My Butch Left Me After 6 Years...Devistated

[adorable]

Ahhh...I have been there. It SEEMED to happen over night, but the pot was boiling long before it overflowed.

It was when I first heard the diagnosis, bipolar and then schitzoeffective, then psychotic...that everything made SOME more sense. It took months just to wrap my mind around the fact that she was seriously mentally ill. She didn't always act it, she went to work everyday and worked her ass off. For five years we lived our life, rarely ever fought - then one day - mania took over completely. It was the begining of one of the worst periods of my life. Missing money was the least of it....

NOW I see it clearly when it happens. I didn't see it before because I had been too busy cleaning up messes and laughing that she was irresponsible. She wasn't irresponsible, she was sick. She needed medication. Bipolar is progressive, it gets worse if left untreated. It got worse. Much worse.

Mania causes seemingly rational people to do irrational things. The anger and hostility comes out of nowhere and they believe in their heart that YOU are the reason they are unhappy. That then gives a license for all kinds of things and there are serious issues with impulse control. Suddenly they can do whatever they want. Problem is, it only makes sense to THEM.

I have no idea if this is what she is doing. I only know it sounds very similar to what my ex did. Start reading as much as you can about Bipolar symptoms and see if any of it fits. Either way you can't save someone from themselves. If it were possible, there would be a lot of saved people out there - it's a past time of mine. Plenty of people live just fine that have bipolar. Medication, hardwork and therapy are what is needed to learn to live with it - my ex was having none of that....which is why she is my ex. Seven psychiatrists, all with the same diagnoses and thousands of dollars later - she just couldn't do it. She is taking responsibility now and going to therapy. It's too late for me personally now, but I am happy for her.

I am 100% sure though that she will be back. They always come back. Usually when you have everything settled, figured out and are happy again. Up exes pop like evil, destructive, ground hogs. They look all cute and fuzzy. Then BLAM! Bite you right in the ankle!!

I have learned that if someone is dumb enough to walk away, I need to be smart enough to let them go. I have never needed anyone, there was never anyone to rely on...I was it. I am still it. I will forever be it. I am stronger then I have ever given myself credit for - other people only have the power over me that I give them. I can chose to give that power to them or not. If I give it, and it's proven to me that level of trust was misplaced, I can take it back. Whether it's after 6 months, 9 years or a week. Never give someone a second chance to show you who they really are.

[Apocalipstic]

Originally Posted by adorable

Ahhh...I have been there. It SEEMED to happen over night, but the pot was boiling long before it overflowed.

It was when I first heard the diagnosis, bipolar and then schitzoeffective, then psychotic...that everything made SOME more sense. It took months just to wrap my mind around the fact that she was seriously mentally ill. She didn't always act it, she went to work everyday and worked her ass off. For five years we lived our life, rarely ever fought - then one day - mania took over completely. It was the begining of one of the worst periods of my life. Missing money was the least of it....

NOW I see it clearly when it happens. I didn't see it before because I had been too busy cleaning up messes and laughing that she was irresponsible. She wasn't irresponsible, she was sick. She needed medication. Bipolar is progressive, it gets worse if left untreated. It got worse. Much worse.

Mania causes seemingly rational people to do irrational things. The anger and hostility comes out of nowhere and they believe in their heart that YOU are the reason they are unhappy. That then gives a license for all kinds of things and there are serious issues with impulse control. Suddenly they can do whatever they want. Problem is, it only makes sense to THEM.

I have no idea if this is what she is doing. I only know it sounds very similar to what my ex did. Start reading as much as you can about Bipolar symptoms and see if any of it fits. Either way you can't save someone from themselves. If it were possible, there would be a lot of saved people out there - it's a past time of mine. Plenty of people live just fine that have bipolar. Medication, hardwork and therapy are what is needed to learn to live with it - my ex was having none of that....which is why she is my ex. Seven psychiatrists, all with the same diagnoses and thousands of dollars later - she just couldn't do it. She is taking responsibility now and going to therapy. It's too late for me personally now, but I am happy for her.

I am 100% sure though that she will be back. They always come back. Usually when you have everything settled, figured out and are happy again. Up exes pop like evil, destructive, ground hogs. They look all cute and fuzzy. Then BLAM! Bite you right in the ankle!!

I have learned that if someone is dumb enough to walk away, I need to be smart enough to let them go. I have never needed anyone, there was never anyone to rely on...I was it. I am still it. I will forever be it. I am stronger then I have ever given myself credit for - other people only have the power over me that I give them. I can chose to give that power to them or not. If I give it, and it's proven to me that level of trust was misplaced, I can take it back. Whether it's after 6 months, 9 years or a week. Never give someone a second chance to show you who they really are.

I agree with a lot of this, but sometimes exes can be amazing friends years later after they work their stuff out. For me, evil and disruptive sounds strong, but our experiences sound pretty different. Sorry you went through what you did!

There are so many different scenarios which could explain the behavior of OP's ex.

[greeneyedlady]

[QUOTE

"I am 100% sure though that she will be back. They always come back. Usually when you have everything settled, figured out and are happy again. Up exes pop like evil, destructive, ground hogs. They look all cute and fuzzy. Then BLAM! Bite you right in the ankle!!

I have learned that if someone is dumb enough to walk away, I need to be smart enough to let them go. I have never needed anyone, there was never anyone to rely on...I was it. I am still it. I will forever be it. I am stronger then I have ever given myself credit for - other people only have the power over me that I give them. I can chose to give that power to them or not. If I give it, and it's proven to me that level of trust was misplaced, I can take it back. Whether it's after 6 months, 9 years or a week. Never give someone a second chance to show you who they really are.[/QUOTE]"

Thanks....I really needed to read that today! I feel better already!

[atomiczombie]

Originally Posted by adorable

Ahhh...I have been there. It SEEMED to happen over night, but the pot was boiling long before it overflowed.

It was when I first heard the diagnosis, bipolar and then schitzoeffective, then psychotic...that everything made SOME more sense. It took months just to wrap my mind around the fact that she was seriously mentally ill. She didn't always act it, she went to work everyday and worked her ass off. For five years we lived our life, rarely ever fought - then one day - mania took over completely. It was the begining of one of the worst periods of my life. Missing money was the least of it....

NOW I see it clearly when it happens. I didn't see it before because I had been too busy cleaning up messes and laughing that she was irresponsible. She wasn't irresponsible, she was sick. She needed medication. Bipolar is progressive, it gets worse if left untreated. It got worse. Much worse.

Mania causes seemingly rational people to do irrational things. The anger and hostility comes out of nowhere and they believe in their heart that YOU are the reason they are unhappy. That then gives a license for all kinds of things and there are serious issues with impulse control. Suddenly they can do whatever they want. Problem is, it only makes sense to THEM.

I have no idea if this is what she is doing. I only know it sounds very similar to what my ex did. Start reading as much as you can about Bipolar symptoms and see if any of it fits. Either way you can't save someone from themselves. If it were possible, there would be a lot of saved people out there - it's a past time of mine. Plenty of people live just fine that have bipolar. Medication, hardwork and therapy are what is needed to learn to live with it - my ex was having none of that....which is why she is my ex. Seven psychiatrists, all with the same diagnoses and thousands of dollars later - she just couldn't do it. She is taking responsibility now and going to therapy. It's too late for me personally now, but I am happy for her.

I am 100% sure though that she will be back. They always come back. Usually when you have everything settled, figured out and are happy again. Up exes pop like evil, destructive, ground hogs. They look all cute and fuzzy. Then BLAM! Bite you right in the ankle!!

I have learned that if someone is dumb enough to walk away, I need to be smart enough to let them go. I have never needed anyone, there was never anyone to rely on...I was it. I am still it. I will forever be it. I am stronger then I have ever given myself credit for - other people only have the power over me that I give them. I can chose to give that power to them or not. If I give it, and it's proven to me that level of trust was misplaced, I can take it back. Whether it's after 6 months, 9 years or a week. Never give someone a second chance to show you who they really are.

Can I just say that bipolar isn't necessarily what is going on here? Many people and even some psychiatrists confuse bipolar disorder with borderline personality disorder. I have bipolar disorder, and it expresses itself in terms of mood swings, from very high, to very low. It is episodic and is a function of synapses mis-firing in the brain. Medication can help tremendously with this illness.

Borderline personality disorder is very different. Here is a description:

U.S. National Library of Medicine

Overview

Borderline personality disorder is a condition in which a person makes impulsive actions, and has an unstable mood and chaotic relationships.

Symptoms

Relationships with others are intense and unstable. They swing wildly from love to hate and back again. People with BPD will frantically try to avoid real or imagined abandonment.

BPD patients may also be uncertain about their identity or self-image. They tend to see things in terms of extremes, either all good or all bad. They also typically view themselves as victims of circumstance and take little responsibility for themselves or their problems.

Other symptoms include:

Feelings of emptiness and boredom
Frequent displays of inappropriate anger
Impulsiveness with money, substance abuse, sexual relationships, binge eating, or shoplifting
Intolerance of being alone
Recurrent acts of crisis such as wrist cutting, overdosing, or self-injury (such as cutting)

My ex-wife has this disorder. Things started out great with her. She said all the right things and practically idolized me when we were first together (red flag). Once we were committed and living together, and eventually married, she changed. She started criticizing me. She harassed me about my job, saying I didn't make enough money (she made more than I did), and decided I was unattractive because of my weight and my butchness (however, she still wanted me to fuck her. Go figure.). She wanted me to grow my hair long and wear women's clothing. She hated that I was close to a femme friend of mine and accused me of cheating, which I totally wasn't. She called my friend a whore. She read my emails, looking for a smoking gun that just wasn't there. She would find something in them she could twist around and make it about her, then get mad at me for it.

When I finally left her, she accused me of abandoning her and our daughter, and laid every guilt trip she could. She told our daughter that I didn't love them anymore. She told me I was selfish and a control freak (total projection). She continued to accuse me of cheating. Alternately, she tried to seduce me into her bed again to get me to come back.

When she did start dating someone else, that person was so butch, she could pass. I couldn't pass, so this was really shocking to me. All that time she was trying to get me to be more feminine, and she goes out and finds another butch. What all that was really about was her being controlling.

This is how people with borderline personality behave. They are alternately cruel, then incredibly sweet. You never know what you are going to get, from one day to the next, or one hour to the next sometimes. Their cruelty to their significant other and immediate family is usually only shown in private and not in front of others. They often deny the reality of they people they abuse, and project their own behavior onto others. They refuse to take responsibility for their behavior, and usually either deny they ever said/did something wrong, or accuse the other person of something in order to justify their actions (e.g., if you hadn't done such and such, I wouldn't have said that.) Hence, they never apologize, or if they ever do, it is a hollow apology because their behavior doesn't change. This is all a function of their illness.

Borderline people rarely get better, because they deny that there is anything wrong with them. They believe it is everyone else who is to blame for whatever is going wrong in their lives. It is difficult to live with people like this. In my view, the only thing to do is leave, and realize that it is not your fault that they are like this. They are sick. They are toxic. Run away. Far away.

I don't know if this helps anyone. I hope it does.

Femmedoll, my heart goes out to you. I don't know what the deal is with your ex, but if she behaves this way, then don't take her back. She sounds like a really screwed up person and you are better off not being around her. Just know that not everyone is like this. You just have to learn to see the red flags early. Some help from a good therapist might help you to gain that skill. It helped me tremendously. I wish you all the best.

Drew

[Apocalipstic]

Great answer Atomic. We really don't know what happened.

I kind of think its pointless to read about what might be wrong with the ex in a situation like this, I think it is best to focus on ones self and get ones life together.

Who cares why the ex was an ass. All that matters is the bright and shining future filled with endless wonderful opportunity!

[Jet]

Doesn't sound like you knew her at all.
Been there, done that with no closure

[Apocalipstic]

Originally Posted by Jet

Doesn't sound like you knew her at all.
Been there, done that with no closure

Me too, but I am sooooooo much happier now .

Closure can be over rated.

[SassyLeo]

***Moderation***
All-

This is a gentle moderation reminder that mental illness can manifest in many ways and can vary from person to person in how it shows up in life and relationships.

It is best not to make sweeping comments about it, specifically if it is not your *own* mental illness.

Thanks!
SassyLeo

***Moderation***

[atomiczombie]

If my comments were sweeping I apologize.