Nervous breakdown? normal stress? is it a good idea?

I lived with my boyfriend and his mom for the last seven months of my university career, in a tiny two room apartment. I loved him, and she cooked me meals and was nice to me. Everything was ostensibly ok, but space was very tight and I lived out of two drawers in his room. I was also broke. They assured me I need not pay rent.

I was studying math, computer science, and statistics 24/7, weekends and nights, and working part time. He already graduated and was not in school. Also, he had a lot of money and no real job. I spent so much time on my studies I stopped socializing. I used to be an alcoholic and he wanted me to stop drinking. So I kicked the habit cold turkey, simultaneously barely saw friends, worked 24/7, and lived with him. He was with me almost 24/7 (used to drop me off at work and sit outside, to the point where my coworkers started recognizing him). He asked me frequently if I wanted to marry him. That was great at first!

When we saw his friends, I was very quiet and self conscious because I had nothing fun to talk about and was on edge. Because he was with me 24/7, I could not go see a friend without him being involved. If I made plans, he assumed he was coming and if I told him I wanted to go alone he acted hurt and argued. So while barely having free time anyway due to school, I then stopped making independent plans. While I isolated myself, he had lots of friends, because he spends his time doing martial arts and tutoring and leading activities at our school (no job, like I said).

Then, my Volvo broke down and I had to sell it for almost no money to buy another car with. Leaving me stranded, literally. I had loved my car a lot.

Well, it got to the point where one day I had a stomach problem (I think it was lactose intolerance, in retrospect) and had to go to the ER in severe pain + out-of-control anxiety and high blood pressure. After they found nothing medically wrong with me, he took me home, me still anxious. Days passed where I couldn't sleep. My heart was racing and I couldn't eat. Finally, I started acting like a crazy person, thinking that I had to go to the bank at 3:00 am because my account security might have been breached. It got absurd. The next morning, he slapped me, thinking that it would "snap me out of it", which had worked on his friend who was schizophrenic.

It might have done the trick, because the next day, I called a family member who drove 4 hours to pick me up and take me home. My ego was bruised and I was a nervous wreck, crying and shaking, having to take sedatives to survive the 4 hours on the freeway home. For the next two weeks I couldn't be left alone, couldn't control my crying, had to take drugs to sleep.

I feel like it is relevant to say that I had wanted to go home over the summer, but that he tried to persuade me that my mom was a negative stressor (she does stress me out) and that I should "start my life" and confront my anxiety by getting a job in the neighborhood, not go home. From MY perspective it seemed like he was annoyed when I talked on the phone to my parents and wanted me to cut my calls short, often giving me (valid) reasons. He was really argumentative and negative when I talked about going home alone. When once he did come home with me, he overheard me asking my brother for advice and got really upset, said he wanted to leave, then finally agreed to stay as long as I promised not to talk about our problems with anyone again without disclosing it to him first. That disturbed me... a little.

Anyway, when I told him I was leaving he was at first very upset, and broke his phone out of anger. Then we spent time together and had a nice morning before I left, making me sad and feel like I was making a mistake to leave.

Now, it's been a month, I have stopped having panic attacks and such and I am thinking about going back to take care of some business and see my boyfriend again to sort out my feelings. However, this would require me to stay at his house and get rides from him (I am on antidepressants that make me too dizzy to drive).

Is this, like, a stupid idea?
I could put off my business, but our relationship can't be on hold forever.

Voting Results
42% Normal
Based on 12 votes (5 yes)
Help us keep this site organized and clean. Thanks!
[ Report Post ]
Comments ( 4 )
  • Short4Words

    Did you make a post about this before?

    Because it sounds like whatever you did worked.

    Comment Hidden ( show )
      -
    • made a less complete one, yeah.

      Comment Hidden ( show )
  • RoseIsabella

    Break up with him permanently and stay away from him FOREVER! Problem solved.

    He's a manipulative control freak who physically assaulted you. You can't trust him and he will never change. You're getting better now, so don't fuck it up by backsliding. If you feel that you simply "must" go back then see a therapist instead.

    Comment Hidden ( show )
  • noid

    He is a control freak, drop him.

    Comment Hidden ( show )