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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

I don't want to have sex anymore with my husband

87 replies

UKSouthwesterner · 07/08/2023 18:28

Can anyone share any advice from their own similar situation from past experience on this matter please? I just don't find my husband attractive in a sexual way anymore and I don't know what to do about living with him because of this.
I love him very much, but I just don't fancy him anymore. I was very much in love in the beginning of course, but there have been so many chips away at our shared life, that has chipped away the passion and desire and I don't think it could be resurrected. We have two children, one is a preteen and one older, both living at home of course, we have pets and a business together - so it is really entangled. I really enjoy his company as best friends but I avoid sexual contact whenever he approaches the matter. For me it is partly that he and I have had so many struggles and he has let me down so much, he has promised the earth so many times and over and over delivered a few grains of sand. It is so difficult, I cannot imagine what I would do if we separated either as we have such an entangled life together. Has anyone been through anything similar and what did you do to solve it? I just do not know what to do, if I was wealthy I would know what to do, but we are on the breadline and life is so tough already :-(

OP posts:
Riapia · 08/08/2023 19:33

Have you not got a willing friend?
Preferably someone you can trust.

Ofcourseshecan · 08/08/2023 19:53

For me it is partly that he and I have had so many struggles and he has let me down so much, he has promised the earth so many times and over and over delivered a few grains of sand.

OP, you are angry and disappointed with him. He’s hurt you and let you down. No wonder you don’t fancy him any more. Resentment kills love and attraction.

If you want to revive your marriage, you have to have long and honest conversations with him. He has to accept his faults, and want to save your relationship. Counselling would probably also help.

Whether you can (or want to) save your marriage or not, I hope you don’t stay trapped in unhappiness and resentment.

Manvice · 16/12/2023 08:53

He’s gone somewhere else for it then….

BatshitCrazyWoman · 17/12/2023 14:23

CalistoNoSolo · 08/08/2023 08:10

Not quite and I'm on hrt, which has helped in so many ways, but my sex drive has never diminished. I don't see what the problem is with artificially boosting libido. Humans have been doing it for millennia.

But with sex it's a use it or lose it scenario. DP and I make time for proper sex (not just a quick shag) once a week. OP's situation is different though. I stopped having sex with my ex because our relationship was failing. It didn't stop me wanting sex. With the right person OP will get her libido back.

I agree. I still love sex, I'm nearly 60. My exH was vile to me, and I stopped having sex with him, then divorced him. But I still had a libido!

BatshitCrazyWoman · 17/12/2023 14:27

Bloody zombie thread!

Whatthefnow · 17/12/2023 14:51

You need to tell him how you feel so he can make his own decisions about his own life.

I left a sexless relationship and I'm now having the best sex of my life.

Lrose722 · 16/05/2024 06:39

This is my life story 🥺 I wholeheartedly 100% feel for you!! I don’t know if your situation has gotten better and if so please give me some tips …. Im literally dreading him right this moment

Wiggles4 · 21/01/2025 14:19

Please bear with me as I have never spoke about what has happened to me before, and this is a long message
13 years I was with my partner, he had M.S and a terrible abusive upbringing.
In those year together we never did anything together, not my choice, he had no enthusiasm for life, i don't think i ever sore him smile, i wanted to have days out even just to Glastonbury, because he had already travelled he had no intention to do it again, he wouldn't let me on my own, i couldn't go to a spar because he would leave me, so basically I stayed in the house only going to the local shop or garden centre, the arguments where very intense, nothing physical but mentally, he would let me take the car when he new i was in no state to drive, he accused me of hitting him eventhough he knew i never did, he called me allsorts to the point i thought maybe he was right and I'd forgotten it, i had an emotional break down and he wanted me to be sectioned, and put on more meds, everything was either my fault, his M.S or his childhood every argument he threatened to leave me, or he would ignore me for a few day's until I apologised, I would because the sheer panic i felt if he left me
The last 10 year's we slept in separate rooms, he would go to bed at 7pm he didn't want to watch tv with me, we didn't talk much during the day, and he cuddled me only a few times over the years, closeness was non existent, it never felt right so I blamed my back, in 4 years we had nooky twice, only because I felt guilty,
Myself and my Mum had to ask him permission to do things, Mum has copd he refused to let her get vaccinated, I had the flu jab without telling him because I knew he would leave me and there would be hell to pay,
it was always my fault, or he would blame m.s or his upbringing, we lived Separate lives but it had to be his was, in the end I relied on him to tell me what to think and believe, as long as he wasn't in a mood I could breathe. I even developed an eating disorder because he was strict about meal times, I dreaded them, I was never hungry so lived on yoghurt,
The thing is on the 02/0125 I found my husband dead in his bed, a massive stroke at 45, deep down ive always felt like gaslit me, he denied it saying it's my mental health. and I believed him, my mental health was blamed for everything, I was never on such strong medication before I met him.
So here I am now a few weeks in, completely confused, I'm walking the dog's everyday like he use to, it's a novelty as it was 13 year's ago since I did that, he always said my back was to bad, I can go on but it's hard enough to just write this, something I never thought that i would want to do, but I'm hoping somebody will help me understand the situation I was in and where do you go now, the thing is he loved us all and took on all the manly stuff, this is what's really messing my head up, am I selfish,

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 21/01/2025 14:26

ZOMBIE THREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

category12 · 21/01/2025 14:49

@wiggles4 Sorry, you'd probably be better starting a new thread of your own, as people are likely to miss your post.

beredis · 30/01/2025 17:01

That sounds incredibly tough, and I completely understand why you’re feeling so stuck. Emotional and financial entanglements make decisions like this even harder, especially when love remains but passion fades. You’re not alone—many have faced similar struggles, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

Sabrinathewitch · 19/09/2025 03:54

Myself and dh are aged 38 me dh 42 been together 10 years we don't have sex that often we used to have sex about 4 times a day but now it's probably 1-2 months but their is reasons it's dropped tbh I would personally prefer sex 3-5 times a week but you know what our relationship is not just built on sex

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