but i was just so bored. Part of me wonders if I went in the opposite direction. because I had someone who would never argue with me, if I was horrible he would just agree with me and basically i got away with murder. I was never abusive - i just took it all for granted and talked to him like rubbish. i just didnt want to get into a relationship where i didnt feel anything. and at the beginning, when we argued it was refreshing because i knew i was capable of feeling something.

OP posts:
elisenbrunnen · 22/02/2018 11:07

OP _ this is not love. You spend you entire existence trying to appease him, trying to get him to approve of you, you choose your clothes hoping he will appreciate the effort you made for him, you spend your entire life trying to make him smile....

He WILL NOT! Why should he? He's got you falling over yourself trying to make him happy - but if he's happy, it gives you some sort of 'power'; you've got something on him. So he doesn't give you that. He keeps you trying, keeps you on the back foot, nothing will be good enough. He then has the power - over you. You keep trying....

Break this mad cycle. Get away from him, so you can think clearly. Chuck him out ( bare minimum) - his son is his concern., not yours.

Shoxfordian · 22/02/2018 11:12

Please listen to all the posts telling you this is abusive and wrong.

The violence will escalate if you stay with him. Chuck him out and change the locks sweetie

pollythedolly · 22/02/2018 11:14

He WILL NOT! Why should he? He's got you falling over yourself trying to make him happy - but if he's happy, it gives you some sort of 'power'; you've got something on him. So he doesn't give you that. He keeps you trying, keeps you on the back foot, nothing will be good enough. He then has the power - over you. You keep trying....

In a nutshell.

OP you are focusing on the lies (him being nice) as the truth. It isn't. His behaviour tells you that.

I understand completely where you are coming from and take from my experience, if you will, the key to real happiness is not and will never be in this relationship. Thanks

ClemDanfango · 22/02/2018 11:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Karigan1 · 22/02/2018 11:18

He sounds awful. I’d be leaving. I did just that in a similar situation with my ex husband also at 34. By 35 I met this wonderful wonderful guy who I am never letting go and who builds me up not knocks me down. 40 now and love him more every day.

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 11:21

Im just scared. not of being alone. I have done that for many years previously... and happily. I dont mind being alone. Its more the thought of being without him, having to go through dating again, being scared that I will meet someone else who breaks me like this.

OP posts:
gingergenius · 22/02/2018 11:22

Better on your own than dead.

Lotsofthings · 22/02/2018 11:22

I was 34, when I finally saw the light and realised my bf of 16 years was controlling and abusive. I was a smart, educated women with a professional job who feared going home, because I always had to second guess, what outfit would be ok, how my hair should be, which restaurant he’d prefer I suggest, it was exhausting, I felt like a tiny Russian doll inside layers and layers of front.
It broke down to constant critism and contempt, and from there, there was no way back, so when he said i wasn’t good enough I said that’s fine we need to take a break. I thought he would see the light realise how great I was, but it was like an iceberg being lifted off me, to be free again. No one knew it was like this it was like some terrible secret, I’d be in business meetings during the day and go home to be belittled over the slightest thing.
OP you will find someone else who thinks you are lovely, perfect, looks great, fall in love again, but there is no way back with this man, move forward find someone to marry and have your own kids with.

Karigan1 · 22/02/2018 11:23

But they may make you happy whereas you KNOW he’ll continue to break you like this.

ClemDanfango · 22/02/2018 11:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MyBrilliantDisguise · 22/02/2018 11:24

Part of me wonders if he using me.

He IS using you! He moved in immediately. He doesn't want to pay you anything - thinks he shouldn't have to pay you anything.

One thing this guy is NOT going to do and that's leave you. No way. He's a cocklodger.

OP, what would you say to a sister or daughter who came to you and told you everything you've said here. Can't you see how bad it is? How unhappy he makes you?

He's a really awful guy - you are blinded by something right now - not sure what, exactly, but it's doing a very good job of stopping you from seeing what he's really like. Please, don't waste any more of your precious life with him.

TorchesTorches · 22/02/2018 11:27

I was with a guy, who sounds not dissimilar. He could be funny, engaging humble and was good looking too. It was great initially. We lived quite far apart from very early on (ie weeks) he kept on going on about living together. I earned a bit more than him and had a great deal on a tiny flat by myself. There was no way he could move in with me and i definitely didn't want to leave my flat and my career at that stage. We had only been together weeks when this living together thing started and carried on and on. He became obsessed by it, then moved on to asking me to have his baby. On and on, so i just kept on saying no, making good logical arguments as It made no sense to me after being together such a short time. We had so many arguments about it. All started by him and how i was hurting his feelings etc etc. We were together about 6 months then i had enough and we split up.

But i kept on remembering the good stuff, so kept on getting sucked in again when we would inevitably phone me after 3 months of being single. This happened several times, on off on off. Problems always after a couple of months about me not moving in together and having his baby instantly and how this hurt his feelings. Finally after 3 years of this on off on off, i was 34 and we split, after an argument that took a sinister turn, which really spooked me. Later, met my now DH at 35 and it is so much more of an equal calm happy relationship that I can't believe i put up with the controlling crap before. But I was 34 and single and just wanted it to work. I did want to eventually move in
with someone and get married and have a baby, just not with someone who demanded it instantly. Thank god i got out.

PasstheStarmix · 22/02/2018 11:27

You’ve had a lot of good advise on your thread OP. Have you decided what you’re going to do?

PasstheStarmix · 22/02/2018 11:27

advice*

Bekabeech · 22/02/2018 11:30

Kick him out TODAY

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.
This is not love it is an addiction and it will kill you.

Feelingsolost · 22/02/2018 11:30

I don't know what to do. I know there is a lot of good advice here all of which says the same thing. I have called women's aid and left a message so I am going to talk through with them. I have always said I would leave when I felt ready but like I said, he has told me its over and he doesnt want to be with me any more. BUt he has said that before. I just really don't know. :(

OP posts:
stitchglitched · 22/02/2018 11:30

OP can you please seek help for his son? If you choose to remain with him then that is your decision but a child who has no choice is being abused and as an adult who is witnessing that you need to step up.

PasstheStarmix · 22/02/2018 11:32

Well done OP for making a step in the right direction by calling. You need to not wait for what he wants or doesn’t want and take the situation in your own hands. Kick him out and grant his wish. Good luck OP; you will get through this Flowers