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So much pressure with H's depression - it's making me feel unwell

8 replies

myeyesaresore · 21/04/2012 07:52

I have posted before.

My H has recently started taking AD's -about 10 days ago-and so I know it is early days yet. But I am finding it really hard to cope as he is just such hard work and I can't help but feel angry with him at times.

I know that sounds so bad and doesn't help, but I suppose I feel like a lot of it has been bought on himself. He has been trying to give up smoking weed, of which he used to smoke a lot in the evenings. He is a SAHP, I work in a stressful job and this time last year upon returning to work when lo was 8 wks old I was bullied by my boss even though my baby was suffering really bad reflux and H was hopeless. My GP signed me off work but I was so afraid of losing my job that under pressure I returned - H would not support me when I said that I was going to make a stand and not return but it could mean I could end up losing my job. We already had financial pressures and he refused to seek some part time work to help out.

Because he smoked weed in the evenings when I returned from work I did everything for the children - fed them, played with them, bathed them and put them to bed. He never had any time for me, would just be outside smoking or in the office on the computer.

After Xmas and much thought I realised that his smoking would never change and although I didn't want my children to have to live without H I could see that it was probably a better solution. I guess I started to see a different life and perhaps stopped being such a doormat.

I must have appeared outwardly stronger and this seemed to unsettle H.

One evening he came home and asked if I really loved him and said he wanted to give up the smoking. I thought this was a good thing and was prepared to stand by him to see if things could get better.

However, paranoia started to set in and he seemed to be constantly quizzing me on what i was doing and get incredibly needy. He wanted to be around me hugging me all the time and needed me to be expressing/showing love constantly. It was hard for me as it was such a turnaround and I suppose we were starting from a low point anyway - he had allowed me in my fragile state to have to cope/worry about everything whilst he indulged his habit and now wanted me to indulge his need for love.

As if this wasn't enough he then seemed to be testing me, had I really been where I said I had etc - it was so hard and I couldn't help but be angry with him when he made these accusations and quizzed me/picked me up on things. He keeps saying how lonely he is, and I am sure he is, but as sorry as I feel for him I cannot be the one to make him all ok.

And so now I am hoping that the AD's will kick in and that he will become less needy and we might be able to start to rebuild a relationship together, but a part of me worries that he will always be demanding so much of me, and I cannot give any more. He is making me feel cross towards him because he has made my life very difficult in recent years with his drug habit, and now by the depression. I feel like it could all bring me down again and I don't want to go back to that.

Maybe I am just not a very nice person, after all I have suffered depression myself and maybe I should be more understanding?

OP posts:
Lovetats · 21/04/2012 08:00

You are fabulous. He is not.

Please would you re-read your post as if someone else had posted it. You'd tell them to take control and kick this man's arse, wouldn't you?

He smokes weed whilst refusing to work and supposedly parenting your children? And then whines because he's not getting enough attention??

Please stop being nice and at the very least, make sure your children are being properly cared for.

juneau · 21/04/2012 08:05

He sounds like a total waste of space. FGS get rid of him! What exactly does he bring to your life? Nothing, from what you've said, except stress. He's hopeless with your children, he smokes weed and does nothing around the house and now he's depressed, whereas you're a working woman who supports him and manages to run the house as well. Sorry - I know this sounds harsh and I don't know you - but if a friend came to you with this story and asked for advice, what would you say?

Svrider · 21/04/2012 08:08

To be honest you need to re-assess your whole circumstances
Then think about what life would be like without H
I think you will see that going it alone, whilst hard is your only way forward

myeyesaresore · 21/04/2012 08:13

Thanks lovetats.

The smoking of weed is not in the day, when I used to get home from work he would be itching to get off so that he could go and make one. I know people will think that I'm being ignorant to the fact, but believe me when he goes outside to smoke and comes back in you can smell it on the clothes/hands everything straight away.

He is now smoking much less in the evening - down to about 25% of what he was but it seems since then that he has gotten so bad with the depression and I really didn't expect that - I honestly thought he would find it hard but this is a nightmare.

I don't know how much longer I can put up with it. I think I would like to see if he can go back to how he was, but a part of me is scared that he never will.

I keep thinking about putting the house on the market and handing my notice in as I couldn't continue to work here with such little ones or keep the house if we were to split but am scared of how we would find housing etc. after. I have been trying to find out if we might be able to register with our HA but the info. available seems vague.

OP posts:
xkcdfangirl · 21/04/2012 08:14

I'm sorry this is going to have to be such a short reply when there's so much I want to reply to, but I've only got a couple of minutes right now - will try to write more later.

Neediness is not love. Emotional vampirism is not love. Withdrawal from a drug habit is not the same as clinical depression (though someone can have both)

Well done for stopping being a doormat, being strong and looking out for yourself and your children - this is the right way to go. H is going through a difficult process of change to become part of a mutually supportive family. It's fine to cut him some slack and give him some support as he makes this change, if he really is committed to it.

Sometimes people with depression can behaving in ways which are unacceptable to family life. Understanding and acknowledging that this behaviour is due to chemical imbalances in the brain rather than inate personality does not have to mean accepting them as a permanent feature of your life - you can and should define and impose limits on what you can accept.

myeyesaresore · 21/04/2012 08:29

Sorry x posted with others, with whom I agree with everything you say.

I just needed to know am I being too harsh here, am I turning my back on someone when in need.

I appreciate all your answers, they are what I had been thinking myself up until very recently when his depression made me feel as though I was wrong to be thinking that to leave my job and sell the house and perhaps train in a new career is the way forward for me.

Thanks all x

OP posts:
myeyesaresore · 21/04/2012 08:41

Just to add I am currently at work but finish soon so posting may be sporadic over weekend, thanks to all who have taken the trouble to respond, MN is such a lifeline at times. I will read/update when I can.

OP posts:
madmouse · 21/04/2012 11:09

He may have been self medicating a depression with weed for a long time. ADs are not going to solve everything. He needs to be very serious about change and seek support. He probably needs a significant amount of therapy.

BUT

All of this is his responsibility. He has a choice how he behaves towards you and it is time you set boundaries to protect yourself. He has no right to make you ill with it. You cannot solve this for him. You can cheer him on for every step forwards he takes, but he has to take the steps.

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