Recent forum posts (all topics)

Why am I extra angry now?

My husband and I have been married for well over twenty years.  From the very beginning of the marriage, the only thing he has ever done in any real way is earn a paycheck.  If I asked him to do anything, it was because I actually could not do it.  We have multiple children with adhd, too, and he did not help with any of their care.  I remember with our final baby, I was desperately needing some help, and when I asked point blank for him to commit to helping with the baby in the evenings, he became very angry and refused.

RSD is just total hell

I can't believe we don't hear more about RSD in the general culture. How many people are suffering with this? In my experience with my ADHD partner, the RSD is really out of control. It feels like insanity. We are in a long slow horrendous process of breaking up, but our lives are deeply entwined and we are living in two houses on the same property. I have hoped without any rationality to be able to stay here because this is my home and I have nothing else. But there is no way to do this. It does not matter one iota what we agree to do in terms of managing our relations. The agreements are gone as soon as the ADHD and RSD is triggered. Today he lost it on me when I was trying to help him with a health problem he has. I believe he took it as criticism or trying to control him or both. But I was really trying to be helpful and urge him to do something before the problem gets worse, which he himself has been talking about lately. Anyway it triggered his RSD and I was clueless as to what was going on when he started being cold to me and avoiding me the rest of the day when there were some property related issues to discuss. When I asked him later what was wrong he would not speak to me, just closed off completely, and finally raged at me when I insisted he tell me what I had done because I was in the dark. All of this is totally counter to what we had agreed to do, how we had agreed to be with each other in these situations. Because when he is triggered there is 100% no control from his end, he just falls into this pit of RSD and can't do anything about it. He has never done therapy for this and currently is not in therapy at all because his therapist moved away and he hasn't bothered to get another one. He is untreated and has no help and won't get any. And I can't stay here. I actually have to fucking move. Being anywhere near each other is just one endless mine field and I can see that he is only getting worse. 

New here, I'm the less ADHD spouse, she's the more ADHD one

Hi, new here. I'm diagnosed ADHD, but due to some immersion experiences that occurred naturally in my adult life, I manage it all right and am not being medicated for it. I have the hallmarks of ADHD but never really found a medication that made a noticeable difference for me. I'm thinking of pursuing treatment since I'm falling behind in my professional life (after a very undistinguished academic career...) and having difficulty focusing on professional development and job hunting. But at the moment, I hope there are people who understand what I am going through.

Grief - how do I work through it?

A topic for discussion came up recently with other Nons and that is the level of grief work that you/us should do - actually BOTH parties probably need to do - but how do I actually DO it? Like, how do I sit in it? Do I allow myself to cry? Do I try to cry in the evenings when I have time? (Although now that I've typed out that sentence it makes me smile/laugh because I can't really 'DO' grief, it just has to happen) 

Forgiving Yourself

I recently read something on social media that really resonated with me. Knowing what I know about having ADHD, I'm aware that I can be challenging at times to live with. ADHD symptoms, unmitigated,  can definitely negatively impact people around me and it's really easy to blame yourself for everything you know you do that causes others to pull away. For me, intuitively, Ive known this going back to my childhood on some level buy could never put finger on exactly why?

How do I convince my wife to read ADHD Effect On Marriage

Hi all. I'm going to start just by giving some context. I am the one with ADHD here. I heard about the book sometime last year on Reddit. Ended up buying it sometime in the Fall after (or during) a fight, looking to see if this was one step in the right direction. It did take me a while to get to it and to actually finish it. I had a lul about halfway thru reading it. I was able already to use some strategies on my end like suggesting cue words and such along the way though, which helped a fair bit in at least resolving a couple conflicts.

Doing the work on your part as the Non

Just curious on the experiences here of the Nons and the type of work they did on themselves - I'm really struggling and feeling overwhelmed on what type of work I should do; read the Boundar Boss again and do all the workbooks at the end? Finish the mel Robbins workbook? Back to therapy? Attend group therapy for nons?...the list goes on. There are things I want to progress, and am actively working on them, but feel like I'm stuck again. 

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