How do I know I'm Experiencing Complicated Grief?

Understanding Grief / Understanding Grief : Litsa Williams



For further articles on these topics:


Though this is purely anecdotal, I think most people who experience a significant loss go through moments of feeling like they're losing it. After spending most of your life feeling somewhat "normal," the terrifying and unknown territory of grief can feel very abnormal. In grief, it's normal to feel not normal. Confusing! As one of our favorite authors, Viktor Frankl, wrote, "An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior."

You can look at the fact that a wide range of change, distress, and emotion is "expected," "typical," or "normal" in life after loss in several ways. On the one hand, you may find comfort knowing that there's a better than good chance what you are experiencing is not a sign of a more significant problem. But, on the other hand, you may find such a vast expanse of grey areas confusing. How does anyone ever know when their experience does reflect something that requires more professional support?

I'd be remiss not to acknowledge that now and again, people find themselves at an impasse in their grief. Their grief intensity remains high, they feel no improvement as the months tick by, and they aren't sure how else to cope. Grief that becomes debilitating and all-consuming may be considered complicated grief or persistent complex bereavement disorder, which we've described in the section below.


What is Complicated Grief?

Hypothetical Case Study: You feel like total crap.  Life feels impossibly overwhelming.  You are irrationally angry or crying every day. And it's hard to imagine a future in which things feel any better. Is this normal grief or complicated grief? Sometimes it feels like a coin toss, even to us professionals.  Because the reality is that in the early days after a loss, it is normal to have the symptoms described above. So the question becomes, how can you figure out if you (or your friend or family member) may be in need of professional grief support?

My first thought about this: we could all use a little bit of therapy! There really isn't a threshold one has to hit in order for therapy to be beneficial. So if you are thinking about grief counseling, why not give it a go?  It is an opportunity to spend time on yourself, learn some things about yourself, and get out of the house.  What do you have to lose?

That said, if it has been more than a few months and your symptoms seem the same or more severe than immediately following the loss, this could be a reason to consider professional help.  At the Columbia Center for Complicated Grief, they are conducting extensive research around complicated grief.  It may be helpful to consider the signs of complicated grief outlined by Columbia University researchers:

Signs of CG:
  • Strong feelings of yearning or longing for the person who died
  • Feeling intensely lonely, even when other people are around
  • Strong feelings of anger or bitterness related to the death
  • Feeling like life is empty or meaningless without the person who died
  • Thinking so much about the person who died that it interferes with doing things or with relationships with other people
  • Strong feelings of disbelief about the death or finding it very difficult to accept the death
  • Feeling shocked, stunned, dazed or emotionally numb
  • Finding it hard to care about or to trust other people
  • A feeling of constant fear and anxiety.
  • Feeling very emotionally or physically activated when confronted with reminders of the loss
  • Avoiding people, places, or things that are reminders of the loss
  • Strong urges to see, touch, hear or smell things to feel close to the person who died

They suggest that three or more of these symptoms persisting beyond 6 months may be an indicator of complicated grief and a reason to consider professional support.  There are certain factors that could put you at greater risk of having complicated grief.  Having experienced one of these risk factors by no means is an indicator that you will experience complicated grief.  It just means you are a little more likely.  Some of these factors include things like experiencing an unexpected or violent loss, a loved one dying by suicide, a lack of support system, or past traumatic losses.


What Now?

If you have just read over this and thought this sounds like you, you may be wondering what to do next.  Please see our guide to seeking grief support.  It is a lot easier than you may think to get help.  Really. If you want to read a little more on this subject, check out the following articles:

For some, grief can lead to thoughts of suicide.  If you are thinking of hurting yourself please seek immediate treatment.  You can call 911, go to your local emergency room, or call a local crisis response team.  In the US you can seek 24/7 support through National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

We invite you to share your experiences, questions, and resource suggestions with the WYG community in the discussion section below.

We invite you to share your experiences, questions, and resource suggestions with the WYG community in the discussion section below.

We wrote a book!

After writing online articles for What’s Your Grief
for over a decade, we finally wrote a tangible,
real-life book!

After writing online articles for What’s Your Grief for over a decade, we finally wrote a tangible, real-life book!

What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss is for people experiencing any type of loss. This book discusses some of the most common grief experiences and breaks down psychological concepts to help you understand your thoughts and emotions. It also shares useful coping tools, and helps the reader reflect on their unique relationship with grief and loss.

You can find What’s Your Grief? Lists to Help you Through Any Loss wherever you buy books:

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195 Comments on "How do I know I'm Experiencing Complicated Grief?"

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  1. Tanya  July 31, 2023 at 8:15 pm Reply

    It’s been just over 4 years since my mom died unexpectedly and I started crying just thinking about posting this. That seems to be the biggest problem in my life since I lost her. I miss her so much and have so much guilt surrounding her death. I know this is going to sound terrible but I have spent every day since she died doing everything I can to not have to think about her because that would be having to face the fact that she’s not here and that I’ll never see her or hear her voice again. Ive been working 60+ hours a week just to keep my mind busy and it’s definitely taken its toll on me. Anytime I start thinking about her I literally yell at myself to “stop it”! I don’t talk to any of my friends anymore and do nothing except work and sleep. I haven’t even spread her ashes like she wanted because I can’t bring myself to let them go. I just feel like I didn’t do anything right the night before she died and I haven’t done anything right since then. She deserves so much more than this. She was such a beautiful human being and she deserves to be remembered and shared, and I want to be able to think about her and talk about her but I’m so afraid I’m going to lose my shit and not be able to come back from the pain and the reality of it. But I’m more afraid of losing everything about her (her smile, her eyes, her voice, every moment spent with her)… I just don’t know what to do or how to do it.

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  2. Lisa  March 28, 2023 at 3:39 pm Reply

    This concept of “Complicated” grief enrages me. Grief is not something you can categorize, classify, and label just because some people feel like certain individuals express, feel, or experience extended and powerful responses to loss of a loved one.
    6 months? Who exactly decided and was given authority to determine the acceptable duration of anyone else’s feelings about their personal loss?
    I lost my husband and best friend. It has been 20 months. We are approaching 2 years. We knew each other as young teens, we fell in love as young adults. We were married at 19 and created a family of four children and memories that span nearly 36 years. So, how exactly, is that deeply woven of a lifetime of shared experiences abruptly torn away supposed to be condensed in to society’s cookie cutter definition of acceptable grieving period?
    I refuse to allow society to tell me I’m supposed to just stop being pissed off, stop being utterly shattered, stop bleeding out from inside just because they are made uncomfortable by the level of my pain.
    It is inhumane, it is cruel, it is judgemental, and it is completely lacking in compassion.
    My life will never be the same again. My future is in tatters as a result of losing the person I was going to share it with. The fabric of my reality is torn apart.
    Damn right it’s complicated… BUT it is absolutely 100% Understandable, acceptable, and natural for me to be this way.
    Yes, I meet more than just 3 of these supposed criteria. And that does not make me somehow in need of being medicated or clinically mind manipulated to believe there is something somehow intrinsically wrong with me because I didn’t just “Get over it” “Find someone else” “Find other reasons to go on” “He wouldn’t want you to be so sad” and all the other empty platitudes we as the widowed are force fed every day, without our consent I might add.
    The world can either get used to my new default setting or they can get bent. No one should be categorized, summed up and told that somehow their grief is unhealthy or wrong unless they are an active danger to others as a result. Other than that… our grief is our own.
    I will mourn until I choose not to, if that day ever comes, and if that means I no longer meet society’s standards of acceptable, then so be it.
    The bottom line is – IF you as a widowed individual feel you are in need of help, for goodness sake please do go get that help and support and healing you need and don’t let anyone tell you not to reach out for the love and support. But never let someone else tell you where, when, or how long to carry your grief. If you were blessed with the love of a lifetime, then you have every right to choose to mourn that loss for the rest of yours.

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    • Don  May 6, 2023 at 5:29 pm Reply

      Lisa,

      Very well said. More should read what you wrote. Unless you’ve experienced this kind of loss no one is in a position to give advice and even then everyone is different. I’ve lived a full life of love in the time we were together. My heart is still filled with the love I’ve had for my wife since day one. I’ll never remove the wedding band she placed on my finger and will always wear it proudly and with love. The one thing I’m very thankful for is that I got to spend the time that I did with my soulmate.

      May you receive many of God’s blessings.

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    • David  August 10, 2023 at 11:10 am Reply

      Thank you so much for writing what I think so many of us are feeling. I just don’t understand how we are supposed to “get over” the loss of someone that was totally interwoven with us at every level. At six months I don’t think I even understood my wife was gone! I will never be the same, you cannot lose your soulmate and be the same.

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    • Dave  November 26, 2023 at 10:47 am Reply

      I m 76 and lost my wife of 33 years 10 months ago to Alzheimer’s. I have to agree with what you say.

  3. Tlv  October 20, 2022 at 2:51 am Reply

    It’s been five years since my mom passed away and it’s only been a year since my dad passed away . Everyone says it will get easier but it don’t not yet for me anyway . I lived far a way from my parents but we would always talk on the phone so many times a day. When my mom passed away I got to spend a week with her at the hospital she seemed so good . When I came back home I spoke to her on the phone as her oxygen dropped and they could not get it to stay up …. They ended up puttting my mom on a vent . A week later we were making decisions about her being on life support because she could not breath on her own . They said if they took her off the vent she would die instantly…. Toward the end they said she did not have any brain activity and it was just up to us to decide when to take her off the vent . Unfortunately I was on the phone with my family when they decided to go ahead and take her off the vent . I was on the phone as they were pulling the vent off her . It was the worst thing anyone could ever here . To hear my family telling mom to breath and dad holding her hand saying hold on …… it still feels like yesterday I miss mom so much and it seems to be worse during the holidays ….. I use to think I would never stop crying I cryed all the time … now I just feel lost …… the same thing pretty much happens with my dad when he passed away ….. my heart aches and feels like their is such a big hole in it ….. I work in the medical field have for 28 years I’m not sure I will ever get over the feeling of how much I miss my mom and dad they were my world …..

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    • Lisa  December 20, 2023 at 11:45 pm Reply

      I know exactly how you feel. My mom died September 22, 2022. She was cold on her favorite chair. She was my world and we talked everyday. I’m so depressed about her still and I cry 😭 a lot. I’m also going through menopausal ups and downs which don’t help. It’s Xmas time and I just want it over. I miss family times and everything has changed. 1 yr later my father falls and is in a place and begs to come home. He has a broken hip, had surgery and was married to my mother for 55 years. So I feel guilty to deal with my dad dreaming to be home when he’s near 90. My moms death was a surprise and all of this has been in a bit over a yr. I cry every day and I fear my father’s death soon. You’re never ready for these things though you know that they will pass. I’m Disabled and I have depression partially from dealing with this in my house. How do I deal with this?

  4. Stacy  September 5, 2022 at 10:16 pm Reply

    I lost my mom March 1, 2022. Although she had some health issues, she was relatively healthy. We believe she passed away in her sleep, while sitting in her favorite chair watching tv. She always said that she prayed she would die in her sleep. A day after she passed we remembered that she was wearing her Fitbit, so we looked at the app on her phone. It showed that she had about 30-40 steps around 11:30pm and a spiked heart rate at 11:48 followed by a drastic dip In her heart rate a minute later and then seemed to level out. Her last recorded heart beat was at 11:59pm on Feb 28. When my 2 brothers and I could not reach her all day the next day, we asked her property manager to check on her. My one brother is the only one that still lived within 15 min of her apartment and was already on his way to her apartment when the property manager called back and said he needed to get there right away. She had passed away. When he got there he called me and I screamed out the most agonizing scream of emotion. My husband was right there with me. I never felt so much pain and loss in my life. I instantly thought about how I had told myself to call her the last 3 or 4 days and then the day would get away from me and I would forget to call before it was too late in the day. I hadn’t talked to her on the phone in a week (which was very unusual for us). I love my mom so much and I really hope she knew that.

    I’m sitting here writing this sobbing. Everyday I tear up thinking of her or remembering a memory with her. Every night I ask her to come to me in my dreams but she hasn’t. I just want to hear her, smell her, talk to her one more time.

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    • Mark Hoffman  November 22, 2022 at 8:32 am Reply

      Stacy, I lost my mother in the same way. My mother sent me my last birthday card right before she passed and was on top of my bookcase for months for me to look at. I was having a very ruff time with her passing. That morning I couldn’t get out of bed for the weight of the whole loss got the best of me. I finally went into take a shower in the next room. When I got out of my shower my birthday card that was on top of my book case was on the bathroom floor leaning against the bathroom door. It’s the first thing I saw when I stepped out of the shower. For this to happen would have been short of a miracle. A cold chill came over me and I knew she was there. It made me feel somewhat better. It’s been 7 years now and I’ve not had not even a dream of her. I know she must be with me. I still have issues of her no longer being here. I saved some of her personal items like a tube of her lipstick, bottle of nail polish and hair pins she used my entire life to remember her by. I get what your feeling. Don’t be quilty for your grieving. I feel the more we grieve the more love we have for that person. I’m 60 and my friend is 63 and still has his parents. He doesn’t really see eye to eye with his parents or 3 siblings. I try to tell him how blessed he is to still have them and that he needs to go home and be with them as much as possible. He is retired and has the money and time to do it. I tell him the time to realize the love you have for your parents isn’t after they pass. I tell everyone death is the most final thing you’ll experience in life. You get no more questions or answers once a person has passed. So you better buck up when they are alive. It will save you from the awesome greef after they have passed. Truthfully, I’m still missing both my parents. I feel a real loss I can’t dismiss. It take only a memory, a smell, a food, a place I’ve been with my parents or a photo and I’m fighting the rabbit hole. I never cried so hard and deep when my mother passed. I still have that gut wrenching cry that was similar to the day she died. I realize I need to talk to someone about getting over my loss. I don’t have advice to give. Just want you to know your not alone.

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  5. Carolyn  August 11, 2022 at 8:09 am Reply

    Well i lost my uncle 2 years ago and I do not know if I have griefed or not. Was sad but not sad. I missed the funeral because of covid.
    And I did not get to say good bye.

  6. Eric  August 1, 2022 at 5:47 am Reply

    Loss after loss after hardship, loneliness, bleak prospects for the future (realistic evaluation of likely outcomes) … i don’t just feel alone I am alone.
    I see the world fairly accurately. Most of us are going to be poorer than ever with little chance to break the trend. Dont stand a chance.
    One thing after another. Life was different. Life wasn’t ever easy but good things happened with the bad. About 10 years ago it’s like the gears of the universe shifted. It’s been a grind ever since. Depression like this is recent. My lonely life sucks, hopes & dreams for the future died with my broken heart.

    No, & I mean no support system. Most recent personal loss amounts to a devastating defeat.
    For days I’ve felt this free fall into a dark nothing, where it takes me i accept … I probably won’t climb out. I don’t care or even want to try. Why would I? So I could have more years of suffering?

    I saw a blog today that read if I had killed myself then I would have not – listing activities & events.
    My answer to if I had killed myself i would not have suffered the worst period of my life, with very little joy.

  7. Tim  June 9, 2022 at 9:41 pm Reply

    My life gets worse By paying $400 an hour or $200 or $300 for counseling . It very well may make your life better, but it makes my life worse financially. It does not help me financially whatsoever . Nor can I afford it. So the answer to your question why not give it a go for counseling that’s why! Let me know when you want to donate your services and we’ll talk ! 3 1/2 years later and it still seems like yesterday. The pain is the same! The same today as it was yesterday as it was 3 and a 1/2 years ago. This is what happens when you had a perfect relationship with a perfect spouse. We could not have loved each other more. A huge part of my life died that day and it is still dead. By the way I’ve tried counseling And what I’ve learned is that you can go to college and you can read all the books you want. You can try to teach everything you know about Grief. how handle this and how to handle that. But unless you have been down that road AND have been truly in an amazing relationship of 25 or 30 years and have that stripped from you …. You will NEVER know what it is like!!!! And you’ll NEVER be a expert on the subject.

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    • Litsa  July 17, 2022 at 12:13 am Reply

      Tim, hospices in the US are required to provide free grief counseling services to the community, whether or not your loved one died in hospice. And for those outside of hospices who do charge and don’t accept your insurance, I have never heard of a therapist charging nearly that much an hour for grief counseling. Many therapists accept insurance, so calling your insurance company and asking for a list of those in your area who accept your insurance is also an option. But hospice is usually the place that many people start. If you are looking for someone who knows what it is like for you, you will never find that. The nature of being human is that we can never know someone else’s experience. The work of grief therapists is not to know what you are going through, it is to help people who are struggling to live the life they want to live after a loss to find a path to do that.

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  8. Sherine belkacem  April 17, 2022 at 11:49 pm Reply

    My grandma died when i was 9 now I’m 18 i cried every night for the last 9 years never talked about her unexpected death until this February and since then i feel much better now i can sleep without crying

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  9. Salomo Angula Aron  April 7, 2022 at 7:39 pm Reply

    On 1 November 2021 I lost my mother ,barely 5 month things turned upside down in our family house,we are not talking to each other anymore..I’m crying 4 days a week, I lost trust in men ,is too much

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  10. Carol  April 5, 2022 at 8:56 am Reply

    My son died 9 years ago can’t move on always in my thoughts and dreams . Always dream he is alive and it was a big mistake but only I know and he’s run away and I am trying to find him feel like I am going mad carol

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  11. Jennifer Petersen  March 29, 2022 at 11:17 am Reply

    My mom passed away 7 weeks ago. She was my best friend. We did everything together and went on adventures together. She shouldn’t have died. I blame the doctors. I had to plan her service and handle all affairs. My dad didn’t know what to do so I stepped in. I don’t think I have fully grieved yet. I have episodes where I will start to cry, but I’m so angry. It took me 6 weeks before I could go to her grave. Is this all normal? Why am I so angry? When will I be able to feel normal?

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    • Alex  May 4, 2023 at 8:34 pm Reply

      I lost my mom 12/25/22 she died from Ovarian cancer cancer that spread to her peritoneal and then her liver. I also feel the same way sadness, guilt and anger towards her doctors. After being diagnosed in 03/22 she started chemotherapy at Loyola Hospital in maywood il. She also had surgery to remove the tumors in 06/22 we went for her postoperative follow up about a month after and was told she was on remission. We were so happy and relieved. She would still be monitored by coming in for blood work to check for cancer markers if I remember correctly and appointment was made for 09/22. In 08/22 she started feeling sick she couldn’t urinate and was very bloated we thought it could be a UTI but when the pain got worse we took her to the ER. We were told her cancer was back that she had a tumor pressing on her bladder and restricting her from urinating and she had hydroneprhosis . I happen to look in her my chart and really read everything I found the results of a ct scan done in 05/22 where it specifically stated they were aware of this tumor it was measured at 3.2 centimeters as a medical coder any cancer tumor over 3 centimeters is alarming in the ER when they did a second ct the tumor was at 4.2 centimeters. I was so confused and angry at the doctors for not telling us I specifically and directly asked her Dr is she in remission and he said yes. I was angry with myself as well I should have read all the reports in her chart but I’m not a doctor and I had no reason to undermine her DR we put our trust in him and his team. Had I been aware of this tumor I would’ve have insisted to have a for follow up a month after her surgery consisting of a ct scan as is the common practice. When I questioned her Dr he was dismissive and we were just going back and fort I was so angry at them and I felt helpless , guilty that I chose the wrong hospital or doctor for her cancer treatment. I then transferred her to Rush hospital in Chicago. The first visit that we had with a new Dr reviewed her chart and was very blunt he asked my mom do you want the absolute truth she said yes . He said your cancer is very aggressive we can treat it but their is no cure we can start a different treatment but it will eventually come to making a decision if it’s worth her not having a comfortable life . I felt like this Dr as well looked at her record and decided it was a lost cause she was in the hospital for two weeks before passing and he just said we can’t do anything for her anymore but she was feeling better looking better does weeks before going to the hospital because she was bleeding heavily from her rectum. She had to have two blood transfusions. He was so blunt he said take her home this is the last Christmas you will have with her. I was stunned I froze and I’m so angry at how dismissive he was and angry at my self because I don’t usually freeze in situations like this I go into fight mode I should have questioned him more I should have pushed for something to be done anything at all I mean what did we have to loose at this point anything is better than nothing right? And my mom she was semi conscious and I just remember holding her hand and she was comforting me instead of the other way around. I feel like I let her down she trusted my judgment when it came to her care and maybe I chose the wrong places for her to be treated at.

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  12. Brad  February 22, 2022 at 6:21 am Reply

    Last Saturday marked 5 years since my man passed away. My mum gave me up to my man and pop when I was younger because she couldn’t handle me. So I lived with them my young age into my adult life. Her death almost killed me. Me writing this I’m fighting back tears. She was my world I feel nothing anymore life just sucks and sometimes I don’t want to go on. We had a bond like no other. She gave me so much advice. My dad wasn’t around either to help me either with advice. 5 years and i feel numb still.

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    • Litsa  March 2, 2022 at 1:17 am Reply

      Brad, I’m so sorry for your loss and the immense grief you’re feeling. Have you considered a grief therapist or support group? Please also know that there is always help and support immediately if you are considering self harm or simply thinking of not wanting to be here. You can contact the suicide hotline by phone at 800-273-8255 or via online chat at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

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    • Kay  May 11, 2022 at 2:15 pm Reply

      11 years ago my grandmother had surgery. She survived and was splaced in rehab to learn to walk again. They mixed up her meds with someone else’s. She had to go to emergency room. I did not know at the time about mixed up meds. She begged me to bring her home with me. I told her as soon as rehab released her I would move her in. She died a week later. Now all these years later I still have guilt for not taking her home with me. And the grief is non stop. She passed in August then February my only granddaughter died 7 days after birth. Then in May my uncle passed. I had a breakdown and I am somewhat better. But I feel broken grief consumes me. I cannot get through day without crying and falling apart. Now my 19 year old grandson needs my help and it is a daily struggle to keep myself together. I don’t think I will ever heal. I am broken.

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      • Litsa  June 1, 2022 at 12:22 pm

        Kay – I am so sorry for all that you’ve been through. Please know that the idea of ‘healing’ in the sense of going back to how we were before is often not what healing looks like. But there is always help and support and so many people who feel they could never learn to cope are able to do so. I would suggest you consider locating a therapist who specializes in grief. This directory may be a helpful place to start – https://prolongedgrief.columbia.edu/for-the-public/find-a-therapist/

  13. jeff  February 1, 2022 at 10:56 am Reply

    All of us have tale of loss. when I read all of yours, I am sad with you. I empathize easily because of my own pain. My first wife divorced me, allowed me to take custody of our daughter with my current wife. I still love my ex and always will. She treated me pretty rotten but i later found out it was from a slow decline, she suffered from a mental illness. She eventually commited suicide. I remember her sister telling me over the phone, i handed it over to my wife, walked out to sit in my car and scream until i had no voice. i have horrible misplaced guilt that if i could have done something different in our relationship, she would be alive. I have been happily married for 20 years now and the ex’s death was 8 years ago. i occasionally think too much about how she ended it and i get upset enough vomit. If we did not have a daughter i wonder if i would grieve less. our emotions really are the best and worst of us. I thank God my current wife knows how messed up I am and still loves me. She says everything that happened is the trail that led me to her. the unfortunate parts i could have done without!!

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  14. Iain jackson  January 22, 2022 at 7:54 am Reply

    13 weeks ago my 23 year old nephew was dropped of 300 yards from his house walking home ,2 men across the road one ran up behind my nephew and stabbed him through the heart killing him his friend gave a statement turning queens on his friend saying he just met this guy minutes before but this other guys nephew was stabbed the night before and was out chapping doors asking the whole street if they had heard or saw anyone and that someone was getting stabbed that night both them had knives and several people have now came forward and told the police this guy’s story is total BS and picked the other guy out in a I’d parade telling police they had been together the whole day threatining folk and we’re totally out for blood I came face to face with the one who isn’t in jail and the rage I’m feeling and anger is destroying me I really am loosing the plot I’m so angry every day this guy has fled his home town where it happened and moved 15 miles away into my town where I know everyone and he’s been telling total crap stories also he’s been over trying to intimidate witnesses which I’ll not be standing by and let happen this guy’s needing taken off the streets I’m not sure how many times I can keep my mouth shut if I see him the procurator fiscal won’t tell the family if he’s been charged or what’s going on what do I do

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  15. Deborah Hodgins  January 4, 2022 at 5:53 am Reply

    This Saturday will mark six months from my husband’s sudden and unexpected death. He died in front of me whilst we were away from home camping July 2021. It was the most traumatic experience of my life.
    I quit my job after a horrible meeting with my manager, Oct 2021
    I am currently doing a little course, am due to start my access course in February, then start a degree in September.
    I am beginning to think maybe I have been overly ambitious, but I will carry on, because what else can I do.
    My new fragility and wobbles are not going to magically disappear if I stop pushing forward trying to create my new life.
    I still lose days to grief, nothing dramatic, but a wanting of quietness and stillness, especially if I’ve pushed myself with study and gotten over tired.
    I wish my life wasnt such a tight rope walk, I seem to be forever picking myself up, dusting myself off and resetting.
    I’m not only dealing with my husband’s sudden passing but with my own personal loss of myself, my resilience, confidence and strength.
    I am practicing self care, if I wasn’t I think I would be a lot worse than I am now. I have my dog and I walk him everyday with my mother and her dogs. This is where I am at right now and I have posted as an acknowledgement to my journey so far.

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  16. Victoria L Woodlee  January 1, 2022 at 4:33 am Reply

    I don’t know how to explain it but it’s been almost 2 years and I still miss my mom. I’m still crying and it hurts that she’s gone.

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  17. Robert  December 8, 2021 at 6:31 pm Reply

    Lost my mother first then my brother committed suicide at my house the next year my father died next in my house under hospice care and then my dog of 16 years this all happened within 3years don’t know what to do

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    • Lesleydubinsky@gmail.com  January 1, 2022 at 10:50 pm Reply

      I am so so sorry for all of your losses. I found the pain of losing loved ones difficult. I felt great great pain as well when I lost my dog. Sending love and white light

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    • Christine Keller  January 2, 2022 at 6:44 pm Reply

      I too lost my father and I inherited his cat which reminded me of him and in the same year I lost my mother and they both were in hospice and it was both unexpected in 2019 at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2021 in May I lost my mom my parents got married at the age of 13 and they both died at the age of 75 my mother died one day before my father’s 61st anniversary and I had a really good life and I don’t know how to live without them I cry all the time I isolate myself I also lost my cat 2 months before my mother died so yes I lost my dad my mom and my cat

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    • Donna brown  January 7, 2022 at 9:03 am Reply

      Lost my daughter last year she was 30

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      • Nancy  December 13, 2022 at 10:16 am

        Donna, I am so sorry for your loss. You are not alone. I also lost my daughter and she was 33 years old. She fought triple negative breast cancer and then she was diagnosed with AML which she fought to overcome. Nothing is worse than not being able take away the pain She left behind a 2 years and 4 year old boys. It has been 6 years and it seems like yesterday. I will never get over losing her. It seems so cruel that my grandsons will grow up without her.

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  18. Keshia  November 22, 2021 at 9:34 pm Reply

    The man I was in love with was murdered 2 years ago. One minute I’ll be fine and then it’ll hit me and I’ll be missing him. He was my best friend and I was in love with him. I’m still hurting and grieving. Can’t stop crying sometimes. I don’t drive down the street he was killed on or the store we met at or just any where we use to be at. It pops up automatically. He was the perfect man for me. Now I don’t care to date any one I’m still numb I don’t let others get close to me. I’ll never have what I had with him with another.

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    • Dedra  May 3, 2022 at 6:39 pm Reply

      So sorry Keisha. My man that I dated for 2 just died yesterday unexpected. How do you go own? I have broken heart I don’t know how to heal?😭😭😭😭😭

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    • Malerato  November 22, 2022 at 4:17 pm Reply

      I’m also going through that 😭😭😭😭it’s sad and devastating to be without him..I keep on having flashbacks and I can’t even recall the last time I was happy because ever since he passed on,I was never the same and I keep on giving myself hopes that I’d be okay but nothing..it hurts😭😭😭

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  19. Steve williams  November 18, 2021 at 7:14 pm Reply

    How do I start well after a accident in work 18 yrs ago I finished work but always popped into mam and dads house everyday too see how they were , living on my own after a relationship break up with the woman of my dreams so I thought so then how wrong, I was , finding it hard too get by , I decided too go back and live with my dear old mam and dad ,Mam was over the moon , Mam was suffering from crippling arthritis most of her life ,how she got by I never new she was make toughest hard man look like wimp , so then I new she was going too need help , and with dad had copd never smoked Mam neither all worked related for dad , though the yrs I became mams carer , in 2016 Mam decided not to go out of the house again my mother’s fear was hospital and doctors she was terrified, April 2020 Mam was admitted too hospital for a infection of the skin that lead too her having respiratory symptoms I think it was called cellulitis this was missed by her nurses who came too see her a few times a week the doctor in the emergency who phoned me too say Mam was ok she was absolutely furious disgusted with the lack of care , now Mam being in hospital and we couldn’t see her I think she broke her heart ❤️, after four weeks we had her home again, she started too do well we had her walking again me and my father that is , then about three weeks after that she started having nightmares, she couldn’t , sleep, calling in night for her mother I used too sleep downstairs where Mam had a big electric bed chair and slept in another chair till about 3-4 am my father was always up at 7 am then I got a few hours in my bedroom , no problem for me I used too drive a truck long distance on the regular night shift , then after about six months and two weeks before Mam passed away she started too say sorry apologised for everything ho I’m so sorry , which I now release she was saying sorry 😢 for leaving us anyway she started having breathing problems I called the emergency services I was giving her CPR but I see her pupils open up , they worked on her too try and save for over a hour on her but too it was too late , Mam passed away at 80 her and my father we’re together for 64 brilliant yrs I’m one of six children all live locally , then tragedy strike again my sister who was 60 yrs old passed away six months later she I think like Mam gave up my sisters husband passed away 12 yrs before at 49 yrs old of a heart attack he was such good honest likeable guy and a good friend, I feel so guilty that I couldn’t save my lovely poor old mother infeel so useless I now look after my father well we look after one another do you know I never had any help off or offered any help , of my brothers and sisters except for the one who was ill , she couldn’t, I thought we had Mam but for a few more yrs but after yrs in pain she lost her mobility and had a broken heart a woman who brought up six children and did everything while dad worked all the hours going just too put food on the table and for us too have holidays in our mobile caravan a few times a year we did have much but in reality we had everything, I’m finding it really hard at this time coming up too 54 in December my main is too look after dad , I been going though a lot of symptoms I see mothers face calling me saying help me help me , and this is the time of the year Christmas where I lost my child 24 yrs ago when my girlfriend decided too get a abortion without me knowing didn’t find out till yrs later after we spit up , but also this year and a half lost three uncles and a cousin , this was hard for me too tell , I have the satisfaction that Mam and my sister are now looking from above in heaven down at me god bless everyone perhaps this is not the end only the beginning take everyone

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  20. Claire  November 18, 2021 at 1:07 pm Reply

    My soul mate died 10 September 2001, he came back in my life unexpectedly after 10 years apart . I always had distant thoughts of him but after meeting up and being like old friends, he sadly left this world without ever knowing my true feelings for him. I dream every night about him , what could have happened when first met but sadly other people got in the way for me and we went our separate ways. I miss him every single day and cry every day , which I’m doing right now.
    It hurts so much even though he has been gone for nearly 20 years

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  21. Michael Pritchard  September 23, 2021 at 11:36 pm Reply

    My dad died in 1995 of a sudden heart attack. He was 47 years old. I was 20 years old at that time. Over the past 26 years I dont think i have really ever gotten over the death of my dad. I just turned 46 this month. Im 1 year away from being how old he was when he died. Im not sure if that has anything to do with it but the day he died is coming back to haunt me. Can anyone offer any advice ? Thank you

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  22. Phyllis Grizzle  August 20, 2021 at 10:45 am Reply

    I lost my son 7weeks ago to suicide,my feelings are so hard I cry every day several times a day don’t want to get up.Husband fusses I’m not the only one whose lost a child.I’m sending a 9 year old to school taking and picking up every day, which keeps me busy some what, but going and coming I get so upset and crying so hard beat on dash of car and screaming, why and I can’t stand this pain, I know he was suffering from depression, and DR put him on high dose of meds , supposeto have been 1/4 to start out.B it how do I stand the pain and crying , and feel like I’m being told I’m crazy, and stupid and got no sense,and saying things happen.Should I just ignore him or get on away I can’t take his mouth and me so lost and empty inside. ShouldI just get on away, and grieve in my own way, to me he’s just plain heartless, somebody plz help me I feel like I’m losing my mind somedays, and I’m hurting so bad.

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    • Isabelle Siegel  August 20, 2021 at 2:15 pm Reply

      Hi Phyllis, I am so very sorry for your loss and that you’re going through this. If you feel as though your doctor is invalidating your grief, you may want to search for another doctor. No one should make you feel like you’re crazy/stupid for grieving!

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  23. Dominic  August 12, 2021 at 1:40 am Reply

    Hi, this is extremely hard for me as I normally have a guard up to not let people in but I have to try something. I apologize for the long post beforehand. I come from and old school New Jersey based Italian catholic family. My mom and dad divorced when I was 6 I am a middle child and my dad was my superman. As I got older we butted heads more. He was my ice hockey coach which I excelled at but also left me 6 concussions and substance abuse problems. My dad came to every court hearing and every rehab I went to no matter the distance. I became resentful towards his attitude if the Italian father who could rule with an iron fist but couldnt control his son. I often pointed out his shortcomings as a result of not wanting to face mine. We also shared countless extremely great moments together. January 18 we talked on the phone he was going to kay down to watch the flyers game he didn’t feel well. Jan 19 I came home from work to find a house full of family and friends. As I got out of my truck I was greeted by my brother a buddy and a couple cousins. I dropped my cell phone on the ground and looked at my brother and said “don’t even Fu”:#ng say it”, excuse my language. But I knew. I still 6 months later hear the words so vividly as if my brother was sitting here, “Dominic, Daddy died today”…. I woke up being carried inside my house then began screaming and yelling and crying. I’m 34 years old. My dad was not sick or not terminally ill. Not that that would have made it any easier don’t get me wrong. Since that night I have not returned to work, I sat either in my basement staring at the wall or outside staring at my firepit that I didn’t even light for the first two weeks. I don’t sleep because I have nightmares and I have been drinking whenenever my eyes are open. I have been four years clean off pills and heroin and am very surprised I didn’t go back to that. I don’t want to and not going to. But my life feels like it ended. I have extreme social anxiety when I died to be the social butterfly. I isolate myself just listening to music “jungleland” was his favorite, my dad, his name is Dominic too. I became destructive for a period and extremely angry and violent after sitting in a daze for hours. I am not abusive to anyone but damaging my own house. I haven’t done that in a couple months. I cry everyday, still, I have taken down a lot of his pictures because I’ll find myself staring at him then crying and hours will pass. Sometimes it feels like it’s hard to breathe and I question if he’s really gone. I actually asked my older sister “where’s daddy” at his funeral. He was cremated so I stared at a picture and they handed me a thing of ashes I almost went bizerk in the church. After his funeral I went to my house and sat alone for what felt like days. My sister was afraid of covid so didn’t have anything later to find out bad a group of her friends there. And my younger brother doesn’t even return my texts anymore. The only time I hear from or get a response from my brother or sister is when they need something fixed at thier houses. I haven’t seen them since the funeral in February and I’m always asking them to get together. It’s a very lonely feeling. It hurts my feelings. And it makes me miss my dad even more because my phone doesn’t ring anymore only my mom retired to north Carolina with my stepdad. I think of how bad I want my phone to say “pop” and how many times I ignored his calls before. On too of it I’m battling the complications from a lifetime of head trauma with ice hockey and boxing and was told I’m showing all signs of this thing called CTE. I am lost. My stepmom said he wanted to be cremated and not buried in our family plot with his brother and my grandfather. So I buried his ashes there and paid to have his name put where it was supposed to, I go every Sunday and clean the stone and put our flags American, Italian, United States Army. But I just cry. So much regret and shame. Some days I just sit and cry and try to talk myself out of taking a walk in the woods and never coming back, I just don’t want my mother to be sad. My whole life I’ve been the jokester, making everyone laugh at family parties and everyone always wanted to have a good time with. When really I’ve been suffering on the inside and since my dad passed away I am lost. This is the first time I have shared this I thank you to whoever took the time to read it and thank you for allowing me to get it out. I apologize for the novel lol I wish you all healing and comfort. As my father used to say “God Bless”

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    • Sarah  August 15, 2021 at 4:54 am Reply

      Dominic, I read you’re story and I cried everything you wrote you told my story. This is my number text me if you need to talk anytime. Your not alone. I’m so so sorry for your father’s passing. Email me and I’ll send my cell [PERSONAL CONTACT INFORMATION REMOVED]

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    • Joe  August 19, 2021 at 12:47 pm Reply

      Well, how shall I start this… Hi, my name is Joe and I lost my father 3 years ago who was also my best friend. I took care of him in his final years when he suffered a stroke at 85. Thank God he could still talk clearly but it affected his left side and was unable to walk. This was very hard on him since my father LOVED life, was very independent and very active. He was very proud, hard worker with the kind of strict military discipline where he always woke up at the same hour every morning at 5am.. I still remember his whistling while making coffee in the mornings before taking me to school. But he was also friendly and sociable with neighbors and his customers in his shop. He also had mischievous personality where he liked to play gags on his friends and family. I miss him…
      Yeah it’s been a min and the grief is not as bad as it once was but it’s still there and I still find myself crying some mornings when I awake.
      Sometimes I feel ashamed for doing so because he was already old and sick when he passed and I should be happy that he isn’t suffering anymore and that he’s in a better place now..at least that’s what I’ve been told. A part of me believes it but another part of me wishes he was still here. Maybe I’m just being selfish by not wanting to let go. I dunno..
      I’ve never believed in the “afterlife” but I’ve had several dreams right after his death where I see him a little angry and sad.. he looks at me and tells me that he’s not gone, that he loves me and hears me and that he knows what I’m going through but that I need to BUCK UP and move on with my life…that my behavior is not helping me or him.. I woke up feeling a little happy that maybe he isn’t completely gone but in the same time feeling guilty and sad that I’ve been selfishly crying and unintentionally hurting him.
      So I tried to stop grieving by going back to work, spending more time with my mom, and getting back to my hobbies. But when I see or hear a song that reminds me of him, boom, i’m back in that sad state where I have to cry for a long minute, before I can continue on doing what I was doing.
      About a month ago had my final dream of him where he was happy and at the airport waiting for his flight while I was outside at ground level.. he was waving at me from inside through a glass window from a distance and that made me cry harder when I woke up. I guess he’s finally moving on..or that subconsciously letting him go *sigh*

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      • Stephen williams  March 22, 2022 at 7:07 pm

        Joe sorry for you loss , I know what you mean about hearing a song or something that reminds you of your dad , it’s the same with me with my mother I’ve had pain everywhere headache, all over body pains IBS I’ve gotten into habits like throat clearing which is gone now , it’s fear of the future, and why your so sad is it’s the same as me you had a great up bringing and great times with your mother and father , I do think sometimes that I should move on but as with you it’s so hard , because of the joy they brought into or lives yes we miss the old buggers dearly with our hearts , just think of it like this if we didn’t care so much as a lot do , we wouldn’t be on here now god bless take care yourself and your mother

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      • connie gravelle mono  July 29, 2023 at 7:50 am

        I lost my husband to cancer in 2018.
        I cannot stop crying for him.
        I loved him more than anyone else in this whole world.
        We were together for 43 years.
        There is not minute That goes by that I am not thinking about the love we had for each other.
        No one in my entire life ever loved me the way he did.
        He was the sweetest, kindest and living pets in I ever knew.
        We had no children.
        He was my everything in life.
        Everything I was able to do was because if his love for me.
        I was so happy with him.

        When he was 34 he came down with Bone cancer. He was given radiation and they were able to save his life.
        Then at age 63, the cancer came back again, but this time it was in his Esophagus, his Stomach and his Pancreas.
        Stage 4.

        I was,devastated .
        I watched the fear in his eyes
        and the emotional heartache he was going through.
        HE was operated on , his entire stomach was removed, then part of his esophagus and part of his, pancreas.

        It was,heartbreaking for him to go through this again. Only this time , it was only a matter of time before he would die.

        But I could not accept that I would ever lose him.
        Not once did my mind believe that.
        But , he had a seizure,6 maths after his operation , his blood sugar was extremely low I called an ambulance to take him to the hospital , thru discovered cancer in his liver. he died 3 days,later
        I was devastated and felt like I was no longer in my own body .
        I felt so strange and frightened.

        It felt like a,dream and I was,going to wake up and he would be home with me again.

        Then the day of the church service for him, I kept saying to myself, this is your husbands funeral, not some one else’s .
        I just could not accept HE was gone from me. I just could not.
        Since the day he died, the last moments with him play on my mind. The moment I realized he had,died , I cannot explain the horror I felt.

        I know I need help, but all those psychiatrists and psychologists, unless they lived with my husband , experienced
        our life together will never be able to understand the heartache I feel 5 years later .
        He told me the week before he died, that he fell in love with me the first time he saw me and that I was the best thing that ever happened to him.

        I think if those words all the time and cry.

        We needed each other and loved each other so much, now I no longer can hold him or kiss him and tell him I love him. I can no longer touch his beautiful face that have me so much joy.

        I often think about taking my life. I believe only thing that stops me is that I do not know if there is life after,death. If I killed myself and I will never be with him again, my deAth would be for nothing

        I do know one thing, and I not crazy, sometimes I hear,my name bring called.
        It does not scare me because I am hoping it is my husband calling me
        Right now as I am writing everything about my husband and our life together, I am crying
        My tears never go away.

    • Owen  June 11, 2022 at 2:44 pm Reply

      Lots of love to you brother, I am dealing with great sorrow.My mum left us last may 2021 suddenly,she was only 67 years old. We are very religious (Catholic) but I have lost my faith.my mum would end her calls with ‘God bless’ too.

  24. Michelle  July 21, 2021 at 8:40 pm Reply

    Hello Everyone,

    My partner/common law husband passed away suddenly September 26, 2020. We were together just shy of twenty years. He was in a crappy Rehab and was not being cared for properly but because of the Covid restrictions, I wasn’t allowed to visit him the last three weeks of his life and he died alone.
    I carry intense guilt over this, among other things. I cried a lot when I was FINALLY allowed to see him after he was already gone, but other than a few rare instances, I just didn’t cry. I’m not saying I didn’t and don’t miss him. I just mean, I’ve spent most of the times since he passed away, just feeling numb and empty, like I’m hollow on the inside now. I threw myself into keeping super busy, online classes, in person classes, seminars, going through some of his stuff, etc. Anything to NOT think about what I have lost. He was my partner, my companion, my support system, and my true soul mate. We were also co workers. We were both truckers and we teamed up the last three years before he could no longer qualify to drive because if his health. We were always on the move, never staying in one place long enough to make friends, let alone maintain any friendships, so we were each other’s best friend. He was everything to me!
    I find that I am not grieving his death like I feel I should. I have all these unanswered questions that just circle around and around in my head. Now recently I find myself just going crazy shopping. Some stuff I could use, but I really don’t need it right away, & other stuff I’ve bought I don’t even need and some of it I may never even use. I’m not a dumb woman, and I’m really not materialistic. I know this cheap junk isn’t going to take his place or stop him from being gone. I just can’t seem to stop spending money for meaningless crap. I think I am suffering from Complicated Grief and don’t know how to handle it. I honestly have no support, no real friends to call on and family is too busy with their own lives to see how I’m doing. I’m really stuck!

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    • mike coverdell  August 16, 2021 at 9:24 pm Reply

      i been thru alot lost everyone i love married 32 years,talkin about i to smeone that ffeels the same helps facebook me or email

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    • Maria Aceves  September 27, 2021 at 4:23 am Reply

      Damn i lost my mom December 2019 !!! I been spending money eating out and just buying stuff i don’t need!!! It’s crazy i think it’s what keeps me busy busy idk . I also have a daughter so we shop together and keep our selfs busy and stuff to. But the shopping needs to stop it’s just stuff we don’t need idk what the heck.

  25. Larry G Soupis  July 18, 2021 at 9:28 am Reply

    I lost my Son July 4th, 2021,
    He was 17 years old, was planning to graduate by end of summer to make up one credit.
    The last year of Covid had really done a number on a lot of people. Here in Michigan we were locked down not able to get around or see each other the way we like. I work in healthcare so i was pretty much non existence in the home due to shortages at work.
    We noticed my son was acting depressed and would seem to get extremely angry over little issues.
    Then he made a treat one day after the schools had opened back up. That he wanted to kill himself.
    As parents that is the last thing you ever want to hear your child say.
    We took him to the hospital he ended up being admitted for 7 days. Got out of the place and my child went from a decent normal kid. To a mouthing off, disrespectful, just rude person.
    So of course we followed up with counseling 2 times a week therapist on zoom every other week.
    A couple months go by things are looking better the school work is getting done he is back to riding his dirt bike and talking with me again when he has an issue or bored. LoL
    On a Friday we heard from him his girlfriend of 2 years “his first” had kissed another teen.
    She was out with a friend camping a ways away. So them to were texting back and forth. She thought she would be home a day earlier but couldn’t.
    My son thought she was lying. I don’t know their whole conversation. But my wife received a message from his girl friend to check on him.
    He has a spot in the barn out back where the dirt bikes are kept and he hangs out with his friends back there.
    When i checked on him that day. My whole life was destroyed over jealous, and deppression.
    My wife and I have no idea how to coop. It have only been a few weeks. But I feel like I try to stay busy but then i feel guilty because my son is gone. Why should i enjoy anything.
    My wife is worse than me. I have got her to leave the house 1 time. And it took all day. We both work full time. But I don’t even care to go back. But i know i have to soon.
    I just don’t know how to feel or act. How long does this feeling go on for?
    Anyway. It did feel good to say that out loud.

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  26. Marva  May 31, 2021 at 9:37 am Reply

    My husband pass away May 2, 2020 and I’m still crying. I miss him so much. Although I know he with the Lord, I still miss his physical presence. I know he no longer in pain from the cancer. I believe he been made whole again. He was the glue that held our family together. He was an awesome person. He loved people and people loved him. He prayed and minister to many. He was a blessing to many. He helped whoever he could. He would stop and help people with car problem on side of the road. He would give money to people in need. He loved his church ministry. He would do anything to help, built, repair, clean. He was a pillar in the church and the community. He was assistant Pastor, title met nothing to him. He just wanted to live and please God. He was an awesome & amazing husband, Father, Grandfather, brother, Uncle, and family and friend to all. I feel so lonely without him. I have difficulty functioning without him. I am heartbroken, lonely, loss without him. Everyday I pray to God to help me get through this process. I don’t want to offend God by grieving so long. I don’t know how not to feel the pain. I pray, read my Bible and worship. Lord knows I’m trying. I faced with so many changes in my life. Praying for God to bring healing. Prayers up for everyone who have loss someone.🙏🏾🙏🏾

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  27. Cecilia Deleon  April 25, 2021 at 2:29 am Reply

    My grandpa passed away on March 7, 2021😢 I’m so heartbroken 💔 I can’t seem to overcome it. I cry everyday it was unexpected I wish I could’ve known I was going to lose him I wish I could’ve hugged him one last time hold his hand one last time and told him I loved him one last time. Ever since covid started he was so scared of the virus. He would just give us a fist 👊 pump he didn’t die of covid it was a stroke. I miss my grandpa so much we had a lot of memories with him he was the best grandpa I could’ve had. It’s not getting easier as the days go by it’s harder. I try to act like if I’m ok but deep down it hurts it hurts a lot. When I’m alone I break down 💔. I love you grandpa I love you and miss you so much 😢💔 I’m proud of being your granddaughter.

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    • Serenity  May 24, 2021 at 2:03 pm Reply

      I’m so sorry for your loss. My Grandma passed away too and I am miserable on the inside. Thank you for making me feel understood so I am not in grief alone.

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    • Kathryn  July 13, 2021 at 2:14 pm Reply

      Lost my father 4/21/21! He originally beat cancer (was HELL) to end up getting another type that killed him. I was his caregiver for 2.5 years! I was with him 24/7! I cry every single day 5/6 time’s a day! I miss him SOOO much and I know I always will I just wish I could get over this
      Crying nonstop feeling! I’m literally stuck in this stage of grieving and it’s terrible! I miss and love you soo much dad!

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      • Wendy  July 15, 2021 at 6:12 am

        Hi, I am the same, same story and 22nd April 2021 I lost my mum to cancer, she beat it once and was completely clear, 8 yrs later she was diagnosed with metastatic cancer and was gone within 4 months. My dad was my mums care giver but I went round 2 days a week to help. I cry everyday, have done since diagnosis in December, I don’t know how you get past it either, sending hugs!

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    • Danaé  December 2, 2021 at 1:49 am Reply

      My grandma passed away on April 26 2019. I’m still really heartbroken because I never got to say goodbye and tell her how much I loved her and she meant to me 💔 She lived in a different country so not seeing her everyday was normal to me and it didn’t affect me that much in that way. She was sick but she had got better and the last time I saw her was on April 22-23 my aunt FaceTimed my mom and she was in her bed eating a jelly and I was happy she had got better 🥺 my birthday is on April 21st so I was waiting for her to congratulate me 🥲 but my little brother at that time was a baby and he was being loud so she started calling his name and calling him cute etc… and I was jealous 😪 so I got mad and when she spoke to me I was cold towards her. And oh gosh how much I regret that. I’ll regret it for the rest of my life, because that was our last interaction 💔😕💔 The first time she appeared in my dreams after her passing, looking out of the window of a bus and waving me goodbye, I was crying and the bus left ;( then I had a dream of her visiting me and handing me a secret message that said ‘talk to me’ but I didn’t get to answer and I jumped awake. I also had a dream of visiting her in her house, she made me food, and I hugged her and cried. I have a CD of videos of me when I was a toddler and I cry when I watch them because It makes me miss her so much. She was the only person that sided with me all the time, even if my mom would yell at her for doing so. I also miss when she hugged me and told me “I love you so much, dream of the angels”+ kiss on my cheek before going to bed.

      Sorry for low key venting 🥲

  28. Joanne  April 22, 2021 at 5:45 pm Reply

    I am so very sorry for the loss of your Dear Mom, we only get 1 Mother and being so close to her as you appeared to be and I was with my mom makes it especially hard to lose them.
    I cared for my Mom the last 10 yrs of her life and was with her every day.
    I miss her even 10 yrs later so your grief just a few months later is totally normal and expected, please try and not pounder the times you were upset with her for whatever reason, same here lost my patience with my Mom sometimes and had regrets but I knew that she knew how very much I loved her as I showed it daily, same with you I am certain. Please take care and time will heal your broken heart but you will 4 4ver miss her.
    P.S. My son, Marc 40 yrs old passed away from a heart attack last June I cry every day and feel empty inside Praying for Peace
    Take care
    Joanne

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  29. Arlene Engels  April 14, 2021 at 10:41 pm Reply

    My daughter took her life two times. The first time the guy she was with was handicapped. He used this to get her empathy and eventually took her friends. Isolated her. Then he abused her. Almost a year into it he told her to “kill herself, die. The world would be better off. They were all waiting” he said. That and so much more. So on March 7th 2019 she hung herself. Her dad barely saved her. When she came home she enjoyed the next 11 months and 14 days on and off. Her next boyfriend knew about her suicide attempt. But it didn’t stop him from playing head games, destroying property and abusing her. After eight months of pure drama and eventually two girls letting her know he cheated with one of them, she took her life again. 2/21/20. She was 18 years 5 months and 22 days. Suicide is difficult to process. I understood she had mental health issues. She was smart, beautiful and had it all pretty much. We both understood she had issues and she hid a lot of her pain and depression from friends. She was too smart for the therapist around here and had a strong personality. My daughter was my best friend, the love of my life and my only child. I was that mom. The one that got up in the morning to make breakfast. The one that got up at mid night to make grill cheese sandwiches for her and her friends. I see her, I see me. For anyone who has lost a child, you lose a part of you. I’m trying to find the parts still here that I can work with. I hope you do too.

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    • Joanne Berens  June 27, 2021 at 9:10 pm Reply

      I lost my only child my son Marc Anthony on June 22nd 2020 to heart attack, my heart goes out to you losing your only child, your daughter, it is truly the worst pain in the world Hugs from 1 Mom to another who has lost the love of their lives 🙁 my sincere condolences

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    • Shitiki Griffin  June 30, 2021 at 6:00 pm Reply

      My husband died this year may 18,2021 we were together for 23 years he had heart failure I miss him so much he died in front of me every day I am crying my he comes in my dreams I just wish he would give me a sign every day one night he kiss me on my lips and it felt good .I can’t believe my best friend, my world is gone it feels like I am dead inside

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  30. Abbie  April 6, 2021 at 1:38 pm Reply

    My Nan passed away 7 years ago this year. I honestly never knew the impact she had on my life until now. I feel like it’s harder coping in daily life without her now because I understand it all more as I was only around 10/11 and so much things are changing I wish I could tell her. I don’t know how I am supposed to ask for help because this happened years ago and I feel kinda stupid for only being really upset now but it’s really affecting me. Does anyone know any tips please because I don’t know how to do that

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    • I  June 13, 2021 at 6:43 pm Reply

      I lost my daughter April 11 2021. She was only 47 yrs old. First of all she wasn’t suppose to go before me. Ever since the day she left its been a total nightmare. I can’t sleep/my appetite has gone down. I am angry at everyone. I can’t go places where we went I just start crying. In fact I cry all the time. Now I get short of breath alot.I am down right miserable. I sure hope I get better. I just need to get out of this place. I feel like I’m going totally insane. My daughter and I were very close it was just the 2 of us. I have no close relatives nearby. They are all out of state. I am totally lost..

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      • Joanne Berens  June 27, 2021 at 9:13 pm

        I am so very sorry for your great loss, I lost my son on June 22nd 2020 AND I am still crying every day, losing our children is the worst pain in the world, my sincere condolenses 🙁 Hugs
        Joanne

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      • Michelle  August 6, 2021 at 11:21 pm

        Only 47, that is so sad and I’m so sorry for your loss. I bet it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning… I’ve lost a lot of people in the last few years and want to suggest on thing that may get you out at least in public. Pilates at the local recreation center (reformer Pilates) it’s not hard breathing but gets your muscles moving. Cry, cry, cry, yell, scream, and rejoice that you had her as long as you did. But, please take care of your heart while it’s so sad.

      • Debbie  February 22, 2022 at 6:12 am

        I am so sorry for your loss.
        I lost my beloved daughter on 22nd January 22. It’s a month today that she died in terrible pain from the cancer that had consumed her. I can’t bear this pain, but i want to feel the pain she felt, as if I could share her suffering.
        The overwhelming grief I’m feeling, the guilt at not being able to help her or do more for her, the absolute agony of missing her has not subsided one bit.
        I know everyone says it’s too soon to start to heal, but i honestly believe I will never be able to come to terms with losing my beautiful girl. She had just had her 48th birthday the week before she died.
        She had so much hope…. But so much pain. She was the bravest person I’ve ever known and i just love her so much.

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  31. Maxine  March 31, 2021 at 11:38 am Reply

    My Mom passed away January 21 and I can’t get anything back together right. We lived together, were together 24/7. Now I don’t know what to do. My son who also lives with me thinks I should be getting past this point but I can’t. She had pneumonia at Christmas 2020 and 10 years ago has a portion of her lung removed but thinkgs got better from then. She was the type that NEVER went to the doctor until it was too late.

    We started doing bucket list things, when she was in the hospital bed at home she would watch tv and say we should go there. When she finally got over that we did many of those things. I will treasure those moments forever. When she went to the hospital she had sepsis the infection was throughout her bloodstream and her organs were shuting down. They could not keep her blood pressure up. After a week in ICU they sent her home with me and hospice. She lasted one week after that. I know she gave up. I tried CPR even though she was listed DNR and wouldn’t have wanted that but I had to do something. My son said she isn’t breathing right and then she was gone, we were both with her and for that I am thankful but I hate that I was put in the position to be firm with her as she would climb out of the bed and fall and hurt herself, once she had made it to the coffee pot in the kitchen from the bedroom. She climbed over the bed rails. I don’t know how she did it but she did. And I fussed at her for sneaking out of the bed Lord if I could take that back I would, but I know I can’t. Did that push her over the edge of not wanting to stay, I’ll never know
    I don’t want to do anything now but the first couple of days I cleaned as I needed to do something, anything but now I just don’t care. My TV hasn’t been on and it used to stay on 24 hours a day, I still so thing to make extra money on the internet but just barely. We have no other family it;s just me and my son now and I told him to switch everything over into his name so there won’t be any problems when I go even though he is the only one anything would go to. If it weren’t for him I wouldn’t be here now, I’m not saying I am suicidal or anything but I know I wouldn’t be here, I don’t want to be here but I don’t want to drag him down with me, it’s hard enough as it is.
    I’ve always heard life sucks, then you die. True I guess but for the ones that are left it sucks even worse

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    • Gary Feller  April 4, 2021 at 3:36 am Reply

      I lost my darling mum nearly 4 years ago
      and I am in such deep grief and sorrow over her passing that I breakdown and cry most days.We were very very close and I just cannot come to terms with it
      What was is so traumatic for me is how she deteriorated in health over the last year’s.The pain of seeing her like this and my inability to stop this is intolerable. Sometimes I think about ending my life because it is intolerable.My brother and his family cut me off completely even before my darling left and left me alone to take of her and to suffer the grief on my own I am lonely and suffer terrible anxiety and depression my friends don’t ring me until I ring them.I go to a psychologist but it is when I an own that I suffer the most.One has to suffer the loss of a loved one to really understand the horror.

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      • Cat  April 20, 2021 at 2:50 pm

        Hi, I read your story and can feel your pain. My daddy passed away in November 2020. He was diagnosed with stage 3, possibly 4, in September 2020. About 1 month after being diagnosed he became a different person, much like a person with dementia or Alzheimer’s. He passed away 2 weeks after the sudden behavior change. The doctors said with treatment we had a few years, we did not. My entire life, until September 2020 my dad was super active, never sick and was on the go constantly. He was my buddy. We did everything together. I had only 6 weeks from diagnosis to death. It all happened so quickly. I took care of my dad through this. My oldest daughter would help because my siblings were not really willing to like I was. I had always been there for him, through knee replacements etc. My siblings have since abandoned me, for no reason. I haven’t spoken to several of them since November. They’ve blocked me. They’ve abandoned me at a time when I needed support the most. I have a husband and children and yet I feel very alone. Everything I do reminds me of him. I cry daily. I scream when I’m alone. I’ve been left to handle everything alone. I pray when I feel I cannot go on. I do see a counselor. Somedays, however, it doesn’t seem like enough. I just want my dad back. It happened too fast. There were no talks or goodbyes. Once it suddenly spread to his brain he didn’t have the capability of speaking. The day he passed he didn’t know anything. He could only answer 1 question the nurse had asked him. They asked a series of questions to no avail, they asked his daughters name, he said my name, but knew nothing else. That is how close we were. The nurse called me that day to let me know because she saw me at the hospital with him day in and day out. I never liked my daddy to be alone. I was with him all of the time for fear that he felt lonely. Now, I realize I wasn’t necessarily doing him a favor, he was doing me a favor. He helped me not feel alone daily. Our talks, our prayers, our dinner and shopping dates. He was my best friend. I was his first born. He was the best daddy and grandfather anyone couldv’e asked for. My faith teaches me that I will see him again. This is what gets me through. Knowing he is with his mama, who he would cry for. I will see my daddy again. Does it suck that it will not be here on Earth, yes. But I dream about him, I smile through the tears when I am reminded of him. Life is precious, life is hard and life is disappointing sometimes and it sure isn’t fair. But I know my daddy would want me happy. He would want me to smile and live life to the fullest, like he did daily. He would be so very sad to know I was so very sad and felt like smiling was too hard some days. So, with that, know you are not alone. I’ve never lost anyone I was close to before my dad. I am young. I am in my 30’s, and I am now fatherless. You are not alone. We hear you. Smile. Your mother would want you to.

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      • Joanne Berens  April 22, 2021 at 5:57 pm

        so very sorry for your tremendous loss 🙁 Moms are our world , our best friends and our loves for life, I felt the same when my Mom passed 10 yrs ago she also suffered so much and I was her caretaker thorughtout it is so heartbreaking to see them like that, sending you hugs and prayers..take care xo
        Joanne

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  32. Tanya  March 29, 2021 at 6:39 pm Reply

    I’m SOO very Sorry for your loss..I lost my daughter in law 6 months and the pain is soo UNBEARABLE..all I do is cry and think of her..God bless u😪

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  33. Shirley Hall  March 25, 2021 at 11:51 pm Reply

    My 23 yr old grandson shot and killed himself in my house. He showed no signs of depression. So we do not understand. Sometimes the pain is so great I just wish my heart would stop so the pain would stop.

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  34. Masako Williams  March 18, 2021 at 11:35 am Reply

    I lost my husband of 50 years a month ago of a stroke. He had been on the controversial blood thinner Eliquis for 6 years. Before the stroke, his blood pressure had already high, hitting sometimes 200, and very volatile. Despite of my expressed concern, his BP medication was kept to minimum, same dosage as 6 years ago. My husband underplayed his symptoms. Only 4 days after my desperate warning to him and his doctor, he suffered a massive stroke, outdoors. My grief was compounded by the anger and powerlessness. We did not have children, just each other. I have absolutely alone now. At my age, I will die still in deep grief. I no longer have will to live.

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    • Joanne Berens  April 22, 2021 at 6:15 pm Reply

      so very sorry for the loss of your precious husband , wishing you Peace my sincere condolences as well, take care
      Joanne

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    • Susan Condon  April 27, 2021 at 9:46 am Reply

      I can totally relate – my husband also died from a massive stroke this past January – we had been married 56 years and I am devastated. I can’t imagine living the rest of my life without him.

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  35. JESS  March 17, 2021 at 1:51 pm Reply

    I LOST MY AT THE AGE OF 31. SHE WAS ONLY 60 YO. I FEEL LIKE SINCE THIS PANDEMIC STARTED THE DRS ARE BEING MORE CARELESS AND WANTING TO BLAME EVERYTHING ON COVID. I HAVE 2 YOUNG GIRLS, A HUSBAND, AND A BROTHER TO FEND FOR. I FEEL LOST. I WAKE UP THROW MYSELF TOGETHER N GO TO WORK TO KEEP A ROOF OVER OUR HEADS. I GET SCARED FOR MY BROTHER BECUZ HES NOT USED TO LIVING WITHOUT HER. HES LIVED WITH HER HIS WHOLE LIFE. I FEEL LIKE IM NOT BEING THE BEST PERSON I CAN BE FOR MY MOM. I CAN HEAR MY MOM TELL ME FIGHT OR FLIGHT JESSY! YOU BETTER FIGHT! WELL I’M FIGHTING AND ITS HARD! I’VE HAD A LOT OF LOSS IN LIFE BUT THIS IS BY FAR THE HARDEST ONE. I MISS HER SO MUCH. HER SMELL, HER TOUCH, HER VOICE… I CAN STILL HEAR HER WALKING INTO MY HOUSE SCREAMING MY NAME TO WAKE UP. I MISS HER LIKE CRAZY. IT FEELS LIKE WAIVES ALMOST. ONE MOMENT IM FINE THE NEXT IM IN TEARS. I FEEL WRONG FOR TRYING TO HAVE A GOOD TIME DOING ANYTHING. I SHOULD HAVE DONE MORE. I WISH I WAS AT THE HOSPITAL WITH HER. SHE KNEW I WOULD HAVE TOLD HER TO GET BACK IN BED AND NOT GO THERE. THEY KILLED MY MOM, A GRANDMOTHER OF 2 YOUNG GIRLS UNDER THE AGE OF 9. WHAT NOW?

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    • Joanne Berens  April 22, 2021 at 6:13 pm Reply

      I am so very sorry for the tremedous loss of you dear Mother, she was to young to die, I can see how much you love and miss her. sending you condolences and wish you Peace in time, please take care
      Joanne

  36. Tina  March 3, 2021 at 6:55 pm Reply

    My mother died August 11th 2020. 4 years before she had broken her leg and my father and I, a retired nurse, became her main caregivers. She steadily declined over those four years, so much so, that I came to live with them without my husband as I felt as both my parents medical representative. I didn’t know she was dying. From the broken leg, came weakness even with PT and then chair bound, Incontinence of bowel and bladder. She was still very alive, spunky as always. The last few months of her life were so strange. She just started sleeping a lot, became confused, not knowing my name or my fathers sometimes and sometimes angry when we didn’t get her what she wanted. Her last doctors visit her Dr. looked at me while listening to her lungs, shook her head no and began to tell me, my dad, my sister and my mom who was alert that day that she was putting her on hospice. My mother’s last words came that day and they were,”I love y’all.” Of course I didn’t know at the time they were her last words or the day she’d give up fighting but they were. About a month later she was doing bad one night and my dad said she could live like this for awhile. I wanted to believe that and that she could recover but that was not the case. The next morning he woke me at 5am and said,”I don’t think she’ll make it though the day!” He was right. I knelt in the floor next to her, my dad on the other side. He told me not to call anyone else. She did have an in home appointment with the nurse. The nurse made it around 10:00am and said, I think this is it.” I was the only person that gave her the morphine that hospice prescribed and in her last 30 mins in this world I gave it to her once more. I watched as she took her last breath just 25 mins later and blame myself for that last dose of morphine. I feel like I euthanized my mom. After, the phone calls to my sisters and my kids I called the funeral home and 911. The house was full of people but I just laid by my dead mother and cried. Her arm was so cold and I said, if you want me to come with you I will.” In that moment I was serious. As they removed her from her recliner using a hoyer lift her body was bent in half, tongue hanging Galway out of her mouth. They placed her in the hospital bed after flipping her body around like she was nothing to clean her and change her gown. Again, I laid by my dead mother. Finally, the funeral home came to take her, again I watched as they pulled a sheet over her face and wrapped her head tightly all the while I was hysterical, my cousin holding me and my arms back as I reached for her not to be taken away. One kind gentleman from the funeral home pull back the sheet from her wrapped head and ask my cousin to let me go so I could give her one more kiss goodbye. Still I have no recollection of how many people were here or what they were doing. Those images of my father’s grief, my mom last breath, her bent in half, her tongue hanging from her mouth, the sheet over her face, her being wrapped up and taken away, well they haunt me.
    I’m still angry with my sisters, even my dad to a point for depending on me for everything. I gathered all my strength left to go to the funeral home. We are Catholic and have a family tomb but I had to pick out her casket, I had to choose the pieta’s for the four corners of that casket, choose the flowers, shop
    And purchase the gown she asked to be laid out it like her mother before her, she was loosing her hair so I also had to go fine a wig that looked as close as possible to the picture that would be shown placed next to her at Mass., not one person helped. It took until the 20th of the month to have her service. Once it was over I, still overwhelmed, hurt, literally physical pain for weeks. My doctor said it was broken heart syndrome? Idk. All I know is I’ve been in bed ever since. I’m not interested in anything, don’t want to leave the house, shower, eat, or any normal things people do. I am still heartbroken and I don’t know how to get past it. All of the, she’s in a better place and you did the right thing making her comfortable doesn’t make me feel any better. What can I do? It feels hopeless, my body not as strong as before because I don’t get out of bed. I really just don’t know what to do?

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    • Joanne Berens  April 22, 2021 at 6:50 pm Reply

      Tina I am so very sorry for the loss and your pain since lsing your dear Mother nt even a year ago, my heart goes out to you, I was in a similair situation wiht my poor Mom and ws the ONLY 1 who helped her so I have resentment for other family members who did not help in my Moms last days. My heart goes out to you xo
      My poor son Marc passed away last June 22nd of a heart attack during his sleep @ just 39 yrs old, terrible pain daily with losing my Mom and now my only baby has pushed me over the edge, I don’t want to do anything anymore and sometimes wish I could just be with them but I don’t want to hurt my husband, anyway please take care of yourself, greiving in the 1st and even 2nd or more yrs is inevitable when we lose ppl so dear to us..Hugs
      Joanne

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  37. Elena  February 22, 2021 at 6:36 pm Reply

    My brother died in December just gone, it was devastating. He was only 26 and suffered with muscular dystrophy. He outlived what we were first told, but it’s still hard. I don’t have any other siblings or much family. It scares me to think about what I will do when there gone. My parents are devastated, us three cared for him everyday as he was wheelchair bound. He was everything to us and we did everything for him. I wish I could hold him and hear him laugh, see his bright ginger hair, but I can’t. I graduate uni this year and he was so proud of me, he won’t be there to celebrate when I graduate even though his seen complete most of my degree. It’s hard, I’m lost the times I would be caring for him is filled with emptiness and sadness. None of my friends understand the loss of a sibling, it hurts so much, I’m crying as a type this. He wasn’t one to say much but when he did it was something funny, I hope I’m making him proud. He as never fazed by life and now the kindest person I know is gone. I try to take day by day but it’s easier said then done. What’s hardest is looking at my parents and seeing that me being here isn’t enough, they will always be empty as will I. I keep wishing for him back, but it’s never going to happen. Life is cruel and takes the best first I’ve learnt that.

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  38. Nicole Hutto  February 10, 2021 at 12:10 am Reply

    Hello,
    Having a very hard time. My dad passed away November 29th of this year. My mom and dad were married for 55 years. My mom after just 5 weeks took a day trip to the mountains with her male friend who is 11 years younger. (73 and 62) They spend alot of time together. My sister and I were told today by my 92 year old grandmother, that my mother is in fact dating him; just as it looks. We are torn…We’ve not even been able to grieve the loss of my dad properly, due to the lack of care, in her decisions. We feel like this is a nightmare that we can’t wake from. She has always been very close to my sister, so my sister feels more betrayal than I do. She feels as though she has lost our mom. She doesn’t want to do anything with, just us. She wants us to be friends with him, and that’s not happening. She refuses to give us any time to grieve. This is taking a toll on us…

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    • Isabelle Siegel  February 10, 2021 at 11:51 am Reply

      Nicole, I’m so sorry to hear that you and your sister are going through this. It’s okay to feel hurt by your mother’s decision to date. That being said, it’s also okay for your mother to make that choice for herself. Have you tried communicating with your mom about how her behaviors are affecting you and your sister? I also want you to know that you deserve the time and space to grieve. You also have the right to choose not to engage with your mother’s new partner. All the best to you.

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  39. Tonya Phillips  January 6, 2021 at 8:11 pm Reply

    My step daughter that is 15 lost her mother 6 months ago she was 36 and passed with cancer. My husband also has a son with her that is 17 he has not seen him in 6 1/2 years there mother was not a so called nice person she brained washed the kids when it came to there father but his daughter still keep a relationship with him to a point she wouldn’t come for awhile then she would start coming to stay again. There mother has took my husband to court over 50 times in the past 17 years for anything from he is on drugs ( had a hair test done came back clean ) to be was abusing them u name it she said it. She also has called children and families on his at least 30 times. He daughter lasesh out she hates us she don’t want to be here she is not happy. She told my husband he has lost 2 kids now. She tells our 8 year old son she hates him and he is not her brother that she does not claim him. She will say I wish I was dead just like My mom.
    My husband is heart broken we don’t know what to do she refuses to go talk to someone. What she we do? How can we help her?

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    • IsabelleS  January 7, 2021 at 10:39 am Reply

      Tonya, I’m sorry to hear that you’re going through this. It sounds as though your stepdaughter is struggling immensely… Her desire to have died with her mother shows that. As difficult as it may be, try not to personalize/blame yourself for her lashing out at you. Perhaps your husband could speak to her about seeing a therapist trained in grief and bereavement, which you can find here: https://complicatedgrief.columbia.edu/for-the-public/find-a-therapist/. It seems like she needs some help processing her emotions. All the best.

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  40. Andy  November 15, 2020 at 5:19 pm Reply

    My wife died on the 15th March ahead 53 of Covid-19. I feel I’ve been caged ever since and not 10 minutes goes by without my heart aching. We were together 33 years and I’m not sure I want to move on, times are awful, I’ve even looked into legal ways of ending it overseas. 8 months on, still hurting so much. Not sure I will ever get over this.

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    • IsabelleS  November 16, 2020 at 11:06 am Reply

      Andy, I am so very sorry for your loss. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain you are going through. The hopelessness you are experiencing is normal and okay. You’re right… Things may never get better, but they will get easier with time. If you are thinking of hurting yourself, or even if you just need someone to talk with, please call the National Suicide Helpline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit their website where you can do a live online chat https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ Please be gentle with yourself.

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    • Lauren  November 29, 2020 at 5:13 pm Reply

      Hi Andy,

      I wanted to say how sorry I am that you lost your beloved wife. I too lost my mum to the virus back in April and not a day goes by that I don’t cry. My mum passed whilst I was pregnant and my grief feels very complicated. I don’t have any answers I wish that I did. I just wanted to say that I’d read your message and I feel your pain in some form too. I really hope that you’re still here. Lx

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    • Chrissy  January 1, 2021 at 10:04 pm Reply

      My husband took his life 2.5 years ago. We were together 18 years. His family was awful to me afterward. They blamed me. I blamed me. I still blame me. I’m trying to move forward. I’m dating. I’m doing the things I should be doing, yet I want to crawl into a cave and shut the world out and be alone, Be strong. Collapse. Cry. Change things. Shake him and ask WTF? By why now? Why a few years later?

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      • IsabelleS  January 4, 2021 at 1:31 pm

        Chrissy, I’m so sorry for your loss. Please know that it’s normal and okay for you to have both good and bad days. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to move forward. I highly recommend you check out this article: https://whatsyourgrief.com/grief-recovery-is-not-a-thing/ All the best to you.

    • Robert Chapman  January 26, 2021 at 5:33 am Reply

      Hello Andy
      Your message post powerful.
      Like you I lost my wife to covid so suddenly after 33 years together. I cry every day and I know I will never embark on any new relationship. I buried her in the local Cemetery and visit her every day.
      Once the pandemic is over I will travel extensively and do things that we wouldn’t have done together. I am going to try to do all those things I never had time to do or it wouldn’t have been fair to do as a couple. I will be watching football and travelling for as long as I can.
      I know my wife would have wanted me to do that.
      I hope you can put your negative thoughts behind you and move on. I know I will live with my sadness for the rest of my life but having an aim with my life will help alleviate it.

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    • Cal  February 5, 2021 at 9:32 pm Reply

      I had lost my mother 24 years ago, I still miss her. She too died from cancer and I thought I would never see another day again. But if you take it one step at a time, recall all the wonderful moments and memories it usually helps me. I am not a licensed professional therapist but I have been through a lot of pain, and what has helped me is to talk to a therapist and/ or to your higher power/God. He knows EXACTLY what you’re going through. Don’t give up your wife would like you to be happy. You can share with family and friends about the time when you first met and other beautiful memories like that, they are there to guide you through this rough patch. Take small steps. You can do this, no rush.

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  41. zoe2907  November 12, 2020 at 3:35 pm Reply

    my step mum passes away almost 5 years ago now, i was the one who held everyone together as much as possible and all these years later i have realised that i havent grieved myself. recently my anxiety, ocd, and frustration has gone through the roof. i have also ‘seen’ her a couple of times (within women that are of similar looking to her!) i know this is the reason im feeling bad and need to possibly have some therapy, but its hard to do that sometimes!

    today i started writing down how i feel and what triggers me.
    small steps!

    sending love to everyone who has shared their stories on here <3

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  42. Cassandra  October 14, 2020 at 5:06 pm Reply

    It’s men 7 yrs since the death of my husband I miss him so much life has not been the same since he died he was one in a million a man of Integrity Life sucks without him from a very rare cancer many times I wish the Lord would just take me home with him I cry most of the time . I really really miss him

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    • Tammie Carlisle  October 18, 2020 at 7:10 pm Reply

      Cassandra, I’m sorry you are feeling this intensely sad after 7 years. My husband died in March 2020 and I am feeling like I just don’t want to do life anymore. He had cancer and we had had a difficult marriage. We have two young adult children and I have to keep going for them. I truly do understand how you feel. Have you considered therapy? I’m in therapy and it helps to have someone to talk to. I hope you can find the support you need:)

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    • James  December 6, 2020 at 9:16 pm Reply

      Cassandra ,

      I am so sorry for your pain. Its been 7 years since I lost my marriage and every joy I had in my life. I have always given hard love to members of my family during tough times and now I am experiencing the pain. Its hard to move forward every day but I force myself. I find the small thing to keep me going. Try and find a reason to shower and move forward every day. I am not going to lie, I cry nearly every day for the life I lost, but I keep going. I hope one day my pain will stop and I pray the same for you.

      I can be there for others more than I can be for myself at times. I am now home recovering from Covid and pray for the symptoms to remain mild. I pray for your happiness and pain to go away.

      Kind regards,
      James

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    • Carole  January 16, 2022 at 6:44 pm Reply

      Dear Cassandra I know how you feel I lost my beloved husband 11 months ago it seems like yesterday, I listened to mediums on you tube and they all say there is an afterlife and our loved ones are happy and healthy. so many say the same thing it makes me feel that it is true, it helped me in my grief anyway. I hope that helps a little.

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  43. Katreena Muscrort-Fenton  October 12, 2020 at 7:00 pm Reply

    It’s been 2 months since I lost my Nanna. It feels just the same just a little bit harder. I miss her every single day. I cry out of no where for no reason and I know it’s because of her. I wish she was here. I need her here. I need her back. I feel lost without her.

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    • IsabelleS  October 14, 2020 at 12:46 pm Reply

      Katreena, I am so sorry for the loss of your Nanna and for the pain you are feeling right now. I want you to know that what you are experiencing–the random crying, the feeling lost, etc.–is all normal and completely valid. My heart goes out to you.

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  44. Alice Rayne  October 7, 2020 at 4:55 pm Reply

    I lost him seven years ago in the house we live in I Got Robbed two years ago they took my family pictures and my gifts he had got me over the years we were together, and I know who robbed me. after the things were taken I hardly get out or leave the house I miss him more and I have had no surport from any one over the years I was told you have to deal with it the best you know how, and the ones that robbed me live on my street. I now know how cold and heartless some people can be!

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  45. Cate  September 26, 2020 at 7:53 pm Reply

    My grandson died of an accidental od in March
    I can not stop crying. My lifr i
    Is all gone. I am not suicidal. I have cried for 7 months
    I am om meds for depressiom

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    • IsabelleS  September 27, 2020 at 9:11 am Reply

      Hi Cate, I am so sorry for the loss of your grandson and for this pain you are feeling. I know it may not feel like it, but these feelings are completely normal. I am glad you are getting help for the depression you are experiencing. If you feel like you need additional support, you can find a therapist trained in grief here: https://grief.com/grief-counselor-directory/. I hope this blog brings you some comfort.

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      • Erica  January 30, 2021 at 5:12 pm

        Sorry for everyone’s loss, I lost my dad 33 days ago and cannot function as I should he had been declining in health in rehab he contracted covid he was sent 3 hours away from where we live and were unable to be with him his last 4 months I get angry at times working in healthcare I give so much of myself to others when I couldnt be there for my own dont know if I will ever forgive me or be the same all I can do is care for others the way I would have hoped he was cared for which I honestly doubt and it hurts like hell.

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      • Isabelle Siegel  January 31, 2021 at 10:58 am

        Erica, I’m so sorry for your loss and for the pain you’re experiencing. I want to emphasize that there is no way you “should” be functioning… You’re grieving and it’s completely normal to struggle with things that used to seem easy. I can only imagine how difficult it was to not be with your father while he was sick. I hear that you feel guilty, but please know that this too is normal. I recommend you check out this article: https://whatsyourgrief.com/guilt-and-grief-2/ I can’t tell you not to feel guilty, but please try to forgive yourself: You did the best you could. You will get through this. All the best to you.

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  46. Tracy  August 28, 2020 at 7:00 pm Reply

    Its been a year and five months since my dad left, he didn’t just pass on out of the blue. He had cancer and it completely changed everything. For the first time in my life I saw my dad cry. He always put up a brave face and he always had a smile on his face until the day I saw him in tears and I understood that he was going through a lot. He completely stopped eating and he lost a lot of weight, he kept getting skinny by the day and it hurt to see my dad like that. He could no longer breathe on his own so he had to be taking to the hospital. I will never forget the last day I saw my dad, It was at 2am in the morning. Paramedics were taking his to the hospital, he was so weak, they couldn’t lift him and put him on the bed because they were hurting him. He was crying so they had to use blankets to carry him onto the bed. To see my dad like that completely broke my heart it completely broke me, I was only 18. doing my final year in school. My dad died alone in hospital, at 4.30 am in the morning and I can never forgive myself for that, I wasn’t there when he took his last breath.

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  47. KC  August 15, 2020 at 10:01 am Reply

    I lost my dad on Christmas Day, 2005. I lost my mom almost 7 years later. I’d like to say that I was a comfort to Mom and she to me when Dad passed away, but Mom had Alzheimer’s and it was a lucky and blessed day when she even remembered who I was. I was afraid to tell her that her loving husband of 60 plus years was gone for fear that would worsen her state of mind. They have been gone 15 and 8 years and while I miss them everyday, it’s sometimes days such as today that I cry uncontrollably. Mornings are the worst and I don’t know why. When I was a child they were good parents. When I grew up they were my best friends. I’m never suicidal, but some days I feel so bad that I just sleep all day. I miss them more than I’ll ever be able to say and talking to my siblings doesn’t help. One of them thinks I should be over them already and the other gets just as grief stricken as I do so our conversations turn into one bawling session and I get no help from that. It’s true that i have more better days than bad, but it is still a deep, gnawing, depression that’s just one thought away from rendering me useless to anyone and anything. I would give anything, and I mean Anything! just to have them back here. I’m sorry if that sounds selfish, but it’s the truth. Before they left this Earth, they made sure that I knew that they loved me. I hope they know that I loved them too. I still do and I always will.

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    • Alex  May 4, 2023 at 10:20 pm Reply

      I’m sorry for your loss I lost my mom to cancer on Christmas Day 2022. I’m not coping well I was already struggling with mental health issues before my mom passed. But now everything is worse I think about her everyday day I still can’t accept that she is gone I think I’m in denial is this normal? I told this to my brother and he just said well I don’t know about that you need to figure it out yourself I can’t relate that’s weird? Is it? I want to keep her things I just can’t give it away but again my siblings said that it’s just stuff it’s not her and we can’t keep it for ever. I still sleep with the sweater she last wore it still smelled like her for a couple months and her favorite bathrobe. I see my siblings and they don’t show their grief like me it makes me feel like I’m the problem. But I was the one that took care of her they didn’t my sister only started helping in her last months when she could we weren’t even on speaking terms before my mom’s cancer diagnosis I was very resentful about always being the one to take care of my mom even before her cancer she always suffered from bad health she had 13 surgeries and I always took care of her. They never helped and I resent them for it. Before my mom I also took care of one of my brothers I was 19 years old when he was struck by a train at the age of 15 he survived they said it was a miracle but he had several limbs amputated and other injuries it took months initially and then over five years of surgeries and physical therapy before he was remotely recovered and I dropped out of college to to take care of him. I’m in therapy but all they do is give me medication to numb the pain and even that doesn’t work I feel so alone with out her we were very close she would put up a strong face with everyone but me with me she would break down and cry from the pain of chemo and how she wanted to live she didn’t want to die. I would give anything to have her with me I would give my life for her she was a beautiful person that deserved to live more than me. I feel guilty she relied on my judgment when it came to were to go for her cancer treatment and I feel I let her down I may have chosen the wrong doctors their were some issues misunderstandings negligence I don’t even want to get into that it makes me angry just thinking about it. I don’t know if I believe in heaven and that I’ll see her again I have thought about suicide if that means I’ll be with her. She was everything to me she always loved me and supported me even when I royally messed up she never turned her back on me. I didn’t deserve to have her as my mom and she deserved a better daughter than me. I regret that I didn’t always appreciate how lucky I was to have her it’s true what they say you don’t know what you have until you loose it. Her last days were horrible they basically said take her home this is your last Christmas with her hospice care will be provided and if you can take care of her at home that’s it. Thinking back I regret that I accepted and felt numb frozen and that’s not me in situations like that I would go into fight mode it’s my default setting I should have pushed for something to be done anything what did we have to loose at that point but I didn’t. My mom was very weak when we brought her home but still semi coherent the first day and a half I thought maybe at home she would get better and I regret not telling her how much I love her and everything else that I wanted her to know I thought I had more time but I went to her the next day and she was unconscious no longer coherent I missed my chance I hate myself self for this I tried talking to her when she was unconscious but I don’t know if she could hear me understand me this is something that I will never recover from. And also my siblings well my 3 brothers didn’t go in the room or talk to her only me and my sister but she would tell her that it was ok to go that we would be ok. But I didn’t want this I wanted to tell her to fight like she always had that I was there but my sister would pull me away I wasn’t myself I usually would have told her to f-off what did she know I had taken care of her I knew her best we lived together we confident in each other she didn’t share things with my sister only me. I don’t know if it would have made a difference but I feel like my mom if she could hear us decided that she should let go to give up my mom was so strong but very indecisive and would go along with others decisions especially with things like medical decisions. She didn’t understand English very well. She always said she was dumb but she wasn’t she didn’t see what an amazing person she was how artistic and smart she could do everything from cooking gardening knitting the most beautiful things she would make me beautiful dresses as a little girl she could fix a leaky toilet had such a big heart and open mind for someone who didn’t go to college she was so humble and didn’t show off she was so special everyone loved her she always thought the best of people. She thought everyone was as kindhearted and good like her. I would always joke that I was her protector I’m a jaded person don’t trust easily. I miss her so much this will be my first Mother’s Day without her I’m dreading it I sleep a lot just to not miss her . I hate it when people say that she is resting and out of pain it was for the best I want to punch them. Family members tell me I need to move on she is at peace how do you know??? Move on? How it’s been four months is their a time limit on grief? Are they right? Am I in the wrong is something wrong with me well more than my already mentioned issues. Is there a a way to contact my mom to see if she is in heaven I know it sounds crazy but I’m desperate I need to know if I’m going to see her again my dad is like me jaded he says when you die that’s it there’s no afterlife.

      • Litsa  May 5, 2023 at 10:05 am

        You are not at all wrong! Often people look for ways to alleviate your suffering when what you really need is someone to be present with it. You are still in the very early days and there is no timelimit to grief! Please be gentle with yourself and give yourself the time, care, and self-compassion that you need.

      • Litsa  May 5, 2023 at 10:10 am

        You are not at all wrong! Often people look for ways to alleviate your suffering when what you really need is someone to be present with it. You are still in the very early days and there is no time limit to grief! Please be gentle with yourself and give yourself the time, care, and self-compassion that you need.

  48. Karen  July 30, 2020 at 11:32 pm Reply

    Lost my darling Mama last July still crying we were very close & lived together.
    I was caring for her last 3years & miss her so so much it hurts so so much she was my life my everything & life is hard without her love.
    I miss sharing a laugh a chat a meal a kiss a hug it’s all so sad.
    Miss her more now than when she passed as was a relief then she was no longer suffering.
    Yes she was elderly but I still need her.
    I know that’s selfish maybe need to let her rest in peace but I just miss the essence of her she was always a strong amazing giving kind mother lost my father 33 years ago & we were a team of 2 from then feel this pain will never pass in floods of tears as typing this.

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    • Eleanor Haley  July 31, 2020 at 6:46 pm Reply

      Karen, in grief a year is not so long at all. It is normal to be having strong waves of emotions and still wishing for her to be near you. Know that there will always be ups and downs and waves. Have you talked to a counselor or support group?

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    • Jason  August 2, 2020 at 4:51 pm Reply

      I’m sorry for your loss, I too lost my Mother last August and can relate to your post as I was also living with and caring for my mother, we were close and spent many hours talking and enjoying our time together, she ended up being my only friend as my so called best friends had all but abandoned me over time as I was suffering depression for a short while.

      The worst thing apart from the loss is being alone, my birthday recently came and went with no birthday wishes or even a phone call from anyone, I remember last year the same time my mom was in hospital and made sure she gave me a call to say Happy Birthday, how I so missed that this year instead there was just silence.

      These are the little things that make us realize how much we miss them.

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  49. Monica  March 25, 2020 at 9:11 am Reply

    I lost my mom on Feb. 24. I cannot sleep or think straight. I feel guilty for not staying closer. I thought we’d have more time. She was estranged from my brother. I didn’t reach out to him during her illness and I’m very sorry I didn’t. I feel that God is angry with me. I looked after my mom after my dad died. That was the last straw in the estrangement. My brother and I do not get along. My mom insisted on moving home a year and a half ago. Checking on her wasn’t enough. I did take her home on weekends. I thought I was helping her with everything, but I see so many gaps now. I need help.

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  50. Pam Martin  February 24, 2020 at 1:20 am Reply

    My 2 sisters and I lost both of our parents to murderers whom my dad welcomed in our home. Our family was poor but we were happy. It has been three weeks but the pain is still fresh. I wake up to greet the new day but I will later realize that this is yet another day without my mama and daddy. Gone were the “good morning” texts asking us to take care of ourselves or if we’ve arrived at school/work. Gone were the people who truly cared for us. Their passing was a shock. It was so sudden I still can’t believe they’re gone. My poor mama was disabled and she wasn’t spared from the weak conscience of the persons who killed them. My dad was a kid who wasn’t encouraged much by the people around him. He could have made it bigger in life. My heart is so weak as I’m typing this. No child deserves this kind of hurt.

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    • Carla Pecoraro  February 28, 2020 at 1:03 am Reply

      Oh sweet Pam. My heart aches for you this will be a long road. The love they have for you is something no one can ever take away. I am angry for you. I wish I could give you the biggest hug in the world. The need for finding the “why” is something that drives us all crazy. I hope and pray that you continue to hold the positive memories of them and somehow drown out the venom that seeped into your home. I can tell you one thing for certain. They did not deserve that, and there is NOTHING you could have done. There is nothing they did to deserve that, and there is no way to say that things just happen sometimes without seeking that why. I hope you are showered with love by those around you in these times and dragged out of your home into the sunshine where you can feel their warmth again soon. They live on in you. I would love to talk to you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

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  51. Courtney  February 12, 2020 at 7:40 pm Reply

    On January 22nd, 2020, I went into preterm labor with my identical twin boys- I was only 20 weeks along. My husband and I got to spend some time with them, baptize, and name them before they passed away.I’m having a really hard time with losing them. I keep on reliving that day. We were at our anatomy scan that morning and I told the doctor about some symptoms, that now in hindsight were preterm labor signs, and my cervix was dilated. I don’t know why they just sent me home. I keep on wondering if they could have been saved. I’m mad at myself for not going to the emergency room sooner, I feel like I let my husband down, and I’m just disappointed that the life I pictured with them will never be.

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  52. Wilma  January 30, 2020 at 7:47 pm Reply

    I lost my 53 year old son on Dec. 26th. He was a healthy fine man. He lived on a golf course and loved anything golf. We were very close, he would call me almost every night. We would go to
    Breakfast on Saturday mornings. He was divorced but he and his wife were still friends. I am
    Devastated by this loss. I have lost both my parents and a brother and my beloved husband. I survived all of these, but my grief now is so hard and painful. I get up every morning and start crying because I miss him so much and he is still gone. On Oct 9th, he called me to come take him to hospital because he thought he was having gallstones. After running all tests they diagnosed him with colon cancer and gallbladder cancer. We were determined to beat it and
    Went thru 2 surgeries and 5 other procedures. They took out a foot of his colon and gallbladder. We later found that he had a blockage between duodenum and small bowel. He could not eat because of this. They put a feeding tube into his small bowel. So many things went wrong with his care plan and he kept getting skinnier and weaker. He would get dehydrated and his electrolytes would be out of kilter. We could never get him strong enough to take chemo treatments. It is so hard for me to understand that on Oct. 8th he had no problem and on Dec 26th he is gone. I love him so much, I miss him so much. I just want to talk with him. I want to tell him I love him and I miss him more than anything. I stayed with him around the clock 7 days a week for 31/2 months. I would live the rest of my life doing that if he were only here. Sometimes I can still not believe that he is gone. I talk to him all the time and I pray that he knows how much I miss and love him.

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    • Kathleen Neville  February 3, 2020 at 3:35 am Reply

      Wilma I am so very sorry for you loss in fact all of your loses .
      There are no words to mend your pain,nothing can fill the void you are feeling .
      Grief is a huge thing ,we can make no sense of it nor can we control it .
      I lost my father suddenly on the 31st Dec 2019 .
      I feel like my world has been torn apart.
      I get your pain truly I do .
      It’s a pain unlike any other .
      I have gone over things in my head over and over again
      There were some failings in my dads care which torment me still .
      Like you my emotions bounce about from feelings of grief,anger ,frustration, emptiness,fear,isolation and many more things.
      I wish I could offer you solutions to heal but unfortunately it’s not that easy .
      We all cope differently with bereavement, every single one of my family have reacted differently.
      For some bereavement groups help ,other need medication, some people want to talk other dont .
      Your a mum and mums fix things that’s what we do .
      When something like this happens we have no control we cant fix it and that only makes things worse .
      When you have loved and cared for someone for so long it normal to feel such pain when they are no longer with us .
      Personally I haven’t had a good nights sleep since it happened ,which I know is not helping .
      I wish I could help you truly I do ,
      You will need strength to move forward as I will too,how long the recovery journey will take is anybodies guess.
      Ii just wanted you to know you may feel alone but you are not .

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    • Shirley H Mort  April 4, 2020 at 12:45 am Reply

      Wilma-there is no possible loss that could hurt like the grief of losing your child. I lost my Son May 4, 2018- he was 46 and was murdered. He was at a friend’s house that morning and was playing his guitar. This guy came in through the door and shot him 3 times -laughed about it an ran. We think he was full of drugs an shot my Son because he thought it made him look more like a man. My Son died that afternoon at the hospital. He was my only Son and my grief is unbearable. The idiot that shot him was apprehended the next day and this past February pleaded guilty to First Degree Murder. He will be sentenced the 20th of this month. (April) I look for him-I talk to him and I go to his grave every few days. My life just doesn’t have any meaning to it now. I am going to try and talk to someone that can help me get through this. Seems I just haven’t done very well trying to do this myself.

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  53. Bec M  January 30, 2020 at 11:25 am Reply

    I lost my mother 12.5 years ago and my father 1.5 years ago. I didn’t grieve for my mother for 4 years as I had to take over her role of doing everything for my dad. When it hit me, it hit me! Now I’m finding myself feeling so low and letting everything get on top of me and I really am questioning if I’ve let myself grieve for my dad. I’m really struggling and starting to wonder if i’ll ever feel normal again.

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  54. Dana nunez  January 19, 2020 at 11:31 pm Reply

    Lost my mother, my queen, 4 days ago to breast cancer metasis stage 5 to the lungs, liver, lymph nodes. Bones, thyroid, and brain. Doctors had given 8 years, momma made fought for 8. I’m 25 and my mom was 47. Leaves behind me, 25, sisters 15 & 26, and litttle half brother 8. Life is empty, life is painful, and I feel guilty if I have a good day. I feel like I can’t smile nor be happy becuase there’s nothing to be happy about. I feel I will never be the same. Help 🙁

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    • Dee Tee  February 11, 2020 at 5:42 am Reply

      Hi Dana, I just stumbled upon your post because I was looking online if my grief is normal. I lost my mom to Cancer on 14th January, only a few weeks ago, and I too feel broken inside. We are going to be ok, because our mom’s would want us to be, and there is so much to live for. No matter how hard it is, you just need to let it out, carry on doing your normal activities each day, and day by day, it will get easier. My mom was my queen too, I adored her, but I know that she is better off not suffering, watching her suffer was the worst thing for me. Hang in there, cry when you need to, laugh when you can, and remember that you are loved.

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  55. Amod  January 11, 2020 at 4:47 am Reply

    My grandad died nearly 3 years ago this month and I still think about him very often he was my best friend I didnt give myself much time to grieve at the time so now I feel like it’s all hitting me. Is it normal to be upset 3 years later ? Also I feel like people just feel like I should be over it by now

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    • Sabrina  March 31, 2020 at 1:32 am Reply

      Amod, I’m feeling the same way you are. My grandma died 8 years ago and I still cry myself to sleep every night. I’d say I’m in a similar situation .

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  56. Sonnie  December 17, 2019 at 3:27 am Reply

    I lost my life partner October 16th 2019. Went on our 1st date ever October 15th 2019 we were together almost 7years. You see we were recovering addicts so we never had money to do anything but get high on, so a date was out of the question. I’m still clean March 29th 2020 will be 4yrs for me. She came home to me January 22nd 2019 and we were thriving happily on our way to this clean life I promised her if she would just try. After being home for 9mons and doing so well my baby fell back into what we used to do. If I knew I would have tried to help her get back on track I miss her everyday. I will keep going and living to tell this story it might help someone else. Thanks

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  57. Deborah F Anderson  December 7, 2019 at 2:02 pm Reply

    It has been almost 4 months since my son passed so unexpectedly. Today would have been his 46th birthday. The heartache is unbearable. I miss him so as does everyone who knew him. It is days like this and all the holidays that are so very hard. I know time marches on but it is heartbreaking to go through. The loss of parents and a sibling and a spouse is devastating but when it is your child I feel it is so much worse.

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    • Joanne  January 3, 2020 at 1:04 pm Reply

      I to lost my son coming up 3months ago aged 28 a week and a half before his birthday. Christmas and new year has been a great struggle, I feel I am losing my self and can’t seem to get to grips with life moving on with out him. The lose of a child is a great pain to bear and I am left wondering how I will manage to carry on with out him, I don’t at this time have an answers and feel my life has come toa stand still, I so lost.

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  58. Janice R.  December 4, 2019 at 7:36 pm Reply

    My grandfather died in April 2019, I was 16 then. It is the first close death I’ve encountered, and I still feel disoriented and lost since his passing. He had been fighting liver cancer for over ten years, which I believe is an incredible feat. He fought hard just for my siblings, for me. I didn’t expect him to die either, I genuinely believed that he would make it out of the whole ordeal, he had horrible symptoms of jaundice, swelling, and bleeding, yet I still had hope that he’d make it. On the morning of his passing, I didn’t know what to feel, it all felt unreal. I still managed to show up to school without displaying any emotions towards grief, but at home it was a completely different story, it still is. It’s been almost 8 months now and I hope to be able to cope and move on, but I’ve had real difficulty trying.

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    • Karen  February 8, 2020 at 12:54 pm Reply

      Janice, Grandpa’s are the most special people in the world. Mine was my whole world. I am now 67. On my sweet 16 birthday we were getting ready to leave for their house to have a family party, the phone rang, he had collapsed and died on the back porch. All I remember of that day was running out the front door, up the street to the woods, screaming. I have never recovered. Yes, life has gone on. There are some things that just never heal for some of us. There are never enough tears when it comes to this. Most people don’t love like we do. It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time. Remember that there are others who depend on you, you are their “grandpa”. Take care of yourself as best you can.

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  59. Jenny  November 20, 2019 at 5:30 am Reply

    My Jr bro who’s 15 keeps falling sick since our father was buried about 2Weeks now… I’m worried…

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  60. L A  November 15, 2019 at 2:02 pm Reply

    my nana died 24th october. she had dementia and lived in a care home for 9 years. i worked in that same care home helping look after her for 7 years. before working there, it was always myself and my mum who did everything for nana. growing up i practically lived with her, she doted on me and i loved her to pieces. it was always me and her against the world. then dementia set in and she slowly seemed to forget who i was and what we had. then in october she got a chest infection – given antibiotics. she’d had these before and came through them, and seemed herself apart from the infection. i saw her at work the day before she died and she said “i love you”… which with her advanced dementia was a very unusual thing for her to say. next morning she suddenly passed away in her sleep. my friend/co-worker was on shift and found her, she was gone. she called me and my mum to let us know. at first i don’t think it set in because i’d only seen her the day before… in my mind she was still alive. then it all became real and grief set in. i was angry at everyone and everything. even my employer had words with me a week ago about my “attitude” and suddenly i blew like a bottle of pop… all the grief and anger everything came flooding out and i couldn’t control myself. i just remember being a mess and her trying to hug me and i just wouldn’t have it. every day since nana has died i have cried. i’ve had suicidal thoughts. angry. but empty at the same time. uninterested in everyone and everything. what is the point? what are we actually put here for, just to eventually leave the world and leave everyone around us suffering for it. i miss my nana so much, but i feel like i don’t know who i’m grieving for… the woman who died, or the woman who she used to be before that f-ing dementia took over her mind and body. it’s a cruel world we live in and i’m not sure i want to be in it anymore.

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    • Céili  November 29, 2019 at 12:07 am Reply

      Please know that your life is so worth it! I know it’s hard right now and it might not feel that way, but you can get through it! Look for help from your support system and maybe try counseling.

  61. Sheila leiser  November 13, 2019 at 7:36 am Reply

    I lost my mom 7 months ago April of 2019 I can’t seem to let her go we were strange for 7 years they have such guilt I cry every day for her I miss her everyday How can I make this it said my heart feel better

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    • Edit Bus  December 16, 2019 at 1:42 pm Reply

      Hi Sheila,
      I can relate. I haven`t seen my mom in person in 3 years (just text and emails and calls) and she died 2 days ago. I was planning on seeing her in January or spring time. Now is mid December. I guess we wait and it is suddenly too late. And the guilt kicks in. I feel the same. But I believe in the big picture. And that is that life showed you this way how much you actually loved her! This is the way your emotions came up from being bottled up somewhere deep down. Night after night I hope you can pray for her forgiveness. They all forgive once they are in Heaven. She might smile and think `this is what it took girl?` but she will forgive, you will feel it or see a sign. I hope this helps.

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  62. K  November 12, 2019 at 2:25 pm Reply

    I lost my mom on January 3, 2019. We worked together we did everything together. She was my mom and my best friend. She died of a preventable disease, cervical cancer. I have so many layers of grief I feel smothered. The first one is that I was suspected of having heart issues (turns out I don’t) and she put off her symptoms because I was so damn scared and self absorbed at that time. By the time they found the tumor it had already spread but was stage 1. Anyways it hit the lymph nodes and spread to her lungs and then the liver. It went fast after the liver. My second regret is not getting her on hospice sooner and basically torturing her with immunotherapy that ripped her body apart. Anyways I watched a terrible terrible struggle and I miss her so much. I was hiding her hand as her heart stopped. My life is forever changed.

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  63. Kathy yurkonis  November 8, 2019 at 3:54 am Reply

    Hi everyone. Just lost my mom sep 20 2019, she was 85. She had a stroke July 30, 2019, she did pretty good, physical therapy was good, had thicken everything too eat and drink, her voice was gone, right arm week, but she did pretty good, she also has Parkinson, had since she was 73. Well back too life care nursing home, first couple days good, but then gave up on therapy very depressed, sad, cried alot. Then did not want too eat, then drink, hospice came in. 3 days, I watched my mom, she was smelling real bad, skin getting darker, breathing hard, then unconscious most of it. I was so close too my mom, I crawled in bed with her, played her favorite songs, family members came too say goodbye. I feel like I am lossing my mind, I cry and can’t stop, I can’t talk or hold her, laugh with her, and love her too no end. Read alot of your story’s, and I feel your pain, my heart breaks for your grief. No one know’s till this happens too them.

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  64. Linda Knight  November 6, 2019 at 12:49 pm Reply

    I lost my best friend of 51 years about 8 months ago now. She died suddenly and unexpectedly and it was beyond a shock to find out she has died. She had plans of selling her home and moving to another state. She had just retired. I had such high hopes for her starting over in another state now that she had retired. It was her time now to enjoy life, kick back and relax after working for all the years she did. She never got married or had a family which always made me sad. I wanted so much for her. I was so proud of all she accomplished in her life. We talked all the time and last conversation we had she mentioned how long we had known each other and how it was her whole life of knowing me. It was a good conversation and one I am glad we had but it made it even harder when her brother contacted me and told me she had gotten ill and passed away in her home alone…to be found about three weeks after the fact. I am haunted by it all. Her dying alone in her home and not being found til weeks later just killed me. Her plans never happened. So sad.

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    • Grace  November 13, 2020 at 12:41 pm Reply

      The loss of a best friend of 50 years I am going through right now and totally understand and feel the pain as a friend of 50+ years is a gift in itself and a treasure. Our lives will never be the same and that is a loss that creates the pain ..
      I know we must be grateful for the 50 years and at the same time we wanted more. Like your friend my friend bought a home in Hawaii in 1988 for her retirement and was planning the move at the time of her death in 2020. Too sad… just shows us if you have a dream don’t wait too long… just go and live the dream.
      Today is our only day we know for sure.
      For you and me …we have to grow past this terrible loss of a wonderful life time friend…the question is how? I guess that is the lesson we must learn.
      Blessings to you.

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      • IsabelleS  November 16, 2020 at 11:26 am

        Grace, I am very sorry to hear about the passing of your best friend. You asked how you will get past this loss… You may never “get past it,” but it will get easier to manage with time. For now, be gentle with yourself. All the best to you.

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  65. Ruth Baltes  November 4, 2019 at 1:07 pm Reply

    Lost my boy 8 months ago to a drowning. I will be brief. There is no deeper pain, and long-suffering. I am not preoccupied with giving it the title of grief vs. complicated grief. There are no clear algorithms for this. Life is not fair.

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  66. Yessi  October 24, 2019 at 12:51 am Reply

    I lost my father 22 years ago when I was five years old. He died of a heroin addiction next to my mother (who was also a heroin addict). I’m still not over his death. Just today someone asked me about my dad and it made my heart flutter. Then I was flooded with sadness as I was trying to hold back my tears and explain to the person that he had passed away. I’ve been crying on and off all day after that. I think what makes it so hard is that I loved him so so much, but his death was also a secret in our family and we were not allowed to talk about the way he died because it brought shame and disgrace to the family (so they said). I kept it bottled inside until I was twelve and found a therapist at school. But I still don’t feel healed from his death. Certain scents trigger flashbacks to his funeral where the smell of death was very strong. He had been dead for a few days before his body. My mother was too strung out to realize he was gone.

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  67. Blair  October 15, 2019 at 1:29 pm Reply

    I am 16 years old and it was almost 1 year and a half ago, on May 10th 2018 that I lost my best friend to suicide. She was a very kind good with a personality like no other. She was always smiling and tried to be friends with everyone. I love her so much and miss her so so much till this day and will forever.

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  68. karen E templeman  October 11, 2019 at 9:35 am Reply

    October 15 is coming again. That is the date my precious son Josiah burned to death the day before his 23rd birthday. He was an amazing young man. I have come a long way in the grief process. Before losing Josiah, I rarely cried, but now, the memory of his death. how he died, and just missing him can bring on tears. I am resilient, and am in school to become a counselor to help others who are facing something no one ever should. My son’s best friend also died suddenly, as did another of our friend’s son. Now a friend who lost her son to suicide last year has lost her other son suddenly (diabetes). I am at a loss, How can I comfort this amazing lady, when she is experiencing the unimaginable?

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  69. Karley  October 8, 2019 at 12:28 am Reply

    I am 21 and I lost my mom on June 26th 2019 21 days short of 5 months now. She was 45 years old with 3 trouble making kids and a beautiful little 3 year old she just adopted…. she had stage 4 lung cancer pneumonia and had a collapsed lung, that’s not the cause of death though. They found a blood clot in her lungs and began to use heparin, after spending night after night with her in the hospital listening to her scream and cry from pain we found out she is actually allergic to heparin which made the blood clot all over. Everyday she seemed more loopy everyday the talking got stranger and stranger. Thinking it was the medication she was having miniature strokes. My mom could no longer talk move or eat or drink. My mom went from so strong so independent to getting fed by a sponge, getting cleaned up after every time she had to go to the bathroom in her own bed. Seeing my mother like this was so hard. We brought her home to be as comfortable as possible. Her arms were the size of elephant trunks by this time. Seeing her like this i can’t stop seeing it in my mind. hearing the screams and rubbing her until I physically couldn’t rub her anymore. Having my 3 year old sister ask why mommy can’t talk to her? Why won’t mommy’s legs work? Can mommy hear me? These questions were the worst and now they now follow up with can I have gods phone number to call mommy? This has been so hard and I need my mom now more than ever. I miss you every day mom I miss your smell your touch your love your voice. I miss you so much. This pain i feel in my body and mind I can’t describe. I just need you mom.

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    • Allie  October 24, 2019 at 10:36 am Reply

      I completely understand! I am 22 and my mother past away April 5 2019 with a heart attack, she was 50 years old. I was left to raise my 8 year old sister that my mother adopted. It has almost been 7 months and I still replay the moment I figured out over and over in my head. reading your story and seeing how similar it was to mine really helped me, so I wanted to share a little bit of my story with you.
      Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
      Although we feel so lonely at times, we are never alone.

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  70. MB  October 5, 2019 at 5:37 pm Reply

    Thank you for these parameters on “complicated grief”. My dad lost his mom about six years ago (she was 99 but passed rather suddenly and traumatically) and is still, nearly constantly, grieving his loss. He gets in fights almost daily with my mom, as she tries to move a piece of furniture or other memento that belonged to his mother (they’re attempting to become snowbirds), and he goes apoplectic at the idea of “letting go” of any more of his mother. I’ve been struggling to help him through this, this gives me a better framework to work from. Thank you.

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  71. Karen Ocasio  October 4, 2019 at 7:42 pm Reply

    I lost my son 15 years ago unexpectedly he was 19 two months before his 20th birthday. And Oct 7 he would have been 35 years old I was 38 years old when he died I’m still not doing go I have been in the mental hospital about 50 times on so many meds depressed all the time sad I cry a lot I have been running and running from state for 15 years I don’t. Know what do any more there was 2 years ago I walk from Pensacola Florida to Panama City then I work from Gulfport Mississippi to Alabama I didn’t know were. I was going but I was going I talked to a psychiatrist about and he said I develop manic with my PTSD depression reoccurring depression anxiety suicidal ideations I just feel broken and I could never be fixed people think I want to be like this

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    • Nicole from N.C.  October 21, 2019 at 11:20 pm Reply

      Who cares if other people think you want to be like that?!Those people have issues themselves!They will oneday see how it is.But,you have to try to live a happy life.It is ok to live on.

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  72. Sara  September 26, 2019 at 5:25 pm Reply

    My husband died of a massive heart attach six months ago today., he was 47. We were together for 24 years and married for 21 years. We have five children between us and we ran a restaurant together forthe past 2.5 years. The pain, loneliness, emptiness and pure grieve and bewilderment is unbearable at times and I just scream, shout and just cry for hours on end. I loved him unconditionally, he was my soul mate, best friend and we spent most of our time together. I have a very supportive family and wonderful network of friends, but I just feel so empty, sad and lonely. I put a smile on everyday, run my restaurant and pretend everything is ok until I get in my car to go home and the pain, emptiness and feelings of pointlessness is horrendously sad.

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    • Cheryl  December 9, 2019 at 7:23 pm Reply

      I lost my husband (high school sweetheart, reconnected after 40 years) in February. I have a business that is growing and demands all of my time. I feel I have not had time to break away to grieve. So I understand when you say you do what you have to do and then it all hits you when yo get in your car. I don’t have answers, but I do think if work keeps us busy and we do have times in between to grieve, things are bound to improve. I’ve tried going out to eat in different places, gone to movies alone, lots of things. But in the end, I return home to a ranch that is 35 miles from any town – and cry with loneliness.

      Keep going every day and know that I will think of you often! Sometime a stranger can offer love and friendship especially one who is going thru the same grief. Good luck!

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  73. Sandy  September 25, 2019 at 12:32 pm Reply

    I lost my mom 13 months ago unexpected at 74. She had COPD and had just bought a portable oxygen machine she had not even used. We didn’t live close and we did not see each other much as she was always distant from me. She was very private and had a rough childhood that she would never share. The last year of her life my husband told me I need to visit and call as you never know what can happen. I felt hurt that she was never there for me, she was distant and not a loving mother. At times when I was little I would walk home in the pouring rain, even though she had a car and was home she would not pick me up. I was always respectful but we had no connection. Then the last year before her death I did go visit several times. She lived in a small run down home, we redid her floor, changed out ceiling fans, dusted and cleaned for her. Took her to dinner, laughed and had a margarita together. She sill never opened up about her past or her health. I never knew she was getting worse until I got the call she was in the hospital. My mom never hugged me, told me she loved me, held me. So in the hospital room my family had an argument about her care and left her there, alone with me….She was in an oxygen mask fighting for air. Scared to death. I walked over and grabbed her hand and she held it tight, she told me she was hot. I asked her if I could get her a wet cold cloth for her head and she nodded. I got it and placed it on her head. She grabbed my hand again while I held the cloth on her head, then she whispered in my ear, “what’s happening to me, am I dying?” It ripped my heart out to see her in pain and so afraid. I told her I’m not sure mom what’s happening but we will find out. She then tapped her pj bottoms, she had soiled them because she was afraid to get up because she couldn’t breath. She wanted me to stay with her while the nurses changed her and the sheets, but I could not hold her hand while they did it, they had to move fast because of her breathing. So I stood to the side to give her privacy and kept talking to her telling her they would be finished soon and to hang on. It was four nurses working as fast as they could then it happened, one of them said she’s not breathing….she had a heart attack while they were changing her. My mom was gone…and I was never going to get to tell her I love you mom again. They tried to bring her back but it was too late. She suffered so terribly and her fear was so intense I could feel it. There is not a day that goes by I don’t cry. I feel guilty for stepping away….she was probably trying to breath and I wasn’t there to tell them. Now everyday I think not only of her, but how she died and I am angry. If this is life and it ends this way why even live it? I can’t go to counseling because my insurance doesn’t cover it. My marriage of 37 years is also suffering. I push everyone away because no one understands. They left me there with her alone and now she’s gone. I can’t enjoy life anymore and it just seems pointless.

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    • Giny  September 29, 2019 at 6:15 am Reply

      I would 1st like to share why am on this site
      We lost my mom when I was 7 years young my brother was 5 my sister was 9 my father really worked hard to keep us together since he didn’t have any other family so he relied on our church and school but everyone always would recommend he get help from possibly orphanage during the week and him take care of us on weekends so neeadles
      To say he had lots of challenges so when I was 29 my dad took I’ll and we lost my dad so now at age 65 we just had a baby shower for my daughter in law and my son 1st baby my 4 th grand baby and in the middle of this beautiful fairytale baby shower as I was speaking to one of my children’s long childhood friends and my daughter in laws mother I started to cry ! So now my one daughter says mom why we’re you crying ? Why do you cry in certain sysuations ? She’s thinking because I am in nead of some time of help ! But the reason I feal I would like to respond to
      You sandy is because I feal that at the moment we have to except that our loved one is leaving us as we have known them to be with us we do not have any kind of control on that but we can control what we do next and for me it has always been about figuring out where am neaded the most and place my energy and thoughts in that direction and view it as a challenge of what I nead to do rather than how problematic and painful I feal because I feal that would be overwhelming and I feal since we are still slowed to Phisical you be here and the one that is leaving us does not have that choice anymore than we nead to be the ones to do our very best to carry on and figure out each day and each moment to get to where we nead to be if you believe in god that defiantly have to have faith that this is part of his bigger than us plan and if you don’t agree with the philosophy of god than you always nead to trust your universe of energy will guide us to what we nead to be doing with our actions and place our energy in that direction in some way I think I have learned how to compartmentalize my fealings and yes every now and then
      Like at this party with friends from high school that are now dealing with illness , close friends grandparents that are ill , my husbands mother in last time of her life , and my daughter in law grandmother with just days to live I definitely start crying for a few minutes and off and on few more times thinking of where we’ve been and there’s some sadness attached to all this joy that we really wish I guess for only joy but as we live the mortal life I defiantly realize that all our fealings take difrent forms and time goes on but for some things we experience it still feals like today god bless us all

    • Nicole from N.C.  October 21, 2019 at 11:26 pm Reply

      This broke my heart!I totally understand!!You have to believe she is in a better place and that she loves you.If she had a bad childhood,she prob did not know how to love or be loved.But,you have to live on,you do not want your family to feel like that.

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  74. Jamie Gentille  September 19, 2019 at 12:00 pm Reply

    I lost my dear mother September 1, 2019. She was not only my mom, but my best friend. I was her caregiver for many years. I just can’t believe she is gone. I can’t help but to think there was more that I should have done. She had COPD, Congestive Heart Failure and Dementia. She was hospitalized with double pneumonia. They also felt she had lung cancer because her white blood cell count would decrease. My mom was and always will be such a sweet angel. However we would argue. I always tried to push her to keep going and not give up. She would get mad at me. She again, now is gone. I can’t stop crying. I can’t believe I won’t see her sweet smile or voice ever again. I can’t help but to feel guilty. I was with her when she passed and I so want her back! I think I seriously need help!

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  75. David trejo  September 12, 2019 at 8:15 pm Reply

    I found this page looking to see if I was normal for episodes of crying after losing my wife age 49 after a simple surgery. Losing her brother six hours earlier complicated my loss and not to mention being in the hospital in El Paso Texas when the shooting victims of this terrible event came and took up beds next to us in the ICU. Did I mention I lost my co-manager friend one week before to suicide and I had to act as pall bearer for her and then my wife within two weeks. The. One day after her burial I lost a friend at 47 to heart attack who leaves a wife and five kids. Did I mention I lost my little girl after 2 months and four days 15 years ago? My grief is complicated but we are normal.

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  76. Deborah Anderson  August 16, 2019 at 10:33 pm Reply

    I just lost my 45 year old son on July 21, 2019. Serious bacterial infection set in after a surgery he had on July 3rd. He was treated for the infection which started to improve greatly. They sent him home on the 18th of July and then on Sunday the 21st he had a coronary. I am absolutely shattered. I feel numb, sometimes I feel zombie like. Now here it is a month later and I sometimes cry all day and cannot stop. I see him everywhere. Constant reminders of him. I obsess from the time he was an infant and growing up until he reached adulthood. My heart is broken. There are some days I can go out and be amongst people and I feel somewhat normal but it is when I have a lot of downtime is when the constant flow of tears come.

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  77. Paula Stein  August 15, 2019 at 9:25 am Reply

    The article differentiates the different levels of intensity. However, I truly feel, having lost parents, siblings, friends, nephew, cousin, many untimely, that I was able to process through grief, in what I consider a normal fashion. What we need to understand, is there is nothing NORMAL about the loss of a child. No one, I have encountered, is anywhere near what is considered normal grief. How could someone make the assumption that after 6 months we might have moved from normal grief to complicated grief? From day 1, I have been in devastating grief. Nothing about losing a child should ever be called NORMAL.

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  78. Sandra Pipkin  August 7, 2019 at 1:41 am Reply

    I lost my son violently 12 years ago. I stood outside a crime scene. 7 hours later he was still where he died
    The pd told the media he was drink and on drugs he was neither. It took 8 years for the pd to admit they don’t know how he was shot. The bullet entered towards the back of his head be home how ear. They listed it as pending, then homicide, then accidental, and then suicide. It is now undetermined. I have suffered depression most of my life and it has gotten worse add in the anxiety and PTSD. I have learned that I will always grieve his death. I co facilitate our chapter of Compassionate Friends that’s all I can do. He is the first and last thing I think about him all the timeHe enters my mind all day long. I have learned to step and breathe and to allow joy and sorrow to share my life at the same time. Life for me will always be bitter sweet.

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  79. Sheila Leiser  July 13, 2019 at 10:52 pm Reply

    I lost my mother 3 months ago I find my stuff still crying over her every day and even though I hadn’t seen her in 7 years we were closed for many of the years before that what’s your part and now I find myself wanting her more and more everyday I feel so lost without my mom

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  80. Brenda  July 3, 2019 at 10:17 pm Reply

    We lost our daughter unexpectedly 10 months ago. She was 27 years old. She had many struggles and at times could be very mean to her father and I. I stood by her through her struggles and tried to help. When she passed very unexpectedly, I was there and I watched her go and felt numb. I begged her to stay. I do have waves of grief that come over me but there are times that I feel she is just busy living her life. I feel guilty for not grieving the way I should. I loved her and would do anything for her so why am I not racked with sadness like most people dealing with the lost of a child? Am I that heartless?

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  81. Jane  May 12, 2019 at 11:23 pm Reply

    Reading all these heartbreaking stories and thinking I have my own complicated grief about my grandparents who pretty much raised me and I miss nearly every day – it makes me wonder what it’d be like to go back to a time where death was far more a part of life e.g the Victorian age? Where people wore black and there was a definite time of mourning, where children played ‘funerals’ and it wasn’t all so sanitised. It forced people to accept it, to make room for it as a part of life and experience it together as families and communities. I never felt I had any support when my grandmother died. I was 22 and I felt as though my heart had been smashed. She was 74 and my best friend and like a mother to me. None of my friends had lost anyone close to them yet so after the funeral everything went back to normal. I cried every day for over a year, had nightmares and couldn’t go to her house. 15 years later and I now own her house and I can’t change anything, it’s exactly as she left it. I often just stare into space re-living stuff that happened there. I think of my life as before she died and after and used to feel like what’s the point unless she’s here? I think part of the problem is feeling like I don’t want to move on as that’ll be like losing her all over again. It is far better than it was – at least now I can go quite some time without thinking about her or getting a lump in my throat. I wish I’d had some support after it happened. I had a bf who just didn’t get emotions (he asked me to go and sleep in the spare room when I did the ‘middle of the night primal howl’ – the one where it hits you they’re gone forever) and a mother who was so busy grieving her mother, shut me out. I understand it – she needed mothering herself and wanted me to do it. But I couldn’t, I was only 22 and I was breaking my heart wanting a mother figure too. She wasn’t very comforting when my grandfather died either. When I said ‘I still can’t believe it’ she replied ‘Well I can’ in an angry way. When I also said how bad I felt a few days after he’d died, she replied with ‘Well I feel fine. I suppose I’m just more practical’. Thanks for comforting me!

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  82. Tracey Abrahams  March 2, 2019 at 9:08 am Reply

    I came across this page after looking for counsellors funny enough. I’ve never had counselling but feeling it’s time. I lost my mum 18 months ago to aggressive lung cancer, she fought a strong fight and was told weeks and maybe months but 12 months after diagnosis enduring a trachea which she dealt with amazingly, her determination was inspiring by all. When she passed away with me holding her hand after such a fight,I whispered mum be with dad who had also passed away at the age of 48 from Melanoma when I was just 17. I feel she needed to hear those words as she was holding on but after she passed I said I cried and cried and said I will never be ready to say goodbye, and have not stopped crying since, my mum and I talked about everything and several times a day, she was my best friend and miss her dearly and my heart actually aches. I remember when dad died when I was 17 she was soo strong for us kids and she always said there are people worse off than us and she was right, no matter what your dealing with there are always people worse off. And that’s how we lived our lives. Since dad died mum enjoyed 3 beautiful granddaughters and loved life. Since her cancer diagnosis in intensive care unit, life changed. My mum fought so hard she didn’t want to go and either did we. As her carer and daughter I saw her go through treatments and a trachea which was traumatic and the way she dealt with it was inspiring.. I’ve always been a strong person and know that there are people worse off but have really struggled with mum’s death and keep telling myself no I had a beautiful 70 years with her so be grateful which I am but its definitely changed me as a person and I know mum would hate that. I feel it’s time to get a bit of help as grief has gone on too long x

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    • vicky  March 4, 2019 at 2:09 am Reply

      Hi Tracey. I just read your sad yet inspiring post. I’m in my 40’s and lost my lovely mother 16months ago to that evil c word. She was older than your brave mum, (in her 80’s). But she wanted to go. She’d had enough of life. She didn’t want to hang around being so ill, as she was strong too. She was very independant. She had her own house, loved living alone, loved music, reading, would go on college courses, drove her own car. Was outgoing, funny & very kind. She was a retired nurse. My father died 30 yrs ago. (Massive heart attack in Epping Forest). He was 52, i was 17. My mother was widowed at 52, my brother was 24, i was the youngest. But mum just got on with things. This brought us much closer together. I think i became too clingy. Then when i was 21, i developed arthritis. (All my joints). On loads of medication. Sometimes bedridden. Plus i now have glaucoma & iritis. I have longterm treatment. Always in & out of hospitals. My mum was the best. My best friend too. I feel like i’ve lost 2 people. This is the worst thing i’ve ever faced without her. A few months after she died, i had grief counselling. I had a 5 month group counselling course. I think it helped a little. Meeting people who are all roughly going through the same thing.
      I really wish you well in your journey of grief. I try to think of grief as a long road. Don’t leave your mum behind. Take her with you. Imagine she’s next to you. But try not to let the loss consume you. It’s like that lovely poem. Miss me but let me go. Good luck. Alot of people understand your loss. x

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    • Tricia  March 20, 2019 at 4:48 pm Reply

      I lost my Dad a little over 7 months ago. I am 47 years old. My dad was 72. He was not feeling good for about 2 weeks. He had loss of appetite and pain. We took him to the ER on July 21 3018. They discovered he had Metastasis Lung cancer to the Liver. Sent us home and we made appointments with pulmonologist/ oncologists etc. he had several tests done before appointment. Regular blood work with family doctor. Every couple if days. It just kept getting worse. On August 1, 2018 we were sent to Hershey medical Center. They admitted my dad. They did a biopsy and found the cancer was spread all through his lungs, liver, lymph nodes, and bones. So there was nothing that could be done. We brought dad home to his house and a family member was with him 24/7. My dad died Monday August 13! From the day we found out until he died, it was 3 weeks. His last 4 days at home he suffered! He looked like my dad and 13 days later he was so thin and helpless! I’m having a rough time right now for about a week now. I feel like I did right when this happened. Any advice would be so much appreciated! Thank you!

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      • V  May 31, 2019 at 4:55 pm

        Oh you poor love. My dear daddy passed away from pancreatic cancer which took him oh so quickly in 4 weeks from diagnosis. The shock was awful. I know how you feel and it’s very hard. I’m sending you love and strength… keep the knowledge you were and are loved by your Dad. He sees. ??

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    • Meron  May 10, 2019 at 1:22 pm Reply

      Am really sorry for your loss. As am reading what you wrote, my heart ached for you..i know that pain. I lost my mom 6 weeks ago and she was 59. I am still in the state of shock and disbelief.
      I wish you get all the help you need to heal that pain.

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    • Marrietta Hall  August 7, 2019 at 12:46 pm Reply

      Tracey your story was very endearing to me. I too. lost my mom 17 months ago, to Alzhiemer’s. My mom was diagnosis with this debilitating disease 18yrs before she expired. I took care of her, never put her in a nursing facility; because our roles somehow reversed. I became her mother and she was my baby literally. Our relationship was tumultuous at best, especially during my early years. Mom was drinking heavily and what it seemed at the time was not so. Her negating from her duties as a parent. I finally gathered the courage to ask her why she was drinking so much. She looked me dead in my eyes, saw the pain she was inflicting and from that day on, she never indulged in drinking again. She explained to me that she had to endure the loss of a child and never properly dealt with it and alcohol became her coping mechanism. My mom was my best friend, I could tell her anything and never worry about being judged. Losing her changed me, I no longer see color, everything is gray because my sunshine is gone. I realize that ever person is different in their grieving process, so I have put forth the work to put this chapter in my life in its right perspective. After all my sunshine would encourage me to add some color to my life and celebrate her with the memories I will forever carry in my heart and mind. So Tracey, I encourage you to move forward and keep moving until you see a rainbow of colors!

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  83. Bob Kalinke  January 15, 2019 at 1:13 pm Reply

    I lost my wife of 25 years to Cancer in August. While she was being treated our middle son, 19, died in a car collision. I have a 16 year old son at home. He and I are changed forever. For the first time yesterday I saw him truly laugh. It was wonderful. It all just hurts so much. The evenings are unbelievably lonely. We live out in the country. Anna was my best friend. I cry most days. I am 57 and I have hope that I will see my wife and son in heaven. Without that hope I don’t know what I would do. Some days are ok but most days I cry and scream in my truck on the way home and then pull it together for my son. My prayers are for peace and acceptance. For now it is just brutal.

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    • Tressa  February 12, 2019 at 8:32 am Reply

      Bob, I’m so terribly sorry to read about the loss of your wife and your son. I lost my husband almost 3 years ago. I found this article this morning. Made me realize I am suffering with complicated grief. I hope you (and anyone reading this article) have a strong support system in place. I wish I had taken the necessary steps to prevent this early on, as was recommended by a grief counselor. I felt I was strong enough to get through it. Obviously, I wasn’t. Sending prayers and lots of love and support to you and your son. May God bless you all, keep you strong and help you through this very difficult time.

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    • Jude  April 26, 2019 at 8:59 am Reply

      Sending you strength for you and your son!

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    • Ramona  January 21, 2020 at 5:17 am Reply

      Dear Bob, so sorry for your loss of your son and wife. I too lost my husband in August 2019. I am 58 yrs old. We were together 25 yrs, and our 20th anniversary was coming up. We also have a son whom was 16 at the time. My husband battled throat cancer, he was treated with radiation and chemo but it came back 6 months later. The only option was to have a laryngectomy in January 2018. He went through a rough time, but seemed to be getting better with his situation. We were still going about our lives as usual. Long story short, I was away with a friend for my birthday and my son found his Dad on the bedroom floor deceased. Not sure if he had a heart attack or what. He had a few health issues since the cancer. My son is so so sad. It’s breaking my heart. He does not smile much either. i am sad too. I cry in my car and in my bathroom. My son plays soccer, so it keeps him busy with training and games. But he is struggling with this. I usually am composed , but cried at my friends 49er game party yesterday. My husbands favorite team and it made me miss him so much in that moment. I am numb and in disbelief. My husband wouldn’t even believe this happened to him. He was so full of love and life.

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  84. Kathleen  December 13, 2018 at 1:20 pm Reply

    It’s hard to explain that losing my Mom to cancer was a seriously traumatic event. Many people say that at least I had the chance to say goodbye — but really my Dad and I didn’t. I’m 30 years old and an only child. It was 6 weeks almost to the day from the onset of mom’s symptoms to her death -5 weeks before we started hospice. Dad and I had to choose together to put mom on hospice because she wanted to keep fighting so hard yet she would slip into and out of delirium from the tumors, and was far too weak for another round of treatment. She was home only 6 days during this 6 week timespan and both times she was sent home Dad and I alone would care for her, she couldn’t stand on her own, wouldn’t take her medication because of the delirium, one time before we (and the doctors actually) understood that the tumors were causing sepsis, she went into septic shock at home and I thought she was about to die in my arms before the paramedics got there.

    After Dad and I made the decision that mom needed hospice, mom was only conscious for another day or so, and she refused to talk about what was happening. So as she lay sleeping once she became mostly non responsive I’d talk to her, tell her I would be okay, that dad and I would take care of one another, and that I loved her. So did I get to say goodbye? Maybe technically but I still have no closure. My nightmares aren’t of her death, but of her being sent home to dad and I and knowing it was our job to keep her stable without the right equipment to do so. It’s only been 2 weeks since her death and I’m planning to go to grief counseling but with the holidays approaching and people taking time off I’m hesitant to start only to have to stop again until the new year.

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  85. Robin  November 15, 2018 at 10:41 am Reply

    I lost my 28 year old son 5 years ago come February. I write “5 years” and yet it feels like yesterday…. in fact it’s 5 years ago for everyone else… for “Me”… It’s every day… every day when wake, then realize that he is no longer here… My sleep still feels interrupted. By that I mean I feel “awak/asleep” many nights. Recently more so probably because the holidays are upon us which always brings with it sadness and missing… (the lead up is worse than the actual holiday-day). I have more than 3 of the points noted above and have been to “see someone” and as well have taken depression medication of which I am now off. It’s complicated..yes… complicated because it is time that must go by in order for us to build a “new normal” without one of our children and no amount of medication, support or faith can replace the time that is needed to pass. Don’t misunderstand.. I believe all those things help you through it, but it won’t “fix” it and that is the worst part of it all… Learning & Accepting that nothing will “fix you”…. that you will live with pain forever and that is so, so scary because the pain is so intense you cannot believe you can possibly survive it… but somehow you wake up to another day. The waves of grief ebb and flow at different tides…. some days are calm and others are a storm. Be kind to yourself. Know when to rest but more importantly…. Know when to get up…. you must get up!! And please remember these words which were shared with me by another grieving mother…. “God does not take our children…. but he does give us the strength to bare it”.

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  86. Andy S.  October 26, 2018 at 8:15 pm Reply

    My wife died suddenly at home 7 weeks ago at 30 years old. I was at work. I am now a single father to four children ages 2, 4, 7, and 10 years old. My wife and I lost a fifth child, our son, five years ago. Both died of heart related issues. I had just excepted our sons death earlier this year. I could just never except he died. It is hard to feel that my remaining days left here are not unlike a prison sentence. I have a prolific support group with my family but I feel burdensome to them when I talk about how I feel. My wife was my best friend before we married. She remained my closest confidant throughout our marriage. I do not know who to talk to about how I feel because she is who I would always
    speak to about something like this. I would state in my experience that all grief is complicated to the one trying to endure it. Grief is not an entre in the oven that a timer can be set to say when it is completed. I believe the experience of the individual varies as will their process through grief. I would welcome a six month turnaround on my feelings of complete and utter loss. I submit that the experience of grief is far more valuable to understanding its normalcy than merely spectating its devastation.

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    • Jude  April 26, 2019 at 8:57 am Reply

      I just read your post. My heart breaks for you! Sending you strength and courage to help you to keep moving forward with your children.

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  87. Beth L Williams  October 22, 2018 at 12:43 pm Reply

    My son died from complications after a “Bone marrow transplant” He was 29yrs old. This happened 6/13/18. I got through the funeral and was surprised I did. But now, I’m having rough spots. Right now I’m sitting in the floor of my closet writing this! I can’t get myself going. Yesterday I was ok, today I’m not! I miss him more and more every day! People have asked me, have you seen signs? I have a bird feeder so I can see cardinals everyday. I have seen feathers, coins, even had a very vivid dream about him. I really want to believe its him, but is it really? How do we really know. I just can’t believe he is gone, and I just miss him so much! I have no desire to work. I was his caregiver and now I feel useless. Does anyone else relate?

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    • Fiona  January 28, 2019 at 9:10 pm Reply

      I know exactly how you feel !! My son was 10 and died 6 months ago.
      He took gvhd very bad after bonemarrow transplant ! I am in total shock everything he endured through his 18 months off treatment ‘ and now that he has gone thats all I can remember . I lie in my bed every night , and just cry thinking about my darling son amd wish I was with him ?. I have 2 daughters but my son was my best friend and my only son and I honestly feel like he has been cheated on life. So yes ur not alone ‘but we have just to remember our boys with happy times , and they know they were loved by us and are with us everyday ?

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  88. Melody  October 9, 2018 at 1:20 am Reply

    My sister died a month ago today. I haven’t stopped crying. Everyday I cry and when my children are asleep I cry so hard I start screaming. Everything reminds me of her and I feel completely and utterly alone in the world. Its was always just me and my sister. We had a rough childhood and clingled to each other desperately. She was my only sibling and my baby sister. We talked 3 to 4 times a day on the phone and never went more than 2 to 3 months without seeing eachother, even though we lived a few states away. I can honestly say she was the closest person to me. She lived with me up until her late 20s which was only a few years ago. 3 weeks ago after my wedding she died suddenly, leaving behind a little baby and a toddler. After her husband called me and told me that she died. I just remembered falling to the floor and screaming. I beg god constantly to bring her back, I have dreams about her that shes still alive and I wake up every day wishing it was true. I was a fairly new christian before this happened and now I am so angry at god. I cannot bring myself to church. People say the most stupidest things like “shes in a better place” …really ?! How do you know? Because she was 30yrs old and left 2 babies without a mother. Where is better than being with your children?!? I don’t think people understand my grief because she was my sister not child or mother but our bond was stronger than almost anyone else, my kids are devastated because she helped me raise them. I am devastated I can barely function in public I am fine but the minute I am alone I completely break down. I don’t want to live in a world without her in it. I am so hurt I feel like my heart was ripped out.

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  89. Lisa  August 3, 2018 at 5:40 pm Reply

    My 26 yo son died unexpectedly June 1, 2018. No clues, nothing. He was a heroin addict for about 4 yrs. He had been clean for 3 yrs, doing well. Had a job he enjoyed. Then one day, he shot up (from a friend’s words) “just to try it one more time”. Well, that was the last time, as it took his life. My son,my daughtet n I were extremely close. Single mom their whole lives. We were the 3 musketeers, us against the world. I have all the grief symptoms to a T. Everyone tries to be caring & loving, but they are clueless as to what I’m truly going thru. I have started seeing a psychologist and am going next week to a grief group with other patents who truly know how completely broke I am. I think I “went thru the motions”right after, but the last few days have been pure hell & torture! I will NEVER be whole again, ever! The sun is not as bright, the flowers are not as fragrant, I feel like a zombie on a strange planet all alone. I want to die! But, as a Christian I couldn’t commit suicide, and there is NO WAY I could do that to my wonderful daughter, I love her sooo much more than I want to die. I’m severely depressed. My thoughts are consumed by my son. I have smelled all the smell out of his clothes & his pillow. I have been struggling with The Lord. I’m sooo pissed at Him, yet cling to Him daily. I hope He forgives my anger towards Him. I pray daily. My biggest issues is that I don’t know if Dylan (my son) believed in The Lord. That I will never know, and the ONLY thing that helps a bit, is my begging The Lord to give my son a second chance at redemption, as I so very badly want to see my sweet boy again in Heaven. I feel for all of you. I send my very deepest heartfelt condolences to each of you. May The Lord carry you through your agonizing grief. I will remember you all in my prayers. Thanks so much for sharing, in some strange was it helps to know there are others who “get me”. God Bless all! ?

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  90. Mari  June 21, 2018 at 12:24 am Reply

    I lost my son to suicide 3 years ago this past April. He would have been 21 this year. He was on Citalopram for 4 weeks to the day before my sweetest boy took his life. For the first two years I grieved heavy. I needed answers so I spent my time doing massive research. While I now don’t feel any of those symptoms listed as complicated grief I would like those researchers to know what I know and feel. When your child completes suicide it literally rips a piece of your soul out. I call it soul tearing. I’ve taken a new job, going out with friends, laughing being normal. But I will always feel sadness because I loved this child so much. He’s gone and I’ve accepted that. My research, I will publish and put it out to the world in the hopes it will do some good. Today I reached out to someone who dealt with him, psychologist to ask some follow questions. She hinted that maybe I should get some support which I had done previously. But here’s what I want “them” to understand. This event has changed my life and who I am – forever. I will never be the same. So for someone to complete the four stages of grief in a 6 month period of time, especially losing someone abruptly, is not realistic. There is no timeline and it’s different for every person.

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  91. Nolan Yo  May 30, 2018 at 10:23 pm Reply

    My younger and only brother died almost two years ago, suddenly from pneumonia, he was 41. The grief is worse now than initially. Worse because it was sudden, without warning. Since then it is like the movie ground hog day, but in a negative sense. What if? I have begun to resent the word brother, that others have them and mine was stolen from me in the cover of night. I stop myself constantly from thinking what his last moments were dying alone in his apartment. That my elderly parents had to bury their child. Life is a burden, completely random and unfair. Right after he died I remember I could not catch my breath. I used to think there was life after death…now I don’t.

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  92. Wanda Parsons  January 26, 2018 at 11:01 am Reply

    Three years since I lost my son, 28 year old 12-13-14 to an impaired driver, also lost my sons wife and unborn son (8mths gestation), in the same vehicle. A mth later my ex husband shot himself in the head, killing himself, about 6mths later my step daughters boyfriend died, then just last mth my stepdaughter died in front of me. During the last three years I’ve had back surgery and a suspected stroke. I have PTSD, I suffered from depression my entire life, I just turned ,55 and just relieved disability so now have lost my career of 25+ years as a registered nurse, work with hospice do witnessed many deaths. I have every single one of the above symptoms. I have seen a grief therapist for three years, I’m on medication that makes it nearly impossible to cry. I have harmed myself and death is a welcome friend I’m anxious to meet myself. I’m not suicidal presently but none the less would love to not wake up. Grief is an all encompassing part of life but to lose children is not normal. Sorry so long and ove actually forgotten what my point was which happens all the time.

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  93. Nancy  January 8, 2018 at 2:21 am Reply

    I wish that we still had signs or traditions in our culture that show people we are still grieving, like wearing black for a certain time period. When my husband died last October, I thought about hanging a black wreath on my front door, or a black ribbon on my mailbox. I think it’s a double blow when there is absolutely no acknowledgement of death in our society, of it all being so hushed up. Society expects everything to snap back to normal on Monday morning, and it does make you feel insane.

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  94. Ronna  June 29, 2017 at 11:05 am Reply

    The second year is harder, when everyone else is getting on with their lives and you are left behind, stuck in your grief, you pretend you are getting on with things and processing the grief healthily but the reality is you’re not but don’t want others to know or worry.

    its been four years now since the death of my 15 year old daughter and its still all about her, i relate everything to her, in conversations i hear myself saying ‘ jamie did that’ or ‘jamie used to say that’ in fact i have to try to stop myself talking about her because i think people will get fed up of hearing about it. I have had 3 other significant losses since Jamie died, mum, dad and unborn baby, but i feel nothing for them, only her. Each loss intensifies my grief for her. Four years is a long time to have this grief, i believe it is complicated grief now because i’m struggling to move forward, to enjoy anything or to feel anything, something has got to give and i cant spend the rest of my life trapped in this grieving state. of course i will always miss her and yearn for her and i should be able to talk about her etc. but its more than normal grieving, i don’t want to go to work, i don’t want to see people, i don’t enjoy anything and its a joke now, i just want to feel happy and enjoy the 3 children i have left.

    I think you know if you have complicated grief because your mind is stuck, you don’t feel any progress, it’s not about how you feel about the loss of your loved one, its about if you are able to feel again, enjoy other things again, are you beginning to feel normal in your head? The pain of your loss will never go away, but if the rest of your life is on hold because of it then there’s a problem

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  95. John  May 6, 2017 at 7:46 am Reply

    My daughter committed suicide on Christmas 2015 at my ex wife’s house across my state. I had not seen her in 2 years due to a previous disagreement we had. She was 25 at the time. I was across the country in another state helping take care of my sick Mother at the time.
    My Mother died 14 hours later ( December 26) after I had received the phone call from my ex late on Christmas night in forming me of my Daughter’s suicide.
    I deal with guilt, regret,anxiety and sadness every day .It has been 15 Months.
    I am not working and living off a small pension I receive from the grocery union .
    I am maintaining but that’s about it. No health insurance either.
    The only escapes I have are drinking and sleeping.
    I am in a real rut and cannot seem to get out of it….the feelings even occur in my dreams. I feel lost……..Thank You for reading..

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  96. Vanessa  October 15, 2015 at 7:01 pm Reply

    My sister would normally tell me what are you reading there?Still reading these things on the net?Still not being able to eat normally, to sleep,to feel better.Well, the truth is that it’s been almost two years now (23 months actually) since I lost my fiance of melonoma.My friends call me telling me that they’re getting married,have children,worry about losing their job. And what do I do? I every day begin by telling my self that I feel better.That there’s nothing wrong with me If I laugh with a joke, If I meet a friend for a drink or a coffee.Still most of the times I’ve seen them and done so,it was only to re assure them that I was fine, I was not depressed,I did not need them.No, I do not cry everyday,I never cried a lot I think after the loss.I felt numb, getting crazy,angry,alone,different(I am a young widow), I am different, sad,depressed.I just avoid doing things we did together,that is living a life. I cannot think my self of feeling worried or love and affection for someone else.I don’t even care If friends cope with their lives.My heart is still aching, my mind in despair and the only comfort I find is smoking, walking and believe it or not worrying about how not to look devastated anymore. I pretend that yes, it’s the second memorial in a month, but I am here and I am doing just fine.The truth is that I am not.Depression?Complicated grief?I do not really care.The thing is that sometimes it is hard to pretend anymore.Do not tell me that he would want me to be happy.I already know that.

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  97. Vicki  September 9, 2015 at 6:43 pm Reply

    Well, it’s difficult NOT to feel intense anger at the type of death since it so happens that someone literally flew out of a clear blue sky and exploded the plane into the building in which he worked. Then for the next 102 minutes, while the terrorists died instantly, people inside the towers suffered grotesque endings that in some cases took more than 10 minutes to occur.
    I don’t see how it’s “normal” NOT to feel intense emotions about it but I’m convinced that nobody else would experience much more than fury at what they did. Especially when you’re constantly reminded how the suspects who are still living feel zero remorse for what they’ve done yet have gone as far as to stage “not-eating protests” so that they die or you have to feed them through a tube, and either way YOU look like the ‘bad guy.’
    These are the people who already had evidence against them linking them to the 9/11 operation beFORE anyone carried out the utterly insane idea of torturing them for MORE details. These people have the gall to feel no guilt whatsoever for what they know they did (if they DID it), then manipulate a situation to make themselves look like the victims.
    I find it insulting, but I don’t believe I have complicated grief. I think I have grief created from a death by unnecessary violence.
    Besides, I have a friend whose daughter was killed at the Aurora movie theater when she was watching ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ and the mother is so enraged about it she makes my anger look tame.
    She says things like “My daughter was killed – no, slaughtered – by someone who never should have had access to a gun.” Which I agree with; he never should have been allowed to have a PEA shooter. She reproduced part of her daughter’s death report, so people would know what the bullets did to the body. Being a paramedic, I already knew. But I couldn’t imagine many people being able to handle it if that was their introduction to a coroner’s details of a violent death. She’s really intense but I still think she’s “more normal,” whatever that is, than I am.
    She was mentally stable before her daughter was killed by James Holmes.
    I was never “normal.” When I was 13 a boy in my class committed suicide by shooting himself with a .357 and my mom made us go to the funeral and look at him in the casket. A year before that someone in my 6th grade class died of cancer. I don’t think that’s a normal chain of events for a tween child to see. A child dying of cancer and another committing suicide but those were my introductions to death. A child dying of cancer, a teenager committing suicide. It seemed wrong from the moment I heard of it; I expected my first death experience to be with someone older, who succumbed to an illness. Not an 11-yr old dying of cancer and a 13-yr old shooting himself with a handgun that wasn’t made for a child.

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  98. Trish Forbes  January 14, 2015 at 12:33 am Reply

    I lost my soulmate two years ago this March and while I have lost other loved ones in my life – no one’s death has ever affected me like his. I think a big part of it is because we only had 16 months together and I feel like he was taken from me way too soon. The rest is that I never had a releationship like I had with him with any one else. He totally got me and supported me in anything I took on. I miss him terribly and still wish he was here with me. I look for him everywhere and I see him everywhere. A person who resembles him, walks like him, a song, a smell – and I often go back and sit at his house (which sits in a time warp) and long to see him step out the door.
    Yes, there have been plenty times past and present that I have isolated myself and felt isolated when I am in a group. I have wondered if I am going crazy or if I am moving through grief as I should. I have done group counseling through a couple of churches. I have researched and read a lot on the subject of grief.
    What I have come to realize is grief is a roller coaster and there is no time frame to getting over it – in fact I don’t think we ever really get over it. We some how just learn to live with it.

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    • Eleanor  February 3, 2015 at 4:59 pm Reply

      Trish,

      Totally agree. There’s no timelines for grieving your soulmate. On some level I’m sure you will always love, miss and look for him. My heart goes out to you.

      Eleanor

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  99. Robyn Coppedge  July 27, 2014 at 2:19 pm Reply

    Dear Eleanor –
    Thank you for your kind and well-thought-out response.
    I didn’t really mean to direct my anger at you and Litsa, but at the “researchers” who don’t know grief.
    Sorry for my rant.
    – Robyn

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  100. Robyn Coppedge  July 27, 2014 at 2:32 am Reply

    The Columbia University researchers “suggest that three or more of these symptoms persisting beyond 6 months may be an indicator of complicated grief and a reason to consider professional support.”
    I suggest that a parent who has lost a child and does NOT have three or more of these symptoms persisting beyond six months DOESN’T EXIST.
    Ah, yes, of course we should all “consider professional support.” And certainly we should all be on massive doses of antidepressants. Because mourning your child for more than SIX MONTHS is entirely abnormal.
    I lost my beautiful daughter one year ago. I would say that I suffer, to some extent, with EVERY SINGLE ONE of the listed “symptoms.”
    I’m calling bullshit on their “research.” It’s not “complicated,” it’s simple. I had a wonderful daughter that I loved with every fiber of my being for 32 years. I will never see her again.

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    • Eleanor  July 27, 2014 at 1:01 pm Reply

      Robyn,

      I am very sorry about the death of your daughter, I would in no way expect the passing of a year to lessen your pain. Here on this site we believe that there are no timelines when it comes to grief and that you will experience grief “symptoms” in one form or another, at one time or another, possibly forever.

      Although we don’t advocate for antidepressants when they aren’t actually warranted and absolutely necessary, if someone’s symptoms are worsening and/or they are living with high levels of anger, emptiness, isolation, anxiety, shock, depression, we might recommend they talk to a counselor. Going to a counselor in our eyes means talking things out with someone who can help their client find insight and provide a nonjudgemental ear and honestly this would be our recommendation to anyone experiencing these types symptoms for prolonged periods of time – grief or no grief.

      You are not alone in questioning the research behind “Complicated Grief”, many think ‘Complicated Grief’ may just be grief coupled with a pre-existing condition like depression, anxiety disorder, etc. I assure you we are not here trying to classify grief as a pathology, in fact we know grief can make you feel totally crazy for a long long time. If anything we are here trying to normalize grief, but a part of this is also normalizing effective coping methods like counseling, support groups, etc.

      Thank you for your comment. Again, I am so very sorry about your daughter’s death.

      Sincerely,
      Eleanor Haley

      • Cheri  August 2, 2019 at 11:47 pm

        Thank you,thank you, thank you, Robyn. Our son passed away a year ago and I’ve been thinking exactly as you have stated about calling bullshit on this complicated grief . You gave me some peace to know what I’m feeling isn’t abnormal. I always thought that if a parent wasn’t having all these feelings then something was terribly wrong. We hurt so bad because we loved so hard.

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  101. nicola martin  May 3, 2014 at 8:46 pm Reply

    18 months after the death of my son i am still devastated-its not complicated just a fact.

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    • Litsa  May 4, 2014 at 2:08 pm Reply

      Nicola, I am so sorry about the death of your son. 18 months is not long at all after a loss. We grieve in some way forever after a loss. We are devastated forever. Grief does change and get easier with time, but for many grievers that timeframes is far longer than just a year or two. We hope you find some support and resources on our site that may be of help.

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  102. Deborah Drummond  April 9, 2014 at 5:43 pm Reply

    I go to a support group lead by a councilor . 13months now . A six month time table! I think everyone there must have crazy complicated grief !

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    • Litsa  April 9, 2014 at 5:48 pm Reply

      13 months is absolutely normal! There is this pervasive myth that somehow we ‘move on’ or stop grieving after one year. The reality is many people have intense symptoms of grief for more than one year. Working in this field we often hear people express that sometimes the second year is actually harder than the first! Grief happens in its own way and time for everyone.

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      • vernon shiloh  January 14, 2020 at 2:09 pm

        In approximately 8 months from the date you wrote the above comment, my beloved wife will die. It is now January 2020, more than 5 years later & I still have serious bouts of deep grief at least weekly, with her thoughts always in my head. It is extremely depressing to experience this because I always feel like I’m waiting to die so I can join her.

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  103. Crying In Public (aka sometimes socks are sad) -  March 4, 2013 at 8:57 am Reply

    […] is not normal and your grief may have crossed into the complicated realm?  Check out our post on normal grief vs complicated grief.  Just looking for some general tips on taking care of yourself when overwhelmed by the emotions […]

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