advertisement
Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
zapatoes
Grand Magnate
 
zapatoes's Avatar
zapatoes Looking for my way
 
Member Since: Sep 2018
Location: Islandia
Posts: 4,263 (SuperPoster!)
5 yr Member
10.9k hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Mar 01, 2019 at 12:08 AM
  #21
Quote:
Originally Posted by CANDC View Post
Oh my so much loss - that must be rough for you. How are you coping with all this?
It’s a process and some days are tough. It helps to stay busy with work. Today was a tough day and I didn’t sleep well and cried after work with grief seeming to just hit me out of nowhere. When it’s your immediate family member who has a terminal illness and passes away it just doesn’t seem real. I suppose everyone feels the same when this happens.
zapatoes is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
Buffy01, CANDC
 
Thanks for this!
Buffy01

advertisement
CANDC
Super Moderator
Community Support Team
Community Liaison
Chat Leader
 
CANDC's Avatar
CANDC has no updates.
 
Member Since: May 2014
Location: Northeast USA New England
Posts: 17,322 (SuperPoster!)
8 yr Member
2,307 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Mar 01, 2019 at 06:31 PM
  #22
Quote:
Originally Posted by zapatoes View Post
It’s a process and some days are tough. It helps to stay busy with work. Today was a tough day and I didn’t sleep well and cried after work with grief seeming to just hit me out of nowhere. When it’s your immediate family member who has a terminal illness and passes away it just doesn’t seem real. I suppose everyone feels the same when this happens.
It is hard to express how hard it is to anyone that has not lost a close family member. I belong to a Grief and Loss Group IRL and it really is amazing to hear others talk about what they are going through. It really helps to not feel so alone.

__________________
Super Moderator
Community Support Team

"Things Take Time"
CANDC is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
nonightowl
Desert Kitty hates titles
 
nonightowl's Avatar
nonightowl wonders if anybody reads this
 
Member Since: Jul 2008
Location: TARDIS
Posts: 9,114
15 yr Member
6,675 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Unhappy Mar 02, 2019 at 02:28 PM
  #23
Poe824, I tried two types of groups: Walk in, ongoing and fixed "closed" group.

Both had pros and cons.

I went to the walk-in or drop in group first through my health plan. It wasn't my first choice of where to go but I was desperate. I had lost a good friend suddenly, and months later my mom. I went to the group a few months.

The pros are that it's an ongoing group so it's good to know it's always there. What I got out of it mostly was being around others who experienced loss or multiple losses. The cons is that it was always way too large for the 80-90 minutes allotted. There was never fewer than 15 people in there; the largest it was was 25 people. So not everyone even got the chance to speak, including me.

So it didn't feel very "intimate" and the drop in nature didn't give me the stability I needed. But I did end up keeping in touch with a couple of people from it.

People dropping in and out was the hardest for me. I know it's the nature of the group, but it changes the dynamics when that happens. AND talking in front of a large group of people was scary.

***********

Months later (I think), I went to one at one of our local universities. The intake was much more thorough, as I did one on the phone AND one in person.

The group was much smaller, so it felt more supportive. But it just ran for 10 weeks. And maybe because it was free, not everyone came every week so that threw me off. I say "closed" cause once they have their group, that's their group. No one dropping in.

Also, they had us fill out a LOT of forms, both when signing up for the group and during the group's 10 weeks. One of them was keeping track of how you felt day to day, with rating your grief on a scale of 1 - 10 for both the highest/lowest points of the day. Then an "average".

This was hard, but it wasn't required. I did it, and I think it was to look for patterns.

I briefly kept in touch with two people from that group also, but they both abruptly stopped texting me. They might as well have poured salt into my wound.

I miss the supportiveness of the group, but I don't feel like doing another intake, filling out more forms, driving to taking the bus there, etc. It was all exhausting and took a lot out of me. I had to take a bus then a train to get to the university.

Groups can have people that make you upset or say inappropriate things. In the university group, one woman said to me to imagine how much worse I'd feel if I lost my dad too. Hello?? Not helpful and completely out of line to say such a thing. I'm glad she didn't come regularly and dropped out quite early.

So even if you're around others grieving, keep your guard up until you get to see how the dynamics of the other members are.

Recently I started writing things down again when I feel the need. I also keep telling myself that grief is not a linear process. You can go back to earlier "stages". There's no time table, and no "right" way to grieve.

It's okay to cry, and it's okay NOT to cry. It's okay if you're not sure how you feel or if you can't label it. I tell myself these things whenever I feel I wish I can label it. Also, there's physical symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, etc.

I don't have any other support in my life, as my emotionally unavailable stoic dad has made it clear he doesn't want to talk about mom, and my brother stopped speaking to me.

In a nutshell, if you decide to try a group, just keep expectations low and guard up until you get to know the group members and facilitator a bit. That's another thing-----you might like the members but not the leader. Or vice versa.

Also, I'd wait until you feel up to answering questions and filling out forms. Depending on where you go, you might do just a brief phone screening or an in-depth one in person. And it might be grueling and painful to answer the questions they ask, like if you live alone or do you have emotional support from family.



__________________
Call me "owl" for short!


Grief Counseling

Hmmm....looks like some good tips in here.


Grief Counseling

"Okay, enough photos. I'm a very BUSY Business Kitty, so make an appointment next time."
nonightowl is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
Buffy01
Wise Elder
 
Buffy01's Avatar
Buffy01 has no updates.
 
Member Since: Oct 2017
Location: USA
Posts: 9,460 (SuperPoster!)
5 yr Member
9,664 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Mar 05, 2019 at 07:26 PM
  #24
Quote:
Originally Posted by zapatoes View Post
It’s tough dealing with grief, most definitely, my cousin passed in 2016 due to suicide, then my mom became ill a few years later, and she had surgery, got a little better, then a few months later my dad finds out he has terminal illness and passes away 1.5 years later, and less than 2 months after that his younger brother passes away.
I lost my parent four month seven years apart and my tight brother in law three months after my mom to suicide

Last edited by Buffy01; Mar 05, 2019 at 07:26 PM.. Reason: Notification type
Buffy01 is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
nonightowl, zapatoes
Buffy01
Wise Elder
 
Buffy01's Avatar
Buffy01 has no updates.
 
Member Since: Oct 2017
Location: USA
Posts: 9,460 (SuperPoster!)
5 yr Member
9,664 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Default Mar 05, 2019 at 07:28 PM
  #25
Quote:
Originally Posted by zapatoes View Post
It’s a process and some days are tough. It helps to stay busy with work. Today was a tough day and I didn’t sleep well and cried after work with grief seeming to just hit me out of nowhere. When it’s your immediate family member who has a terminal illness and passes away it just doesn’t seem real. I suppose everyone feels the same when this happens.
Grief does that to a person. I have complicated grief!
Buffy01 is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
zapatoes
 
Thanks for this!
nonightowl
nonightowl
Desert Kitty hates titles
 
nonightowl's Avatar
nonightowl wonders if anybody reads this
 
Member Since: Jul 2008
Location: TARDIS
Posts: 9,114
15 yr Member
6,675 hugs
given
PC PoohBah!
Unhappy Mar 06, 2019 at 02:34 PM
  #26
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buffy01 View Post
Grief does that to a person. I have complicated grief!
So do I, according to the university grief group. And it makes it more complicated (or maybe this is the reason it's complicated in the first place) is that I didn't have the greatest relationship with my mom or one at all really.

It seems surreal since she was so formidable, I mean how could cancer "DARE" affect her?

I haven't done individual counseling cause enough stuff in my life is solitary. I needed to hear other people's experiences, and I did get that.

I'm not sure at this point if they can tell me anything new or ground breaking.

For me personally, the only thing that makes it less raw is TIME. And I mean LOTS of time----not just years but maybe decades in some cases of people I lost.

__________________
Call me "owl" for short!


Grief Counseling

Hmmm....looks like some good tips in here.


Grief Counseling

"Okay, enough photos. I'm a very BUSY Business Kitty, so make an appointment next time."
nonightowl is offline   Reply With QuoteReply With Quote
 
Hugs from:
zapatoes
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:57 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® — Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.



 

My Support Forums

My Support Forums is the online community that was originally begun as the Psych Central Forums in 2001. It now runs as an independent self-help support group community for mental health, personality, and psychological issues and is overseen by a group of dedicated, caring volunteers from around the world.

 

Helplines and Lifelines

The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.

Always consult your doctor or mental health professional before trying anything you read here.