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Being a newbie to publicly telling strangers about my personal struggles, is it normal to initially feel worse after bringing things up that you've tried to fix on your own or ignore and hope would just go away?

Normal, or not?

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I think it is "normal to initially feel worse." How often do you: (1) verbalize and HEAR your feelings or (2) express through writing and SEE your feelings? If it is rare . . . then maybe you'll have a lot of discomfort and feel "worse" while the process of disclosing has happened or immediately after the process of disclosing. I think it's a natural part of the healing process, to allow yourself to "feel" the feelings you've denied or were previously unable to "feel" in the past. With child abuse victims (me included), children typically are not allowed to own their own emotions (told suck it up or not to cry, etc) or unable to process the fear, shame, hurt (because lack of support) . . . however, by not processing the feelings a child probably helped any child to survive the abusive environment. As an adult, it may be time for you to give yourself permission to feel those scary feelings. You're feelings aren't crazy - - the abusive environment in your past was crazy. ((((((((((((Huggs))))))))))))