u/DeviantDread

Hello there, traveller.

I see you're looking for something. Someone, even. Maybe I can help. Rest your tired feet while I tell you about this taverns biggest menace.

Right outside of our borders there lives a creature. A creature that taints our woodland animals with her dark sense of humor and wields it so dry it petrifies the woods she dwells in. Despite the smoke of her evergoing sass often rendering our roads unfit for travel, she has never been spotted.

She roams our town and the forests surrounding it like a shadow. Our villagers hide their cheese and the king has forbidden all things horror as to not lure her in, as when she shows up, her spell of sarcasm affects the entire village. A shy creature, she is. She shivers at the thought of social interaction and when forced to, often retreats back into her world of iron and wood to recharge.

However, she is kind. She often leaves food at the gates, so good that it 'll make any of our warriors take an arrow to the knee. When the wind hits right, we can often hear her cackle at her own jokes, a cackle that makes the most cynical of our mages crack a smile and she tends to the woods, the animals within and even the lost travellers with a love and care many can only dream to encounter.

Quite the creature indeed.

We believe that all she needs is a companion. A circle of companions, perhaps. A sunseeker to her moongazer.

So, we dare ask of you, traveller. That you go find the creature of sass and take her under you wing. She makes for a loyal companion that brings many buffs to your party.

Hiya all!

First of all; I need to preface this by making very clear that I became acutely aware of the fact that I am being taken advantage of and mistreated. I have given myself a deadline to figure things out and leave the situation i'm in one way or another.

I also don't need to be told i'm in the running for worlds biggest idiot. I know.

I, F33, met my boyfriend (M45) about 2 years ago. We went from nothing to talking all day every day. We definitely had the slow burn kind of romance and I felt loved, safe and cared for.

As all good things, the honeymoonphase ended quite abruptly when he admitted to having a non-substance addiction, pretty destructive one none the less.

During the course of that year I have caught him acting out dozens of times. As i'm not as "strict" on that aspect in a relationship I didn't mind the actions as much as I was hurt by the lies and secrecy.

Every time I caught him he would conceal over disclose. He would create conflict to avoid facing the actual issue. Once escalation happened he would claim to "need space", which is just the cowards way of avoiding calling it what it is, the silent treatment.

Now; I happen to be a survivor of severe domestic abuse and now that i'm 15 hours into another round of silent treatment I cannot help but spot simularities between what my ex husband did and my current boyfriend is doing. I need help on figuring out if my mind is fucking me over, or if i'm finally seeing things for what they are.

The silent treatment.

My ex-husband would refuse me any kind of affection/communication when he felt some type of way. This often escalated to being locked in a room, not allowednto come out, often until I soiled myself. When he did eventually let me out he would often physically harm me for whatever reason he thought of. This has led to me having a pretty strong reaction to being cut off.

My current boyfriend has never laid a finger on me but happily uses above trauma to get me to back away from having conversations he doesn't feel like having. He ignores me until I hit the point of "i'll shut up, just come back." We have discussed this several times, he does not stop.

Harming my physical and mental health.

My ex-husband would degrade, manipulate and mock me to the point where I believed the physical harm he put me through was deserved. Something that feels especially jarring right now is the fact that he beat several teeth out and used to rip out chunks of hair.

My current boyfriend has not touched me. What he has done, however, is make horrid comments about how I am responsible for someone taking their own life and I should take my own. How his life would be better without me, etc. Both his addiction and way of handling conflict have me so stressed out it has actually caused me to get bald spots and have my teeth fall out. I am also being tortured by nightmares and cannot sleep. This could have easily been minimized or helped had he deemed me worthy of honesty and conversation, but despite seeing what it did to me he refused and chose to pretend he didn't notice.

Treating me like a utility.

My ex husband didn't see or view me as a person. I was an object to tend to the kids, cook and clean. My mind or heart didn't matter and if I didn't provide, I was punished.

My current boyfriend depends on my financial help, I even took an extra job to do so. I truly believe he is very actively jobhunting and hasn't had any luck. Despite this being the case he doesn't tend to me or our relationship, always telling me we'll talk/fix things once his issues are sorted.

No care. No appreciation. Just expectations of me showing up despite running on fumes.

Everything's my fault.

Both my ex-husband and current boyfriend blame me for things I cannot help. Not making rent, his ex wife taking his kids, the bills being late, the kids not listening,...

Everything is my fault.

Am I seeing ghosts here or did I just huy the same car in a different color?

Hello there, traveller.

I see you're looking for something. Someone, even. Maybe I can help. Rest your tired feet while I tell you about this taverns biggest menace.

Right outside of our borders there lives a creature. A creature that taints our woodland animals with her dark sense of humor and wields it so dry it petrifies the woods she dwells in. Despite the smoke of her evergoing sass often rendering our roads unfit for travel, she has never been spotted.

She roams our town and the forests surrounding it like a shadow. Our villagers hide their cheese and the king has forbidden all things horror as to not lure her in, as when she shows up, her spell of sarcasm affects the entire village. A shy creature, she is. She shivers at the thought of social interaction and when forced to, often retreats back into her world of iron and wood to recharge.

However, she is kind. She often leaves food at the gates, so good that it 'll make any of our warriors take an arrow to the knee. When the wind hits right, we can often hear her cackle at her own jokes, a cackle that makes the most cynical of our mages crack a smile and she tends to the woods, the animals within and even the lost travellers with a love and care many can only dream to encounter.

Quite the creature indeed.

We believe that all she needs is a companion. A circle of companions, perhaps. A sunseeker to her moongazer.

So, we dare ask of you, traveller. That you go find the creature of sass and take her under you wing. She makes for a loyal companion that brings many buffs to your party.

I'm stressed. I have never been this stressed out in my entire life.

As a result my cortisol levels are off the charts, which is fucking with my entire body in a variety of new and exciting ways like my teeth falling out, my heartrate ans BP being all over the place, insomnia and also hairloss.

I am a 33yr old woman and I am developing bald spots. I used to have the most glorious, curly and long hair. Now I feel that what's on my head resembles smeagols hairdo.

I have developed bald spots due to stress before and they had finally started to grow back, so I know this isn't permanent. I know that the glorious curls are still there.

So, I hope my question's allowed here. Other than the obvious "don't be stressed", what can I do to both stop my hair falling out/stimulate growth?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Yes I have had my bloodwork done.