Author Topic: Hello  (Read 1221 times)

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Offline Toffeegurl

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Hello
« on: January 23, 2020, 03:34:04 PM »
Hi everyone.
After a devastating 3 years, I find myself here as am struggling to cope.
It's a long story so I'll try to keep it brief.
In 2016 I lost my wonderful stepdad unexpectedly, followed by a friend of 25 years the day after that. In the next 2 years I lost 2 aunts , an uncle and one of our best friends. All this time trying to look after (with my sister) my disabled mum who lived 100 miles away, while working full time.
This time last year, I had a 'break down' panic/anxiety attacks, and my GP signed me off from work...just as my mum was taken into hospital following a stroke.
My mum was in hospital a total of 10 months, only going home for the odd day. 6 months in I lost my job of 21 years due to the amount of sick leave I was taking. My biological father also passed away.
My beautiful mum died on 28th November and I still haven't cried. Totally numb. I'm hoping talking to others will help xx thanks for listening xx

Offline Sandra61

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Re: Hello
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2020, 11:34:05 AM »
Oh my! What a terribly hard time you have had! I am so sorry.  :hug: Suffering a single bereavement is hard enough, but you really have had a terrible time to have to try to cope with. I am not surprised to hear you are struggling so.

I spent over 30 years looking after my mum. She was able to go out and enjoy life, but suffered from quite severe health problems all her life, so we were often at the hospital and more than once, I was surprised to be able to bring her home again! So I do understand the stress of all that. I lived with my mum, so at least did not have to cope with all the travelling. I also worked, but eventually had to cut down to part-time hours or would not have been able to go on dealing with everything.

I think you might benefit from counselling. Have you asked your GP about that? It does sound to me like talking would be something you might find useful. Failing that, talk to us here. We have lots of lovely members who have all been through a wide range of difficult times and will understand and sympathize.

I don't know if it will help you or not, but I did find it helped me to rebuild my life after I lost my own lovely mum, to join a class. It did help me make some new friends, who also understood what I had been through and it made me think about something else for a couple of hours a week and gave me a reason to have to go out and also gave me something to look forward to. I found it more helpful than anything else in finding a way forward from such bad times. I still go and look on it as my therapy now!

I think all you can do is look for anything that helps you feel a bit better. I also find it helps if I am feeling low, to get some flowers and have those around. They make me feel better somehow. Probably because they are so beautiful and smell so lovely. It reminds me there are still good things in the world. Similarly, I find a walk in the park also helps. It is a calm and peaceful place to sit and process all that has happened and I keep a diary and write down how I am feeling about everything and how I am coping in there. I find that helps to get any stress out of my system a bit and makes me feel better.

Keep in touch and let us know how you are progressing. Wishing you well.  :hearts:

Offline Toffeegurl

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Re: Hello
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2020, 12:33:29 PM »
Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post. I've had 3 lots of counselling and they've all helped but since losing mum, I'm just lost and numb. Still haven't cried and struggling terribly in social situations, even with people I've known for years. I have been looking at joining groups, clubs etc. Just need to overcome the anxiety so I can actually walk into one. I'm glad I've found this forum, I'm hoping it'll be really helpful.
Thanks again x

Offline Sandra61

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Re: Hello
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2020, 02:26:52 PM »
I think you are probably suffering from shock and exhaustion. I know I found grief immensely exhausting. I could think about nothing else for a long time and had to force myself to consider tackling daily tasks even as simple as making a drink or something to eat. Having to deal with banks and legal consequences of losing my mum were almost impossible and I had to make myself do them and often found myself trying to not to cry whilst walking down the street or talking to bank staff or whilst filling in forms. It was just all too much.

I do remember when my mum first passed away, my initial reaction was one of relief on her part, as at least she wasn't suffering anymore and had been suffering for a long time. That was coupled with sadness for myself, as I wasn't sure how I was going to cope with losing her and not having her around anymore  and a fear of what the future might hold. For you, after losing so many people, that must be multiplied many times with each loss you have suffered, which in turn, will increase the fear and is probably causing the panic and anxiety attacks.

I didn't experience any numbness, but I am not surprised that you have. After all you have been through, I wouldn't be surprised if it is your body and mind's way of protecting you from any further stress, especially as your recent losses have made you so ill. I don't know that crying would help you. I had been crying for weeks even before mum died, as I felt so helpless to be able to make anything better for her and knew she was going through such a horrible time and was suffering so and I couldn't bear it. Also I knew I was probably going to lose her and that my whole life would change, so the stress of all that came out in tears and I had to struggle to keep going.  I don't recall it made me feel any better though. I think it was more a release of pent up emotion, but it was not a cathartic experience for me.

It did cause me an eye problem and made me terribly tired, so in the end, I had to make an effort not to cry in order not to worsen the eye problem. I had no idea too much crying could damage your eyes. I am not even sure crying made me feel any better. I don't think it did really. I only did it because I couldn't help it. I don't recall it making me feel any better after though. I think I just cried till I couldn't anymore, but still felt as terrible as I had beforehand. Only time and my own efforts to try to feel better were of any help in the end.

I am also not surprised that your experiences have left you suffering panic and anxiety attacks and having trouble with social interaction. Loss crumbles away the foundations of your life from under your feet and makes you fearful for your future and makes it difficult to go on with daily life. I couldn't concentrate at work. I didn't care about it anymore. I couldn't be bothered to deal with people's petty concerns there. They seemed so insignificant  in comparison to what was going on in my own life and with my mum. That has stayed with me to quite a large extent. I don't care about work as I used to before and I have less patience with those who stress about what to me appear to be silly things that don't really matter now. I just can't sympathize with them anymore.

In your case, perhaps you are having trouble processing how all these losses have affected you or could continue to do and that may be why you are having the panic and anxiety attacks. I think there are breathing exercises you could do and wonder if taking up yoga might also help. They encourage ways of learning to be calm and to bring peace and rest to your mind, so perhaps it would be worth giving them a try.

In terms of social interaction, I would suggest you take the pressure off yourself to engage in any situation that is not necessary for you to engage in. Why put yourself through the additional unnecessary stress? If you are faced with a potential situation you don't need to engage in if you don't want to, then perhaps don't for now and instead give yourself time to learn how to cope better with daily tasks first and allow yourself time to build up your strength and resilience again. Perhaps you could set yourself little goals for each day or week to try to deal with just one thing that you find hard to deal with and start off with something very small building up to more challenging things. I would also write down all your achievements and how you feel about them and what you feared about them. That way, you will learn what makes you fearful and perhaps be able to devise strategies for dealing with them.

It is clear that recovery and the ability to move forward is going to take time for you, but I have found the best person to help you is yourself. You just have to keep trying new things to help yourself. Some find making memory boxes they fill with items that remind them of the times they spent with the person they lost help.  I put some favorite photos of my mum together in an album and that helped me a little.

I actually wouldn't worry too much about the not having cried yet. I think in your current state of mind, perhaps that is just what is right for you at present and when and if you need to cry, you will. I don't think it is any measure of feeling about the loss of your mum or means that you are not grieving. We all deal with grief differently and there is no right or wrong way. There is no requirement to cry to qualify that you are grieving and numbness is not an unusual reaction to grief either. You will find others on this site who describe feeling that too. Also crying doesn't necessarily make you feel better. Acceptance and learning to live with the loss does, but that takes a long time. There are no rights or wrongs about how to grieve, nor any time frame for it. You just have to find what works for you and work with that from day to day. Things do get better, but it takes a while.

Wishing you well.  :hearts:

Offline Toffeegurl

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Re: Hello
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2020, 09:38:04 AM »
I've never considered shock, but I think you're right. Shock that suddenly, the daily stress, worry etc. for my mum is all over. I don't have to worry about her anymore. The exhaustion is overwhelming sometimes, but as I'm not working right now, at least I don't have to worry about it. Everything you've said makes sense and I'm hopeful I'll come through the otherside. I have improved to where I was this time last year, this time last year I was contemplating dying, had picked the spot ... I thought I was being rational ... Counselling got me through that and then my mum died, throwing me off kilter a little further but thankfully, those thoughts haven't returned and I hope they never will. Your reply and advice feels considered and realistic, thank you so much xxxx

Offline Karena

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Re: Hello
« Reply #5 on: January 27, 2020, 11:53:04 AM »
Hi - its not suprising you are feeling so jaded after all thats happened -   :hug:
I think one new grief triggers older ones - in part because the older one was often the loss of somebody who you could have relied on for support through the new one - so its a nightmare a never ending circle, and i think as Sandra says the numbness is like shock and is our brains way of protecting us. I came here after losing my husband too a stroke - and that was also the final straw in a horrible time - and i did think about ending my life as well - i couldnt see much point or purpose  with no-one who needed me to care for them and i think that plays a part too - going from being a carer and being needed to suddenly not haveing the role which has defined us -  but i did find a point and purpose and so will you - sometimes we cant see it because of the numbness and shock.

I also had panic attacks and have been left with anxiety issues - i never was a social butterfly and certainly walking into a room full of people to join something wasnt a thing i was good at before all this but it was so much worse after,and like you even the familiar things with familiar people was hard work. In part thats because we know they know whats happened - and that sometimes that means awkward conversations - we are afraid to melt down in public they are afraid to say the wrong thing - or sometimes they do say the wrong thing and then we wonder at their heartlessness because we are more sensative to everything. another viscious circle.
I did return to camping though- we had a camper van and were part of a forum and had regular meets at various places and it was such a big part of our lives - as was dolphin watching - and because of that he became the reason to go back - a way of living his life for him was to do the things he hadnt been able too and the thing he had loved doing. -  and also my best friend had died the year before, she was part of the club and i had encouraged her husband to keep going to the meets and seen how the others had reacted - an i  could hardly then not follow my own advice - and that was ok - the first time i had pulled over intending to turn round and go home when a particular song played on my random - setting of mp3 player which to me was a message to keep going forward so i did -but  they were not people who lived nearby so it wasnt all the time and it wasnt enough but it was a start, and being in separate vans meant i had somewhere to retreat too and being outdoors meant i could go for a walk and no -one would think anything of it  if it got too much. That in turn started a habit of always making sure i had a retreat - at work behind a shed -outside area in a pub  - if i went anywhere at all the first thing i did was look for a place i could get out quickly if it got too much so i knew which direction to head for and i did hat whether i needed to use it or not because when it happens we dont have time to think.

I tried joining a couple of things locally and they were big fails - but then a conversation on here got me thinking - the conversation was about eating alone in a cafe /restaurant  - some-one had succeeded and i knew that was a big thing, and i also knew it was not something i could do - but i also realised it wasnt something i had to do - i didnt want to do - i have never been a foodie - and at the same time i realised thats why the other things failed they were not things i wanted to do but things i tried because others said i should - so lesson one when it comes to doing new things pick the dragons you need to slay and go round the others -I still cant eat in a cafe alone - and it doesnt matter - there is always an alternative.

Then i found i could use props  i took a camera everywhere - because in my mind it added a legitimacy too my presence somewhere which wasnt there just by me being there - i would set a target to take a series of photos on a random topic depending where i was going - i i have one set from a steam fair of car radiators and another of building gable ends in Manchester - silly stuff but i would get so absorbed in finding them that i could forget about other people being there. - props are different for every one but they are a help.

A prop doesnt have to be doing something either, it can be a thing - i had a pebble from a beach in my pocket i loved the beach so if i started getting anxious and panicky holding it and thinking of the beach helped -i had visited after the trauma so it also reminded me there could be moments worth hanging on too after the event - its called grounding -and having something natural helped me, but it could be something else - a piece of jewellery, an item of clothing even - anything that is always to hand.

Finally i did loads of free online courses - futurelearn do them and offer all sorts - it wasnt getting me out socially but it was filling time with something more positive and i was talking to people with the same interests as me on-line - and what i thought was a random selection of things i might be interested in, turned out to be not so random - and could be connected to my job just in a different way from my current employment, - i finally made the link in my head and started doing some stuff  to help a school gardens project in Africa - still working from here still online - But the opportunity came up to visit one of the projects -and i went -and that isnt something i could have even imagined doing before -  so now i had some purpose and something i feel passionate about and thats why i went -  and the next move is going to be repeating some of the ideas here - when i get the qualification i am working towards , designing permaculture gardens and it will include physically going out and showing and teaching others. It isnt a career change it wouldnt make me money - i still have the 9-5 but it is a future i didnt think i had.
It has taken time, it is eight years since he died so none of this happens overnight at the moment for you the small steps, getting through one day at a time is an acheivement in itself - and it isnt the case i no longer have anxiety issues i do - but its about accepting thats who i am now, and over that time finding coping mechanisms to deal with it as it happens.