Hello all, Im M and Im 35 with a 15yr old son. Live in south wales and have been a single parent now for 14 years.
Gone through quite a lot of tough times and am currently struggling a bit with ill health and trying to sort out benefits etc...I had to resign from my previous job working with autistic teens due to me not being able to cope with the physical violence and became ill with underactive thyroid also around the same time...Im on my second month of medication for the thyroid, still feeling lousy and in the process of getting a claim sorted!!
I did have a relationship which ended a month ago and now am just focusing on me and my son. Would love to hear from others on here, to chat and compare notes!
Hello speedbird and welcome to One Space! Hope you will join us and find online support, information and friendship here.
Sorry to hear you have been poorly. The good news is that an underactive thyroid is fairly easy to treat and within another couple of months you are likely to be feeling a great deal better in that respect (I presume you are gradually increasing your medication rather than being on the full amount from Day One) I appreciate that you may have other health problems though. Hope you get on OK with the claims, if you get into difficulty then do get in touch with our specialist money advisers, click here to email them privately.
It is early days for you re your relationship splitting up, so it is important to give yourself time and space to grieve and to be kind to yourself. Come and join us in our Chit chat section, where we all pop in with our day to day news, click here to see it
Hi speedbird, welcome to One Space 
Glad you found us
Regarding benefits, as Louise says, if you need any further help contact our 1-2-1 confidential email advice, they have had over 30 years experience dealing with benefits and single parents and will help you with any issues.
I imagine your job working with autistic teens was very challenging, yet probably equally rewarding. You chose to resign, do you feel better for it?
How are you coping with the end of your relationship? I think it is lovely that you are focussing on you and your son for the time being, I am sure your son is relishing in the fact that he has his mum all to himself now!
What quality things are you able to do for yourself at the moment while you get better?
Thanks Wayne, Louise and Anna for your replies Im amazed at the quick response..its lovely.
Glad you found some support Wayne, this seems a really good site and so pleased I stumbled upon it! is just what i need at this time.
Louise, in answer to your question my dr has started me on 100mg daily which im assuming is quite high, am in the 2nd month of taking it and due a blood test end of the month..maybe Im expecting too much too soon so will persevere and see what happens.
Anna, Im coping ok with the relationship ending, it was for the best as was fairly one sided looking back, me giving and him taking! Regarding the job, I could not continue to work there as the management are not that interested in the welfare or safety of the staff, it was highly stressful and impacting on my health, yes it was rewarding at times but there was lots of issues that werent being addressed...and care was being compromised.
I hope the claim can be processed quickly as am struggling financially and I will use the services available here if I need to, thankyou for this. All your support is greatly appreciated. 
Hi speedbird
So glad you've found the board.
I have found life is so much easir focusing on the children
Looking forward to chatting.
Hi speedbird.
Welcome along to One Space. Sorry to hear you're poorly, but hopefully you'll begin to feel much better soon. It's a great site, so please do come along and have a chat with us on the daytime and evening chat rooms. Of course other forums too
Look forward to 'chatting'.
Take care
Alison
x
Hi again speedbird
I believe the "feeling better" with a thyroid condition can take many weeks. When you have your next blood test they will see if you are at the right level and adjust your dose. This can go on for a while as they have to wait about six weeks to test you again. The weather doesn't help does it?
How is your son doing? I expect he is looking forward to the holidays now. Which school year is he is? I am guessing that GCSEs are featuring quite scarily for him.
Hi sparkling lime, alisoncam and Louise,
Son is in yr 10 and has his GCSEs starting next yr..think he is looking forward to the holidays, he is going to his dads for christmas. Im going to my brothers in lincolnshire. Looking forward to seeing my two nieces, one is 3 months the other 8, both girls.
Sparkling lime, to be honest I got messed around so much by last bf that I am just relieved I dont have the stress anymore but still get lonely, as I pretty much gave it my all...even got me a ring...never again lol
hope youre all well.
Hi speedbird
Glad you have some extended family around you at Christmas, it can be very hard if our children spend it with the other parent. Hopefully you can have your own celebration with your son anyway?
That will be nice spending Christmas with your brother. I have a son in year 10 too - he has mild autism - and at the moment isn't the easiest 14 year old to be dealing with.
xx
Hi Louise and sparkling lime,
I was thinking of having a pre xmas dinner just me and my son before we both go away Louise, Im unwell at the moment so everything has come to a standstill..as soon as I shake it off I will make preparations..am having trouble with him spending too much time on computer games and because my throat has been so bad, Ive not been able to tell him off this weekend...but it does worry me a lot, we are in separate rooms a lot of the time and I try to interact with him or suggest things to do but hes not interested..
I have limited use on school nights, but this weekend has been a nightmare..
Theres not anyone around who I can ask to help either, and it does get me down as am trying to do the right thing but failing miserably. His dad is quite strict when hes with him on the weekends, and he listens to him, but not me!
Sending hugs to you sparkling Lime, I know autism is difficult as have worked with those more severely afffected. Do you have any support around you to help? x
Hi speedbird
It's not the time when you are unwell but once you are better you could implement a "system" for the computer games. One thing that worked for my boys was that they were issued with a number of "tokens" every week, each worth half an hour (how many they get is up to you) and they used to say to me "can I buy two hours?" and hand over four tokens. I know your son is older, though, so you could consider an earning system; he earns time by doing things such as the dishes, the hoovering etc, OR you could sit him down and say how much time do you think is reasonable for you to have each day on there? (probably more at weekends) and reach a compromise BUT write it down and both sign it or he will deny utterly that he ever agreed to it (speaking from experience here). Mind you, I know it is tempting to just let them get on with it when it keeps them occupied, especially when you are ill
I'm afraid when I'm ill, computer games or dvd's (or, seeing my lot are quite old) or videos were a godsend. I had a video player in my bedroom, so on really bad days, they would be in the bedroom with me!
I have four children - the oldest has just turned 19, daughter 16, son 14 and youngest son 11. Even when I was married, The Git (as I like to call him 
) was out of the house for over 13 hours a day, as he used to commute to work. He'd never take time off, even if I was ill...
The nice part now is that I will sometimes have a drink brought to me!
Hi Speedbird.
Nice to hear from you, you have found a nice site here as everyone is really nice. Hope you can get the claims sorted A.S.A.P. The chitchat room is good as people are in it everyday. Hope you start to feel better soon.
I have a little 2 year old DD who is my world at the moment. I have recently split from a 12 year relationship and everyone on here has been a great help.