u/Aggravating_Belt8055

I’ve never posted anything on Reddit before but I need advice desperately and I’m struggling to make sense of this.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, and one time he was in his late teens, I thought I caught him going through my dirty laundry basket. Now I decided to tell my parents this as I was concerned and they didn’t believe me. Not until I secretly recorded him going into my room, searching through my laundry basket and taking my out underwear. After they saw the video, they accepted that it had happened. My dad just said that boys do this and he was just looking for something “feminine”.

Since that incident I’ve not experienced anything else and decided to put it down to “boys just being boys”. A few years has gone by since then and I’ve moved about multiple times and not permanently been at my parent’s house.

Cut to now (a week ago), he stayed with me and my boyfriend for three nights. During the visit, I became increasingly uncomfortable because I thought I caught him masturbating under the duvet while we were in the same room watching tv. One afternoon I went to move the pillow he had been using (as he was sleeping in my living room) and found semen all over it. I also think I found some on my sofa….and a close friend of mine said he saw my brother had multiple erections when we went to the sauna and that it made him feel uncomfortable.

Since then, my anxiety has become really severe. I’m barely sleeping, and I’ve missed a few days of work because I can’t cope, especially with early morning shifts. My brother lives a long way away and I’m not frightened that he’s going to turn up at my house, but I still feel constantly anxious.

I think I’m only now realising that this recent visit may have brought back everything that happened years ago with my underwear and how I wasn’t believed at first.

I suppose my questions are, does this sound like a reasonable thing to be so affected by? Has anyone else have similar experiences that have triggered some body response? Am I valid in seeking support and thinking this isn’t right? Please be kind. I’m already questioning myself a lot, and I’m genuinely trying to understand whether my reaction is normal. Thanks guys.

EXTRA INFORMATION: Just for more clarification on this. He is my half brother and this is my step dad that I told who shut it down. After I recorded the video I mentioned above my parents made me delete it and watched me do so.

My brother does also have dyslexia and honestly thinking maybe he could be a little autistic. He’s quirky for sure but wouldn’t say outwardly noticeably weird. He lives a completely normal life and has a job, girlfriend and friends ect…

Now also I don’t know if this is relevant but I thought I would mention it as it could be important. But I’ve been really proud of myself the past few years because I’ve been doing university and my chosen subject was history. (This is a big deal for me because I messed up my GCSEs a little and so on). Now when my brother came to stay he dropped the bombshell that he too wanted to do the exact same thing as me! I know it might be trivial but it’s kind of annoying because it was MY thing, now I feel like he’s trying to take that from me. Anyways, that’s all I had to say. Anymore questions are welcome.

I’ve never posted anything on Reddit before but I need advice desperately and I’m struggling to make sense of this.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, and one time he was in his late teens, I thought I caught him going through my dirty laundry basket. Now I decided to tell my parents this as I was concerned and they didn’t believe me. Not until I secretly recorded him going into my room, searching through my laundry basket and taking my out underwear. After they saw the video, they accepted that it had happened. My dad just said that boys do this and he was just looking for something “feminine”.

Since that incident I’ve not experienced anything else and decided to put it down to “boys just being boys”. A few years has gone by since then and I’ve moved about multiple times and not permanently been at my parent’s house.

Cut to now (a week ago), he stayed with me and my boyfriend for three nights. During the visit, I became increasingly uncomfortable because I thought I caught him masturbating under the duvet while we were in the same room watching tv. One afternoon I went to move the pillow he had been using (as he was sleeping in my living room) and found semen all over it. I also think I found some on my sofa….and a close friend of mine said he saw my brother had multiple erections when we went to the sauna and that it made him feel uncomfortable.

Since then, my anxiety has become really severe. I’m barely sleeping, and I’ve missed a few days of work because I can’t cope, especially with early morning shifts. My brother lives a long way away and I’m not frightened that he’s going to turn up at my house, but I still feel constantly anxious.

I think I’m only now realising that this recent visit may have brought back everything that happened years ago with my underwear and how I wasn’t believed at first.

I suppose my questions are, does this sound like a reasonable thing to be so affected by? Has anyone else have similar experiences that have triggered some body response? Am I valid in seeking support and thinking this isn’t right? Please be kind. I’m already questioning myself a lot, and I’m genuinely trying to understand whether my reaction is normal. Thanks guys.

I’ve never posted anything on Reddit before but I need advice desperately and I’m struggling to make sense of this.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, and one time he was in his late teens, I thought I caught him going through my dirty laundry basket. Now I decided to tell my parents this as I was concerned and they didn’t believe me. Not until I secretly recorded him going into my room, searching through my laundry basket and taking my out underwear. After they saw the video, they accepted that it had happened. My dad just said that boys do this and he was just looking for something “feminine”.

Since that incident I’ve not experienced anything else and decided to put it down to “boys just being boys”. A few years has gone by since then and I’ve moved about multiple times and not permanently been at my parent’s house.

Cut to now (a week ago), he stayed with me and my boyfriend for three nights. During the visit, I became increasingly uncomfortable because I thought I caught him masturbating under the duvet while we were in the same room watching tv. One afternoon I went to move the pillow he had been using (as he was sleeping in my living room) and found semen all over it. I also think I found some on my sofa….and a close friend of mine said he saw my brother had multiple erections when we went to the sauna and that it made him feel uncomfortable.

Since then, my anxiety has become really severe. I’m barely sleeping, and I’ve missed a few days of work because I can’t cope, especially with early morning shifts. My brother lives a long way away and I’m not frightened that he’s going to turn up at my house, but I still feel constantly anxious.

I think I’m only now realising that this recent visit may have brought back everything that happened years ago with my underwear and how I wasn’t believed at first.

I suppose my questions are, does this sound like a reasonable thing to be so affected by? Has anyone else have similar experiences that have triggered some body response? Am I valid in seeking support and thinking this isn’t right? Please be kind. I’m already questioning myself a lot, and I’m genuinely trying to understand whether my reaction is normal. Thanks guys.

EXTRA INFORMATION: Just for more clarification on this. He is my half brother and this is my step dad that I told who shut it down. After I recorded the video I mentioned above my parents made me delete it and watched me do so.

My brother does also have dyslexia and honestly thinking maybe he could be a little autistic. He’s quirky for sure but wouldn’t say outwardly noticeably weird. He lives a completely normal life and has a job, girlfriend and friends ect…

Now also I don’t know if this is relevant but I thought I would mention it as it could be important. But I’ve been really proud of myself the past few years because I’ve been doing university and my chosen subject was history. (This is a big deal for me because I messed up my GCSEs a little and so on). Now when my brother came to stay he dropped the bombshell that he too wanted to do the exact same thing as me! I know it might be trivial but it’s kind of annoying because it was MY thing, now I feel like he’s trying to take that from me. Anyways, that’s all I had to say. Anymore questions are welcome.

I’ve never posted anything on Reddit before but I need advice desperately and I’m struggling to make sense of this.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, and one time he was in his late teens, I thought I caught him going through my laundry basket. Now I decided to tell my parents this as I was concerned and they didn’t believe me. Not until I secretly recorded him going into my room, searching through my laundry basket and taking my out underwear. After they saw the video, they accepted that it had happened. My dad just said that boys do this and he was just looking for something “feminine”.

Since that incident I’ve not experienced anything else and decided to put it down to “boys just being boys”. A few years has gone by since then and I’ve moved about multiple times and not permanently been at my parent’s house.

Cut to now (a week ago), he stayed with me and my boyfriend for three nights. During the visit, I became increasingly uncomfortable because I thought I caught him masturbating under the duvet while we were in the same room watching tv. One afternoon I went to move the pillow he had been using (as he was sleeping in my living room) and found semen all over it. I also think I found some on my sofa….and a close friend of mine said he saw my brother had multiple erections when we went to the sauna and that it made him feel uncomfortable.

Since then, my anxiety has become really severe. I’m vomiting, barely sleeping, and I’ve missed several days of work because I can’t cope, especially with early morning shifts. My brother lives a long way away and I’m not frightened that he’s going to turn up at my house, but I still feel constantly anxious.

I think I’m only now realising that this recent visit may have brought back everything that happened years ago with my underwear and how I wasn’t believed at first.

I suppose my questions are, does this sound like a reasonable thing to be so affected by? Has anyone else have similar experiences that have triggered some body response? Am I valid in seeking support and thinking this isn’t right? Please be kind. I’m already questioning myself a lot, and I’m genuinely trying to understand whether my reaction is normal. Thanks guys.

I’ve never posted anything on Reddit before but I need advice desperately and I’m struggling to make sense of this.

My younger brother is in his early 20s, and one time he was in his late teens, I thought I caught him going through my dirty laundry basket. Now I decided to tell my parents this as I was concerned and they didn’t believe me. Not until I secretly recorded him going into my room, searching through my laundry basket and taking my out underwear. After they saw the video, they accepted that it had happened. My dad just said that boys do this and he was just looking for something “feminine”.

Since that incident I’ve not experienced anything else and decided to put it down to “boys just being boys”. A few years has gone by since then and I’ve moved about multiple times and not permanently been at my parent’s house.

Cut to now (a week ago), he stayed with me and my boyfriend for three nights. During the visit, I became increasingly uncomfortable because I thought I caught him masturbating under the duvet while we were in the same room watching tv. One afternoon I went to move the pillow he had been using (as he was sleeping in my living room) and found semen all over it. I also think I found some on my sofa….and a close friend of mine said he saw my brother had multiple erections when we went to the sauna and that it made him feel uncomfortable.

Since then, my anxiety has become really severe. I’m vomiting, barely sleeping, and I’ve missed several days of work because I can’t cope, especially with early morning shifts. My brother lives a long way away and I’m not frightened that he’s going to turn up at my house, but I still feel constantly anxious.

I think I’m only now realising that this recent visit may have brought back everything that happened years ago with my underwear and how I wasn’t believed at first.

I suppose my questions are, does this sound like a reasonable thing to be so affected by? Has anyone else have similar experiences that have triggered some body response? Am I valid in seeking support and thinking this isn’t right? Please be kind. I’m already questioning myself a lot, and I’m genuinely trying to understand whether my reaction is normal. Thanks guys.