Blahman, I apologize for the length of this reply, but some much needs to be said and I hope I don't lose you here. Sometimes, especially when I have a personal, empathetic connection with someone else's story,and to know that I am not alone in my situations, I have just so much I feel I need to share as you never know who if anyone else may relate and may possibly be in a similar situation that could perhaps add something that may help us both, or see that they too may not be alone in a similar struggle, just the thought that out of this it may be possible that all of us may benefit fro the discussion, and certainly knowing that everything I have been going through is shared by someone else other then me, and just being able to discuss it is doing me a world of good, and if someone else can learn from it, then it is all worth the time for me to write and others to read this lengthy reply. (ps, my grammar can suck sometimes so there are plenty of run on sentences ect, though I doubt there are any English major sitting there deducting points as on a test to how poorly this has been written. It is not my writing skills that are important here, but the content and heart felt empathy and understanding. Just one person who may benefit from this makes it all worthwhile..
Please understand to all those that have already replied, I urge you to take no offence that I am not reading the previous replies to you got from others on your original post but I am not going to bother reading the replies. I want to respond to you on this as I can relate to absolutely every comment you made in your initial post and I can feel and relate to all that you are going through. Though our age difference may be vast (not sure again, I am 37), so I apologize if anyone has already said some of the things that I may repeat not only their comments and possibly my own, but honestly here's the deal...... I am 37, married and moved out of my parents house when I was 25. Since then, I have been divorced and my ex and I sold out house and I moved into my own house. I then got really sick 2 years ago, partly my own doing with drinking and part an unknown pre-existing issue that has since caused me (as you know from my other posts) to get End Stage Liver Disease and cirrhosis. I became so sick I wasn't expected to make it out of the hospital alive, thus my parents had me come live with them as I could not live on my own and thank god they have taken me in as I had lost my job and my house was/is in foreclosure. Again, thankfully my parents were kind enough to let me move back home with them. There was one catch and at the time I was so deep into recovery both from alcohol as well as my health that I would eventually learn to hate, and that was that in the years since I had moved out and gotten married, my sister worked out a deal with my parents to buy their home and create a "mother / daughter" setup in the house which simply is that my parents would move out of the main part of the house, my sister and her husband and kids moved into the main part of the house and my brother in law built them an apartment using the den and garage of the original main part of the house into more or less a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment. This had left me turning their living room into my bedroom where like you I have no privacy what so ever. While I was very sick, in the beginning, I really didn't care, I was just happy to be alive, have a roof over my head and my folks there to take care of me. As I started to get better, I started craving my privacy. I literally was sleeping in between their bedroom and the rest of the apartment. This means that every single day regardless of how I was feeling, I would be woken up constantly from them coming out and going to the kitchen to feed the dogs, do laundry, make meals, wash dishes, ect all within 10-15 feet of my bed. I eventually craved my privacy so much I have sheets hung up around my bed, in the hopes of out of site out of mind, and the thinking was, if they could not see me, and I could not see them, I felt like I had a little privacy..... Um NOT... It didn;t matter how I was feeling, they acted like I wasn't there. They would yell across the small house back and forth... I would have to listen to them slamming the doors, tons of noise when they would be in the kitchen, and not once, not ONCE did anyone have the courtesy of someone saying, oh hey, he's not feeling well, lets try to be quiet. Many times I would ask for some quiet time and I would be told, "You living in OUR house, this is OUR (our meaning theirs not mine) and therefore I basically had no right to ask for such things. I would be sleeping, and my mom would think I had something she needed, so rather then waiting until I was awake, or with out asking, she would just move my sheet aside and come into my space and rummage around in my stuff looking for what ever it is she was looking for. In the mean time during her rummaging she would take it upon herself to start looking at my private papers, letters, cards what ever she felt like being nosey about and just start reading shit. For the longest time, I was the outcast just living on a couch in their living room. Over time as if became reality that my health wasn't going to allow me to move on my own, not to mention no money, losing my house to the bank, having 10's of thousands of $$ in debt, the need to file bankruptcy, my parents came to realize that I was stuck, with nowhere to go, no hope of moving back on my own, and even if I had the money to move out, I knew I could not live on my own as being an alcoholic I did not trust myself to live alone. My parents finally accepted me as being a part of the house hold. All the time my privacy was an issue. I just could not get away. Like you, I would cringe every time I heard my name called. I would same as you, stay up at night and sleep all day so that I knew while I would be up all night, that was my alone time as they were sleeping sound, behind their closed door to their bedroom. I would every now and then ask for some me time to make a phone call or something and would be told sure, we will stay in the bedroom, 30 minutes later, they would be coming out to rummage through the kitchen to get something to eat... Get something from the kitchen.. I would say come of guys I asked for only an hour of me time to take care of things, and I could not even get that. Her I am dying from live3r disease, and I could not even get an hour to my self to do anything. So my clock would change and I would flip to nights again, and sleep all day then be told that I pretty much have no rights, as it was their house. This battle has raged up until recently. Some may say that I am the one being selfish, as it infact is their house and they didn't need to allow me to live there, my family would accuse me of trying to take advantage of my parents because I would get mad at the way they were treating me and I would make it known I was not happy. Then, again here I am a recovering alcoholic and I would watch my parents becoming alcoholics themselves and the one thing I asked them was, they are old enough to do what they wanted, but if they were drinking I asked that they stay away from me, as that makes me very uncomfortable and puts my in a very toxic living environment. I could not talk to them about it as it was their house and they were completely in denial about their drinking... This would push me further to find away to burry my head in the sand, and it caused me to relapse a couple times as my drinking was all I knew how to hide my anger and frustrations with them. Finally I got really sick again, and once again the drinking almost killed me. I realized that I just could not drink anymore and my life was more important to me even if not to anyone else.However soon after getting sober again and this time staying that way (almost 2 years now) I found that I just couldn't take much more, but what else was I to do, it was infact their house. So I tried to make some compromises with them, and one of them was to take my food stamps and provide all the food for the 3 of us. Thats roughly $250 a month of my welfare benefits in the hopes of "buying" my way into becoming part of the family and I was finally accepted as a member of the house hold. Things didn;t get much better, and the tensions came to a head a couple times where my step-father literally physically attacked me twice. Here I am literally dying, and being physically assaulted by my step dad and both times, I nearly killed him in self defense. I had enough. I had to call the police on him the last time because he attacked me with a bat, thankfully he couldnt connect, I disarmed him and I lifted him up off the ground but about 6 inched with my hand around his neck and slammed his head against the wall and help him there until my mother separated us and I enjoyed watching him turn blue and beg for me to let him go. I refused to talk to him for months, and I could see that it was taking it's toll on my mother. So I told her that the only way things would change is if they knocked the shit off and allow me some privacy. We finally had a truce and started living life again only this time, things would have to change, they needed to give me space and to this day, I still live behind my sheets, and try as hard as I can to not interact with them unless absolutely necessary to do so. For a while my privacy was so unimportant to them that I was told I had to open the curtains and let light to come into the house, but they seemed to forget that my bed is right next to the window, so while I am sleeping I do NOT need people literally looking right at me if they were in the driveway. Anyway long story short, I needed that privacy, Blahman, I can not tell you how many times in the last year alone, I had fully thought out my suicide. I could not live this way. I felt I could not live this way anymore, and the longer this was going on, the more and more I was positive that I was going to have to OD on my meds to get out. I wanted to die, I felt atleast then I will get what I wanted the ONLY thing I wanted and that was the only way I could get it. I tried talking to them, they didn;t want to hear it. I asked my sister to please give me just a few minutes of her time to talk to her and help me talk some sense in to them. She told me that "I was not in her plan when she moved in here, and there fore she was not going to get involved and she felt herself that I was the cause of all the problems. I was the family drunk and I was treated as an outcast. She would do nothing to help me as my moving in has apparently ruined her life and interfered so much with her life that she had no sympathy for my situation. Death just seemed to be the answer, though I could never get the balls to do it. I may be dying already, but I am a stubborn bastard and I was not and still am not done living. I don't want to die, either by my liver disease, or my own hand. I respect my life and what I have been able to overcome in the last 2 years.
God there is some much more, but if anyone can understand your frustration, it is definitely me. I lived and feared EVERYTHING you are going through. I feel as though we are living parallel lives, just some of the fact are different, but the fundamentals that we are both living with and through are quite the same. I felt like a neglected animal in a zoo. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, living under the oppression of my parents.Well thankfully, I have been able to knock some sense into them. Bottom line, I am dying and I refuse to die in misery. My mom the other day finally saw the light I guess you could say and decided that the best solution was to switch living arrangements. She decided that her and my step bad would switch bedrooms with me. I would get their current bedroom and they would turn the living room (currently my bedroom) into their bedroom as they are the one that really don't need that kind of privacy as they are the ones that need to be close to the kitchen so that they could do everything they need to with out denying me of my privacy. I hardly ever go into the kitchen accept at time where I would need to make my dinner, or get some tea, ect, I will finally be able to keep to myself in their old bedroom, we can both under this new plan have the privacy that both sides need. I will have my own door to the backyard patio, I will have a fire place in my new bedroom, I am even going to get a little fridge and microwave for the bedroom, so I will be less likely to ever have to leave the room accept to hit the head, or cook and occasional meal during times where they will already be awake, so I am really not going to need to intrude in their space as they do everyday to mine. It a hard, toxic setting that I need to get out of. I want to make it clear, that in know way have I ever tried to encroach on their privacy and I have no intentions of doing any such things. The new plan actually has so many benefits for all involved and with any luck it will end the strain of three adults living in such tight quarters. I mean it was getting to the point where is I were to be in the bathroom for a few minutes, someone would inevitably knock on the bathroom door and hear, " Are you going to be done soon, I have to use the bathroom. Seriously, men take their quiet time when sitting on the the thrown and trying to enjoy a few minutes they enjoy with no interruptions, but not me, I can't even do that with someone disturbing me, and it's not even like I would sit in there for more then maybe 10-15 minutes where I thought would be great to have that time to ralax... One word... constantly "DENIED!!"
So Blahman, as you can imagine from this post we have been through very similar living situations, the way we have tried so hard to do to deal with the pain, anger, disappointments, let downs, both by ourselves and that of our families, that I have 100% empathy for you on this most frustrating scenario and regardless of how old I get I constantly hear, "well your still my child and you need to respect our wishes", something I have never denied them, but that they have fully denied many of my wishes up until this current proposal my mom came up with and I sure hope they could try to just accept me for the way things are and I have tried so long and hard to get it. Noone knows just how long I have left in this life and I would like to be able to enjoy my time left in this life and I want to have happy thoughts while going through my personal "end of days". I hope all those that read this don't think that our actions under these circumstance are selfish, disrespectful, or that we are being ungrateful toward out parent's because we truly are not. In no way am I expecting them to drop everything to "cater" to me, in fact that thought has never even been part of and hope and wish of a peaceful resolution, this is more of a bid for self preservation. Both of us have either been or still are at the end of our whits end, and honestly how much of this do they think we can take with all that we have been through?? Look I know that they did not need to take me in, I am fairly lucky there as I have seen the damaging effects of what alcohol can create, and I am very grateful from the bottom of my heart, and I am lucky to have them, many others are not so lucky.. They brought me into their home and they have provided me a lot of help that most addicts will never see, hear , or in anyway receive from their families or friends and for that I am extremely grateful and EXTREMELY lucky. I love my parents, and if I have have children and one of my children is born with this defect of addiction, I hope that I am able to at the very least make sure I can bring them home with me and offer what ever I possibly can and assure them that things will get better, and rather then be selfish and make sure especially if they are sick like I am, I can make sure that they are as comfortable as humanly possible within my abilities.
I do not want to leave this like with animosity for my family. I want to leave here knowing that they did everything they could have to insure my comfort, even if that means I may have to give up a few things. The way my folks have been treating me, it's as if I am still a young, immature child, that needs mommy to hold me hand. I am an adult, I am a big boy. I have been successful in almost all aspects in my like up until I got ill, and I feel I have earned the right to be treated equal as an adult and I want nothing more then peace in this home. But with me being sick there needs to be some changes in the way I have been treated and for me privacy is at the top of my list. My body and mind can not honestly take to much more. I dread waking up while my parents are lurking around the house arguing with each other. I do not need the confrontations, and when I say confrontations, I am not just referring to them between me and my folks, but more so between the two of them. Once that start, everyone takes their anger with each other out on me and I was of no way part of the original argument, though in some way their arguments tend to be because of me do to the added stress I have caused them from them inviting me to live here. Since I was a child and my father passed when I was 7 (he was 32) and my mother and step dad got married my mother and him have fought pretty much non stop every single fucking day, and it's all because my step dad is no spring chicken he's 78 yo, and he is starting to lose his mental capacities somewhere and his denial forces him to not accept it, when it happens this causes my mother and him to be like oil and water as it doesn't matter what he does, (and she can be this way with me too, however, I have learned how to back her down off me and put her back into perspective), but no matter what, if he is doing something in a way that may get the job done, but not quite how she would have done it, or doesn't hear her say something she said rather then handling it like mature adults my mother jumps on him immediately. He can never be right, he has learning and comprehension disabilities and he also has a very hard time expressing whats on his mind and that has just gotten worse with his age.. My mother has said she is just tired of him not being there for her and taking the time to understand what she wants so he freezes, and doesn't want to do anything when my mom is around as she will sit there and yell at him constantly, yet one more thing I try to hide from. There is not reason for her to treat him that way, and this makes things worse because he fears doing a damn thing because he is tired of being yelled at. Once my mother has it in her mind that she is right and everyone else is wrong, or once she things he isn't understanding what she's saying due to his actions or lack there of, she turns in to mega bitch to him. I can not blame him for no longer trying to do things on his own or take initiative with anything, because no matter how right he may be in her eyes he is never right, so he backs down. He has become a useless, pathetic and rather sad being born from her and the way she treats him.. Once they are done fighting, usually because he just gets in his car and leaves and goes somewhere, the rest of her pent up anger is immediately turns of her anger, angst and aggression, right on me, and I may have just woken up and maybe still half comatose and ask her a questions, and that question no matter how benign, is met with all her pent up fury on me for no good reason.
WOW I so went on, I am so sorry, but as you can see that lack of privacy has driven alot of this sadness, frustration, at times hatred, rage, depression, and so on and so on. The good news is things are just recently beginning to get a little better here with all this, and once I swap rooms with my folks, I will finally have a room when I will have a door that I will be able to close and lock myself in. This way I can sit in my room and give a FUCK THE WORLD, AND FUCK MY LIFE!!! Don't like the sign DEAL WITH IT AS YOU ARE THE CATALYST. Maybe then they will get the hint or not, people in my family can be quite naive.
But yeah man, I know where you are coming from man and it can really hurt and drain you mentally and physically. I do not know your situation well enough to give you any miracle to fix the situation, but I can say this. Try if you can to just pull yourself out of the immediate reality if you can. From the addicts mantra, remind yourself that in no uncertain terms, "this too will past." Keep your head high, be thankful you haven't got my life.
If you ever want to talk, Im always here, feel free to PM me at anytime. I would also request that any flamers keep your matches and lighters home as this is my situation above and unless your living here with me and see what I see everyday, you will have no clue what you are talking about if you think that the way a portrayed my family is wrong and you think I am the selfish one. My story goes much deeper, much more then I care to type at the moment and my message was to Blahman to an effort to assure him that since I live practically every single day in the BS that's he is living through this post was for him and him alone to comment on. Thanks, and sorry if I seem a little snippy at the moment, it's not intentional, but mentally I am drained with everything going on in my life currently....
I anticipate the respect in advance..
Remember Blah, ever need to chat I would be more then willing to sit down with ya and give you some additional suggestions. Oh and one thing that I am finding is that if you ever want to block them out when your trying to sleep and you know at some point all the BS is going to start up again and you don;t want to hear it, buy yourself for under
$2 a soft set of ear plugs and sleep with them in. Make sure someone will wake you up if the fire alarm goes off however, as that would be bad then I would feel guilty for making the recommendation!
Best of luck to you!
-Pain