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Relationships

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Help what is wrong with me?

10 replies

Coots77 · 05/01/2020 14:18

This is a long one so bear with me. I have been married nearly 18 years and work full time with my husband, We have 2 lovely kids and various pets. We have a great home life, holidays friends etc, the thing is we have stopped having a physical relationship around 6 months ago. He was diagnosed with depression 8 years ago but that never stopped him being physical. He has always been the one taking the lead and I loved how confident he is in the bedroom. The problem here is that we have throughout our marriage argued about how he feels I am not interested in him as I rarely initiate sex, we don't talk whilst in the bedroom and this makes him feel like I am just conducting my wifely duties. He is still very good looking was my first and only sexual partner and I admit I have taken it for granted he just takes the lead. I grew up in an old fashion household where my dad was the man of the house. It's no excuse as i know how relationships are from friends, family tv etc so when we have talked about this I completely understand that he feels like I am not interested. But whenever I make a change to intiate or be more vocal he says I am just doing this because we argued about this before, I then revert back to waiting and then we just go round in circles . I do enjoy sex so why am I not confident? He has now said that he doesn't want to sleep with me, as he a doesn't feel a connection.He says if we take the sex away our relationship it will be less stressful for both of us and we can just continue being friends working and raising our kids together and see how things go from there. The lack of sex now means we are barely talking and kissing hugging him makes him feel awkward. And I am not sure how we can live together without some form of physical contact. We went to counselling last year and discovered lots of things from both our pasts that have caused trauma to us. Things were a bit better but now we have gone back to the beginning. My husband feels I am not interested in him and that I don't understand his depression. He had an affair 8 years ago and that was around the time he was diagnosed with depression. We managed to sort things out and I never told anyone about the cheating as I just wanted to get past it and move on, as I was worried about him and wanted to return to normal family life. It killed my confidence at the time and I know over the years not talking about any problems as I bottle everything up thinking tomorrow is a new day and it will all be good has brought us here. I really want to save our marriage as I love him and always thought we would be together, but i think he has had enough and to be honest I can't blame him. Help what is wrong with me what is stopping me be confident in the bedroom and is it really over?

OP posts:
FlissMumsnet · 06/01/2020 22:15

Hi Coots77,

We're sorry to hear how difficult things are for you right now. We're no experts with relationships but we wanted to jump in, say hi and give this a bump for you.

We hope some of our users will be along soon with some useful advice.

All the best
Flowers

bluebell34567 · 06/01/2020 22:23

i think you both need to see a relate counsellor together again.

12345kbm · 07/01/2020 02:00

He seems to have pushed you into a bit of a Catch 22 here and I'm wondering why. He says he wants you to initiate more, so you initiate and he pushes you away saying you're not being authentic. It's him not wanting intimacy, not you.

He has form for cheating and hasn't wanted sex for six months.

Has he had a check up OP to see if there is a recurrence of the depression and had blood tests to see if there is a physical reason? It seems strange that he's always had a strong sex drive and it's now non existent.

There's also the possibility he's interested in someone else.

Bilboard · 07/01/2020 03:21

Op keep talking to him, don't stop communication. I would also restart counselling.
Also, do you go on date nights? I mean like really dressing up for him, hair and everything, just like when you started going out. Do you cook together/ does he like your cooking? Do you have a hobby together? Do you have quality time / fun together? Sometimes we are too busy in life to get time to do things that are important if that makes sense.

Bilboard · 07/01/2020 03:31

Also, in my case my hormones played havoc, at one point I felt apatic, no wanting sex, mood swings etc, without going into too much detail, i had a full blood test screening and it was very enlightening, hormones have a great impact into our overall well-being.

Booberella9 · 07/01/2020 03:31

He's having another affair. Sorry OP.

hellywelly3 · 07/01/2020 03:40

Write him a letter and explain that you don’t want a relationship that isn’t physical, explain you love him and want things to improve . Date nights are so important and time has to be made for them. Also men aren’t mind readers. Tell him it turns you in when he takes the lead in the bedroom and that’s why you let him do that. Issues have to be dealt with not bottled up. I think sometimes we have to fight for our marriages and this sounds like one of those times.

Coots77 · 07/01/2020 19:21

Thank you. We had a councelliing session yesterday, and I felt it went well. But today he just said it didn't really change anything. So not sure what to do. We haven't had a proper date night in a while and now I don't know how it would go, as he seems very disinterested in me. I think we could stay together till the kids left home, but then I would be lonely and closer to 50! @hellywelly3 thank you I have written to him, but he says it's just words and I can't back this up as I feels I show no physical interest, so stuck in the mud right now. @Bilboard thxs i get the idea about making time for us, we have done lots of things would be interested in checking our bloods. I just also think he has checked out on me. I really am hoping there is nobody else x

OP posts:
ChangedMyNameYetAgain · 07/01/2020 20:20

Why do you think there is something wrong with you?
It is him. His affair destroyed your confidence.
The withdrawal of physical affection from you is cruel.
I'd suspect an affair.

ConfCall · 07/01/2020 20:31

I’m thinking that he may be interested in someone else, OP, given his history. So I’m not sure that date nights etc will work in that context, if his mind is on her...and he may be going through the motions with counselling. Have you asked him about this possibility?

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