Recent forum posts (all topics)

ADHD and Frontal Lobe Brain Injury

My spouse has both ADHD and a Frontal Lobe Brain Injury.  He took a nasty tumble down some stairs as a youngster and split his head open.  His parents didn't really address any of the learning issues, communication issues, physical challenges or other outcomes of having a traumatic brain injury so my spouse kind of stumbled through life, school, puberty/development, etc., with severe behavior issues.  

Denial

What can you do when your ADHD partner refuses to believe there is anything wrong with him and that it is everyone else who has the problem?  He agreed to go for an evaluation and was told he may or may not have ADHD based on a test he did on a computer.  The therapist said he could not prescribe any meds even if he did have ADHD because he has an alcohol dependency problem.  A catch 22!  Now we are back to square one.  When I mention ADHD, he just says, "I thought we already covered this...there's no problem."  Any advice for an ADHD denier?

cant do this anymore

I'm so done. I just can't go on in a phony relationship anymore. My husband is 56, takes his meds only for work. I have never seen him on them. Therefore I get the spaced out zombie that hyperfocuses on tv every night. I dread the weekends as they are worse. He does not ever vocalize any emotions or thought, good or bad. He never criticizes me, but never has anything good to say either. He makes me feel completely invisible.

Five weeks of hard earned peace...now what?

I left my husband of over 30 years more than five weeks ago, and the peace, calm, and freedom are intoxicating.  I miss the way he used to be long ago, but this separation only reinforces the idea that if we have any chance of making our marriage work there need to be some enormous changes.  I had asked him to seek treatment for ADHD/depression, and he did restart medication.  I take that as a positive, but the depression and inaction  that have kept him stuck and unemployed for the last 5 and a half years are truly scary, and no amount of Adderall will change that.

On the Lighter Side

I just had what I would call a huge success so I thought I would take a few minutes to share it with everyone.

In another topic I recently posted about pointing out successes as a common experience it seems (on both sides) as how this can be interpreted either good or bad depending on perspective and circumstances.....it was suggested I put my particular story under this section under "progress" I've made.

Without going into all the details of the story again....if you are curious you can go and find it (I'm sure) and it will complete this picture.

H appears to have found his happy place....for the time being!

I can officially report that my husband has gone to work every day for a full month...even when I was out of town for a week! I was honestly shocked to see when I got back (I check his clock in/clock out times on his work website but he doesn't know I know how to get on there) that he didn't miss a day and he didn't leave early. There haven't been anymore leaving at 4AM only to go have breakfast somewhere until 7AM and then coming home after I leave. He has been happy.

Emotion Commotion

http://www.additudemag.com/slideshow/40/slide-1.html

I read this article in ADDitude Magazine with great interest.  So much insight.  Gives me a very clear view of the internal workings and daily emotional struggle of my spouse.  

So, as I have said in so many ways, so many different times, I have the greatest empathy for his struggle.  Not blaming him for our lives issues, not feeling smug in my own opinions.

Trying to understand.

i came here after a search on the web about how to deal with my partner... I was trying to understand why he likes to put me down all the time, never compliments me for anything right or good I do and twists every single thing I say to put the blame on me, or assumes I'm feeling, thinking, doing things I am not. I was reading some threads and even knowing my partner isn't diagnosed with ADHD I feel a lot of what's shared here describes him in a perfect way.

 

Accepting the non-ADHD partner as he or she is

Hi.  I'm really struggling with this issue, as I do off and on.  I often read about people with ADHD that "this is who they are.  Other people need to accept this."  I accept this statement to a certain point and I realize that to the extent I don't accept it, that's my problem.  But perhaps even more of a struggle for me is the following:  I am who I am.  Can my husband accept that?  Even more important, can I accept it?  Is it OK for me to say, "I'm a very sensitive person.  I don't want to think of myself as a person who is vulnerable.  But I am.

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