I dont know anymore~

Status
Not open for further replies.
Well I do take Zoloft and have since my difficult child didnt graduate from high school which was about 6 years ago. Now I am just sitting here - officially on spring break - sitting here in the peace and quiet of my own house - no one here but me - and i am enjoying it! Sometimes I feel so guilty - I think about my difficult child in jail and that I should be down there seeing him or something instead of sitting here feeling relieved! I teach kindergarten so today was pretty high strung! Anyway, I dont go to a psychiatrist - I just wish I could not feel guilty when I dont want to go down to the jail - I know he hates beaing in there but I didnt do it - I know I go over and over this but I have never felt like this before - I am even afraid of when he gets out - either rehab or drug court but neither one is a fix - he has to fix himself - I hope everyone else is doing good. thanks for the encouragement.
 

Suz

(the future) MRS. GERE
Susan, who is prescribing the Zoloft for you? Do you have medication checks with this doctor? Do you level with him/her about how you are feeling?

I ask that because it seems pretty obvious that the Zoloft is not doing what it should be doing. It's not unusual for medications to lose their efficacy and/or need to be adjusted. And it might even be contributing to your state of mind.

Your level of "guilt" is unhealthy.

Your obsessiveness is unhealthy.

You go round in circles and resolve nothing.

We read you saying basically the same things over and over, month after month. I know that many members comment that they see you making a lot of "progress" but when I read posts like this last one, I have to wonder if you are making any headway at all. I am thinking that since you are stuck in this same "guilt rut" you have to be wondering the same thing.

Please make an appointment with your doctor to have a complete physical exam. Talk to the doctor about a medication tweak or a change in medication altogether. We care about you. Please care enough about yourself to take care.

Suz
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
I'm with Suz, too. I also wanted to call your attention to this:

I dont go to a psychiatrist - I just wish I could not feel guilty when I dont want to go down to the jail - I know he hates beaing in there...

I think that this is something that you could work on with a therapist. It doesn't have to be a psychiatrist if your regular doctor is prescribing medications. But Suz is right. Go to your doctor, tell him you can't stop feeling guilty, and ask for a referral. The medications won't help if you don't also actively try to change your outlook. Much as we wish it were so, the medications aren't miracles, just helpers.
 
OK - just pray for me that I will do the right thing. I feel I need to go see my difficult child tomorrow - it being Easter - and I really dont know what to say to him except I love you - just pray for me and I will see about going to the doctor. thanks!
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
It seems like you know that going to the doctor is the right thing, and that it would be better if you would pray for that. Most of us have been asking and praying for that for a while now.

Honestly, I think you should go see him after you talk to a therapist a time or two and work on your guilt. Easter is not the issue. You and your son is the issue. Going because it's a Holiday isn't nearly as important - nor as good a lesson to both of you - as going when you are prepared to deal with your emotions and his guilt trip.
 
Well I didnt go! I just couldnt do it. I dont know why. I was going to try and get up early Easter morning and go see him. I feel like that is what I should do. I talked to my Daddy today and he asked me about difficult child I told him he was still in jail and he just sighed - my Daddy is 80 years old and he and my difficult child were good fishing buddies - Daddy just cant understand why he is still there! I do think I need to get some strength from someone. If I didnt feel like I could get him out it wouldnt be so bad but every time I go see him he always makes me feel like I have the ball in my hands - we did say we could get him out maybe but I am even scared to do that - thanks for helping me see -
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
These are things you said just in this thread.

If I didnt feel like I could get him out it wouldnt be so bad
he always makes me feel like I have the ball in my hands
I feel I need to go see my difficult child tomorrow
Sometimes I feel so guilty
I just wish I could not feel guilty
I am even afraid of when he gets out
I just want to huddle in the corner and wonder what went wrong
I am afraid for the future
It's not ok to go on like this for months. It is clear that you are honestly talking about the way that you feel and honey that is no way to live. You need professional help.

To me, it feels a lot like you use the board members as part of a pattern of self-abuse, and it is very uncomfortable. It's not fair to us to expect us to prop you up when you won't do anything to change the way you think about yourself and your life. You've abandoned everyone in your life for a junkie.

Seriously. I'm done giving you advice. You want us to pat you on the back and tell you it's ok. It's not ok. You're not ok. Get some help from someone who actually can help you, because it's not us.

This may be a soft place to land, but you've been on the ground for a while now. It's time to spread your wings and get on with your life without the self-pity. When we keep giving you what you want, you make us a party to it, and it's really not healthy for you, and it's a downright awful thing to expect us to be a part of.

Sometimes we need a soft place to land. If you stay there too long what you need is a swift kick in the pants.
 
I am so sorry you feel that way - actually that was not my intention at all. I just felt safe here and didnt expect anything but listening. I did go see him today both me and my husband. It was a good visit. We will probably be sending him to rehab in a couple of weeks. We talked to the ministry man. He is going to get the ball rolling. I need prayers still if that is ok. So I guess what I got from you is that I should quit posting?! Boy - that's sad.
 

mom_in_training

New Member
Guilt is a feeling that one should experience if they have done something wrong. You have not done anything wrong. You are misplacing this guilt feeling.
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
So I guess what I got from you is that I should quit posting?!

What you are getting from me and from most everyone else is that you should quit posting the same self pity/self loathing stuff over and over and over and over and never moving on. That's what's sad.
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
I do think I need to get some strength from someone.

Susan,

These words from you really bothered me.

It seems like the threads have been going around in circles for a long time, and you're coming back to the same starting point at every turn.

I think with these words you've written, I've come to realize why.

The advice and prayers you have received from the board members has been with the goal of helping you find the strength within yourself to change the things you need to change, and move on from those things that you cannot change.

But you keep coming back asking the same questions again and again. It's as though you want us to make the decisions for you, so that you don't have to feel the guilt.

Others have said many times that you need to get some sort of professional help to deal with your issues of guilt. And we can't provide the strength for you to do that. You have to dig deep inside yourself, and take those steps.

Just as your difficult child needs to solve his own problems, you need to solve your own.

I think what people are telling you is that the issues you are dealing with now are beyond our knowledge or ability to help with. You need to get help from someone who does have that knowledge and ability. A therapist, a psychiatrist, your minister...someone who can help you to deal with your issues.

I don't think that anyone is telling you not to post anymore. I think that people are just frustrated that any help we have offered to you so far is just thrown away. Until you're ready to break the cycle you're in, nothing any of us say will help you.

I hope that you find the help you need, and the peace that you seek Susan. You have the power to do so within yourself. It's heartbreaking that you're letting guilt prevent you from seeing that and doing something about it.

Trinity
 
Very well said, Trinity.

I have to let you know, Susan, that Witz and Trinity and Mom-in-training are right. Suz said it a few days ago. You have GOT to get some help for yourself because we cannot do this for you. Some real help.

You are in a rut. You are spinning your wheels. What kind of advice do you get at AlAnon?

Nobody wants you to stop posting. We want to help you, but I (and obviously some other board members) think that you need some help that we are not able to give you. You are truly codependent on your son and it is very unhealthy. I worry that no matter how strong you try to be now, when the day comes that he is free, he will throw "but WHY mom" questions at you until you give in and let him come home. That would not be a good thing. And I don't know if you firmly believe that yet.

Yes, I am praying very hard for you, and your son.
 

scent of cedar

New Member
I always go back to my daughter's warning, "Never trust a drug addict." She should know, she is one, now sober. I wouldn't even bother asking him why. I'd go by his actions. When he is sober, he can come home, without the long dialogs. He won't tell you the truth anyway. And remember that most adults his age don't live at home anymore anyway. You sheltered him in his childhood, but he's a man now, whether or not he wants to own that label. You don't have to explain anything to him.

Wow, MWM.

I am going to tape this on MY fridge!

Barbara
 

scent of cedar

New Member
ACK!

I just read the rest of the threads.

What I have to say is that it is easy to forget how painful it is, and how lost we can feel, when it is US in the middle of trying to figure out how to love and yet, stay far enough away from, our addicted children to keep ourselves sane.

Susan is learning how to interact with her self-destructive child without being destroyed herself in the process.

Whatever Susan decides to do regarding her own emotional state, WE ARE HERE TO HELP, NOT CONDEMN HER.

It is one thing to make a suggestion. It is acceptable to make a recommendation for therapy or anti-depressants or whatever it is one of us thinks may help ~ it is never acceptable to add to the pain or confusion, or to fuel the self doubt, of one of the parents posting here.

Barbara
 
Thanks all. I am going to get help. I will probably take time off from this site. It seems frustration is not helping any of you either - so I will go another avenue. This is not supposed to be self pity - I dont pity myself - I never thought any of you could fix me or want to or any of that - sooooooooooo - I dont need to be blasted for whatever craziness I am going through in my head - I will find a counselor. thanks
 

Mikey

Psycho Gorilla Dad
It is one thing to make a suggestion. It is acceptable to make a recommendation for therapy or anti-depressants or whatever it is one of us thinks may help ~ it is never acceptable to add to the pain or confusion, or to fuel the self doubt, of one of the parents posting here.

Well said.

I, too, have been one to "repeatedly go around the wheel" here, only to be chastised for it. That said, I came to realize that I was working out my own feelings and thoughts on the issue. As is usually the case, it takes more than one (or two or three) iterations of the same situation before I can see things more clearly.

Personally, I think this is because it takes time for the shock value to diminish. The first time something bad happens, we freak. The second time, we freak again, and it's usually worse because we anticipate the pain to come. By the third or fourth time, though, the shock of the problem diminishes, and we start to see the problem from a different - and less emotional - perspective.

Many people here saw me go through the same cycle. I am now at a point in my life where I detach McWeedy's life and actions from my own. I still react to the impact of his actions on the family, but not like I used to. I do what I can, I act when I'm able, and I detach when I'm not in a position to do any good.

It took time to get there. wife still isn't there, which complicates things. But I finally got there.

I understand the frustration of many "old-timers" here with me, and I don't fault them for their posts. If they didn't care, they wouldn't respond. However, I also think that sometimes hindsight dulls the pain of past experiences, with some notable exceptions. It's easy to get caught in the trap of replying, then replying again, then getting frustrated and letting it show.

But the truth is that we are no different than our kids. We hear over and over again that difficult children will not change until they want to change, and nothing we do can force them to change. The same is true with us, the parents. We may have to live through the same experience over and over and over again until we're finally ready to accept that something else is needed - whether that be detachment, AlAnon, professional help, booting out the troublemaker, whatever. Until we get to that point, though, we're as hard-headed as our kids.

I try to remember that whenever I post. I try to remember that whenever I read the post of another well-meaning - but frustrated - member who has beaten me over the head for the third time for the same thing. I know you all care, but none-the-less it's still painful to hear for those of us who aren't yet at the point of change, but need a place of support and peace until we're ready to change.

Please, this isn't a condemnation, nor is it a criticism. It is simply an observation. Hopefully, years from now when I'm an old-timer myself, I remember my own words. 'Till then, I will try to always respond with compassion, solice, and whatever small guidance I'm able to offer. If I can't do that, then I'll either offer prayers and support, or I won't respond at all.

Just my two cents.

Mikey
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top