I have had a few friends over the years, my best friend from school- dumped on me after choosing her boyfriend over me when I was about 20 and showing serious signs of mental illness. Next came a succession of friends on and off over the next 10 years who all dumped on me for one reason or another. I didn't have any friends again until about 6 months ago when I met my daughters friends mother who I discovered was bipolar, it was like finding myself, she was going through a bit of a rough patch so I did everything I could think of to help her, I cleaned for her, I ferried her daughter everywhere, then things got messy because of her ex husband and accusations about things people did or didn't say, so she dumped on me. I found a couple on Facebook who I used to work with about 14 years ago and struck up a good friendship. Alan took an overdose and as his wife couldn't drive and lived 30 miles away from the hospital (I only live 10 mins) I would visit everyday trying to help him deal with what he had done, well I haven't heard from them in about a month so dumped on again. My "friend' with bipolar is trying to reconnect but if you knew the circumstances around why things went wrong I'm sure you would be telling me to stay well clear. I do have 2 friends, one is a lot older and suffers from fibromyalgia and the other is what I would call the only 'normal' person I know, but she has a very hectic life so seeing her is difficult. I just find myself thinking why do I go out my way to try and help people, I don't do it so they will like me, I do it because they don't have anyone else to turn to, I don't do it because I'm looking for a favour but it would be nice to get some sort of recognition that I have actually helped them when they needed someone and I'm the one left with no one to do the same to me. I'm just dumped on. So do I or do I not keep trying? I feel if I just don't bother with friends I wouldn't get hurt. No one understands anyway. Do we need friends? I'm beginning to think not!!!