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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

Husband is spiralling out of control

135 replies

Scaredstressed · 09/09/2024 12:01

Hey, so I am not entirely sure why or how I have found myself here but I need a sanity check from someone outside of the situation.

My husband and, by extension our entire family unit, has been through a lot of stress over the past couple of years, which has resulted in him developing depression. It's been really difficult to live with as his moods are just awful.

Around 2 months ago, I felt something was massively 'off,' and whilst it's not my finest moment, I checked his phone to find drug orders. I confronted him about this and he admitted he has been regularly (2-3 times per week, including just at home with our family) taking MDMA for 10+years and hiding it from me. Obviously, my world was pretty rocked at this revelation and his being able to keep a secret like this for 10 years (to give context, I do all the laundry and cleaning etc and have never found anything remotely suspicious). I knew he had been heavy drinking to cope with stress but had no idea this was going on. We chatted it through, I decided to support him and we committed to therapy.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and we were at a small gathering of friends. To cut a long story short, that evening I also found out he's been taking coke. We had a disagreement, decided to come home to talk about it and laid it to bed...that was all done.

Then the following week, he went to a networking do and disappeared for the best part of 24 hours. When he came home (again wrong of me) I checked his wallet and found cocaine. I threw it away. The following week, he seemed 'off; again. I asked him to do a drug test and he was fine with it until I showed him I had already bought them, at which point he flipped out and became aggressive...the eventual result was that he was positive and had taken cocaine at work two days before.

His therapy has made things worse. In therapy he has created an entire fake persona for himself, making up literal rubbish about being scarred from his childhood (getting in trouble for smoking a fag etc or being told off for not being home on time). I am trying to be patient with this, however, I feel he may be exploiting me - I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and he knows any mention of childhood trauma really gets me on side. I understand trauma is caused in different ways and has different effects on people but I really feel these are normal childhood things being used to excuse his behaviour.

Since therapy began, his drinking is heavier. I am talking 10-12 beers and a third to a half of a bottle of spirits or two bottles of wine every day. Last week he had a seizure after drinking - I told him and he stopped for one day.

He is now becoming aggressive and verbally intimidating. Last night he called me a 'fat bitch,' 'poison,' a 'psychopath,' 'c*nt,' 'manipulative' and he says I am the cause of all his problems (even though he has been taking drugs for 35 years). He said he wanted to go to couples counselling (something which I have asked for and he has previously refused) and when I asked why he had changed his mind, thinking he really may want to save our marriage, he sneered and told me he wanted to see the counsellor tell me how ridiculous I am.

I am a smart, funny, well-educated woman and I cannot believe I am in this situation. He keeps begging me not to leave and telling me I promised to support him in sickness or in health but I cannot live in this misery. My friends tell me to leave but I can't find the strength.

So basically, I am here looking for people's opinions, am I completely ridiculous or is he being an abusive AH? Because right now I feel gaslit to the point of absolute insanity and am so ashamed that I can barely turn to anyone in real life anymore.

Please help me.

OP posts:
Bestyearever2024 · 10/09/2024 02:22

Stop believing what he and his family say

Your priority is to yourself and your children

You MUST stop listening to others and make a SAFE and HAPPY life for you and the children

Nothing else matters

Please get away from him and be safe .....you must protect yourself and the children from his abuse

mathanxiety · 10/09/2024 02:33

Scaredstressed · 09/09/2024 22:12

This resonates so clearly with me; thank you. I just feel like, whichever way I turn, I’m a failure.

You're not a failure.

You're courage incarnate.

But you need to start envisioning a life in the not too distant future where none of the noise and the FOG that are currently holding you back can reach you.

FOG is Fear, Obligation, and Guilt.

The people around you have been piling it on.

Call Women's Aid 0808 2000 247.
They are there to support you.

I recommend the book Emotional Blackmail by Susan Forward and Donna Frazier.

BananaGrapeMelon · 10/09/2024 05:05

You're not a failure OP. He's the one who takes drugs and lies about it and drinks far too much and won't even try to cut down and is aggressive towards you and swears at you and blames you for his behaviour and won't take any responsibility and lies to his family to get them onside. He's the failure here, not you.

lifesrichpageant · 10/09/2024 06:16

OP as someone who works in mental health and addictions, please please get yourself and your children out of this situation. The sooner the better.

sammyjoanne · 10/09/2024 20:27

Scaredstressed · 09/09/2024 20:38

I tried to warn them. They think I should ‘do the right thing’ and ‘stand by him.’ They’ve even blamed me for not telling them about his MH issues even though he wanted to keep it low profile. His brother basically said I was a terrible person for even thinking about leaving him when he’s having these problems. But how far am I and the kids meant to suffer to protect his addiction and keep him comfortable? He’s in complete denial and is doing nothing help himself. I’m even having to make excuses now he is missing client meetings.

You cant help someone who wont help themselves. Its not down to you anymore. You done all you can and hes thrown it back in your face. Please forget what the family says and get out before it breaks you. The family is only saying what they are saying because they wont take any responsibility for him. Perhaps they should also step up to the mark as 'family'.

FairyMaclary · 10/09/2024 20:40

Have you had counselling to determine why you feel like a failure due to his poor choices and abuse.

Also as to why you care so much what others think.

Why you feel responsible for an adult man who is very capable of lying and deceiving his loved ones and his counsellor. He doesn’t want to face up to his problems he wants to use any old reason to snort coke using family money.

By leaving you are protecting the children who CANNOT just choose to leave. He’s an adult who is very resourceful apparently - he will cope just fine. In fact his life will be perfect , as his source of the problems (you) will have gone. Edited to say I am being sarcastic.

Seek counselling. Tell everyone you happy to be the bad guy to protect your kids and let him go.

Sometimes our strength to remain and fight is actually our weakness.

Aimtodobetter · 10/09/2024 20:54

You can’t take on the responsibility for another person’s life even if you love them. Obviously you hope that the suicide threat isn’t real but even if it were real you cannot let your and your kids life be controlled by the weaponised threat of it. I have a brother who tried using the threat of suicide about five years ago as a control mechanism with me and my sister (our mother did commit suicide due to serious illness when we were very very young) and whilst I love him / have tried to support him in small ways I largely dealt with it by emotionally coming to terms with the fact it is his life and even if there is a risk I am wrong in seeing it as empty threats and that is how his life ends, my life (and my kids’ lives) can’t be hostage to that possibility.

Aimtodobetter · 10/09/2024 21:02

Scaredstressed · 09/09/2024 22:12

This resonates so clearly with me; thank you. I just feel like, whichever way I turn, I’m a failure.

Please recognise this is not your fault, his choices are his alone and you have not in anyway failed. Success is also not about having everything going to plan and the “perfect” life - it’s about how you deal with it and pick yourself up when it doesn’t go to plan.

OhDearMuriel · 11/09/2024 00:18

You're not a failure, you're in a state of shock.

Don't let him take you down with him.

The only person that can save him, is himself.

DucklingSwimmingInstructress · 11/09/2024 11:20

@AgileGreenSeal what an appalling situation to be in. Huge respect for managing to find a way to deal with it, I can't imagine how much it must have asked of you given the history with your mum.

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