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Relationships

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DH working from home ALL the time; feeling absolutely drained by him

230 replies

Gotitthanks · Yesterday 16:25

That sounds horrible but hear me out. DH is disabled. It’s fairly recent and we’re all still adjusting I dare say.

Work has adjusted to him working from home permanently. Because of his disability he has to sit in a specially adapted chair. There’s no room for it in any of the bedrooms upstairs so he’s in the lounge.

Since he’s sleeping badly at night he is working when he can. He was working until 8 o clock last night. We have young children and I am sick to death of having a husband who is there in all but name.

I know there’s no easy answers. I’m just sharing because it’s so difficult to talk about in RL without sounding an arse but truth is I’m sick of the sight of him!

OP posts:
99bottlesofkombucha · Yesterday 22:29

ClayPotaLot · Yesterday 22:24

Would a murphy bed in your room work? So, at least during the day when he's working, the communal spaces are free?

If there's no way to make a space for him elsewhere, then I think a rule that he cant work between x and y o'clock would be reasonable. A set time when he is engaging with the family.

I'd also put a curtain up around his office space in the lounge so it's not a visual presence for everyone all the time. And if you can afford a garden room, it could be a second lounge for you and the kids if the lounge is pretty much off limits when he's working. Appreciate that may feel like you're being pushed out of your home, but it could be a lovely space and stop the resentment building up.

Make sure you're looking after yourself and the kids in other ways too, OP. I may have misinterpreted what you've written, but if your DH's disability is pretty much the entire focus of the household, you are on a spiraling path of doom. Make sure you and the DC get plenty of your own needs and desires met, even if the way you would have done so in the past is no longer viable. Go out if you need to. Make time for yourself if you need to. Spend on yourself if you need to.

I think you need these rules too op, that he smile and say hello how was your day and doesn’t work for 2 hours when they get home. He can go to the bedroom if he wants but no working in the living room and ignoring them. That seems reasonable, and if it makes him unhappy, well it’s two hours, and they are his children.

nc43214321 · Yesterday 22:29

This is not a good situation, how long until he can get more mobile? You will both end up resenting each other.

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:31

Your poor poor husband. If a man was on here posting like this about his wife he would be torn limb from limb. I'm honestly sometimes ashamed of my sex, and this site makes me even more so.

ChaliceinWonderland · Yesterday 22:36

What a nightmare . I'd invite friendsrounc for a drink or dinner and get some empathy from them, someone external needs to see his bad this is. He has to go somewhere else this will destroy you mentally.
Youmayneedto separate. In irder to get away. He is a selfish piece of work. Who dies this to their family?

TheContinent · Yesterday 22:38

OK, what happened next then?

Namechangewegovyjune26 · Yesterday 22:39

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:31

Your poor poor husband. If a man was on here posting like this about his wife he would be torn limb from limb. I'm honestly sometimes ashamed of my sex, and this site makes me even more so.

How likely would it be for the wife to totally disengage from family life while it all happened around her and ignore the kids? 🤔

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:43

Namechangewegovyjune26 · Yesterday 22:39

How likely would it be for the wife to totally disengage from family life while it all happened around her and ignore the kids? 🤔

The man is badly disabled and in a state of shock, and the OP is making it all about her!

Lovelyview · Yesterday 22:45

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:43

The man is badly disabled and in a state of shock, and the OP is making it all about her!

She's in shock too.

saraclara · Yesterday 22:46

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:31

Your poor poor husband. If a man was on here posting like this about his wife he would be torn limb from limb. I'm honestly sometimes ashamed of my sex, and this site makes me even more so.

I disagree. Unusually for Mumsnet, I think a man posting this OP would get the same kind of responses as this OP has.

The vast majority of people recognise that caring for someone is very often depressing, exhausting and frustrating, however much you might love the person. It's even harder if that person gives nothing back, and doesn't recognise or appreciate their partner's sacrifice. And it makes no odds what sex the carer is. It's tough.

godmum56 · Yesterday 22:48

ChaliceinWonderland · Yesterday 22:36

What a nightmare . I'd invite friendsrounc for a drink or dinner and get some empathy from them, someone external needs to see his bad this is. He has to go somewhere else this will destroy you mentally.
Youmayneedto separate. In irder to get away. He is a selfish piece of work. Who dies this to their family?

someone who has just seen their whole able bodied life go down the toilet and is struggling to come to terms with it. And yes the disability of one person affects the whole family.

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:49

Lovelyview · Yesterday 22:45

She's in shock too.

It didn't happen to her, it happened to him.

godmum56 · Yesterday 22:50

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:49

It didn't happen to her, it happened to him.

Tell me you know nothing about how disability affects families without yadda yadda yadda

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:51

saraclara · Yesterday 22:46

I disagree. Unusually for Mumsnet, I think a man posting this OP would get the same kind of responses as this OP has.

The vast majority of people recognise that caring for someone is very often depressing, exhausting and frustrating, however much you might love the person. It's even harder if that person gives nothing back, and doesn't recognise or appreciate their partner's sacrifice. And it makes no odds what sex the carer is. It's tough.

There is no way that a man posting this situation would be given any grace. You must know that. He'd be told he was awful and that his wife was suffering. Which, to be fair, I would agree with!

saraclara · Yesterday 22:51

I was a carer for my late husband. I was lucky that he was determined to keep family life as normal as possible for me and our DDs. But I attended a carers' group and almost everyone else was struggling in a similar way to OP, in the sense that their partners were depressed and difficult and life was unutterably grim for both of them in different ways.

My fellow group members were of both sexes. There was zero difference between them, and zero difference in the support they received in the group from their peers and the professionals who ran the group.

RosaMundi27 · Yesterday 22:52

Gotitthanks · Yesterday 16:48

He’s on crutches but our garden isn’t the most even surface. He does actually have an office at the bottom of the garden but the thing is comfort is an issue. He regularly stops work to go upstairs and lie down, needs to be near a toilet, needs to be near his meds.

Why not take over the garden office as your "retreat" - put a sofa in there and a TV and whatever else you need for chilling out.

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:52

saraclara · Yesterday 22:51

I was a carer for my late husband. I was lucky that he was determined to keep family life as normal as possible for me and our DDs. But I attended a carers' group and almost everyone else was struggling in a similar way to OP, in the sense that their partners were depressed and difficult and life was unutterably grim for both of them in different ways.

My fellow group members were of both sexes. There was zero difference between them, and zero difference in the support they received in the group from their peers and the professionals who ran the group.

Edited

That may be true in the wider world. On here, men are always in the wrong and women are always given the benefit of the doubt.

Pollymollydolly · Yesterday 23:01

BettyJoanPerske · Yesterday 22:49

It didn't happen to her, it happened to him.

What a horrible comment. Yes, it happened to him but his wife, and children, are also impacted. The op is not being horrible about her husband, she is voicing her frustration at the current situation. She acknowledges that there are no answers - in fact she has asked people to stop suggesting he works in the garden office as it is too painful for him to walk there and he would be further isolated from her. A little empathy wouldn’t go amiss.

op - I hope you have some support in real life. This sounds like a life changing event for all of you. Is his disability acquired through illness or accident? I only ask as wondering whether there is support available through specific organisations e.g there is the ms society for people with ms. Sometimes these organisations can provide support for family members as well as the disabled person. What about local supports - OT, Disability social work team?

it sounds like an incredibly difficult situation for you all, I’m sorry you’re going through this.

godmum56 · Yesterday 23:07

Pollymollydolly · Yesterday 23:01

What a horrible comment. Yes, it happened to him but his wife, and children, are also impacted. The op is not being horrible about her husband, she is voicing her frustration at the current situation. She acknowledges that there are no answers - in fact she has asked people to stop suggesting he works in the garden office as it is too painful for him to walk there and he would be further isolated from her. A little empathy wouldn’t go amiss.

op - I hope you have some support in real life. This sounds like a life changing event for all of you. Is his disability acquired through illness or accident? I only ask as wondering whether there is support available through specific organisations e.g there is the ms society for people with ms. Sometimes these organisations can provide support for family members as well as the disabled person. What about local supports - OT, Disability social work team?

it sounds like an incredibly difficult situation for you all, I’m sorry you’re going through this.

totally agree with this. I keep asking the OP if she has reached out to get a carer's assessment or investigated getting support for her husband but she's not answering

ThereAreOnlyShadesOfGrey · Yesterday 23:10

There are issues here on both sides.

Becoming disabled is almost like a bereavement. He’s no longer the person he was, no longer has the abilities he did, and naturally he is having to adapt to a new way of living.

His Job has become his normal and in truth is the one thing he’s been able to hold on to at the moment, which is unusual, because most employers would terminate someone who has become disabled before thinking of looking at adjustments etc.

But because he’s held on to his job, he’s done so at the expense of his family, and that’s where many of the issues have arisen.

Similarly for the OP their family has changed, because he’s no longer the person he was, and while it’s true to say that many carers do struggle to adapt, especially if the newly disabled person hasn’t yet got rid of the resentment, it’s also a fact that a lot of people don’t want to be in a relationship with someone with a disability, and most marriages to people with disabilities end, not just because of the need to adapt, but because whether we like to admit it or not, people can also be shallow.

It’s fair to say that the OP is struggling.

Where she loses sympathy however is when she talks about how she can’t stand the sight of him, it’s fairly clear that she is one of those wives who has no intentions of staying married to a man who she no longer sees as adequate.

If they love each other, they both need therapy. Individually to come to terms with their changing circumstances, and together to work out how the relationship is going to move forward now things have changed. Because things have changed, and they both have to find a way to navigate that if the marriage is to survive. So that involves give and take on both sides.

EveningSpread · Yesterday 23:15

It sounds like your central concern is actually his complete withdrawal from family life, and using 24/7 work to distract himself from his disability.

Could you broach this with him from the angle of concern about him and his relationship with you and the children? Do you think he might be open to some therapy to address these issues?

He is going to miss out on his kids’ childhoods if he doesn’t address it, which is one of the biggest regrets anyone can have. Would he respond if you said you didn’t want that for him?

saraclara · Yesterday 23:16

Where she loses sympathy however is when she talks about how she can’t stand the sight of him, it’s fairly clear that she is one of those wives who has no intentions of staying married to a man who she no longer sees as adequate.

I'm pretty sure that others in my carers group came out with similar. None of them to my knowledge, left their partners.

You are completely overlooking the fact that it's likely that both DH and the OP are depressed, as don't have the resilience that they otherwise would have.
OP has spoken with great empathy and kindness about her DH too. But she's also allowed to be despairing and struggle with his constant, disengaged presence.

nocoolnamesleft · Yesterday 23:20

I'm sorry. The whole situation sounds pretty shit. I suspect he's depressed. And you're both mourning the life you had, but without the time and opportunity to do so properly. I'm not surprised you're struggling.

OPTIMUMMY · Yesterday 23:25

Would you be able to get him to agree to a work schedule and routine whilst you all adapt? Explaining that it’s what you all need as a family. A routine would be healthier for him and establish some boundaries of when work starts and stops, If work are being supportive of him not having to put in as many hours maybe that could work. For example - he doesn’t work from 3-7pm as that’s family time and the kids need to be able to be in the lounge. If he is in there at those times he engages with you all - whether that is with reading to the kids, doing a puzzle with them or watching tv with you all. He may find that hard at first because he is using his work as a form of escape (which is fine to an extent but not to the point where he is ignoring and opting out of family life).

This is a rotten situation for you and I’m sorry that I don’t have any other helpful solutions, but even if you could get him off his laptop and interacting with you all that would help.

CombatBarbie · Yesterday 23:31

Gotitthanks · Yesterday 22:11

It honestly isn’t just where he works, it’s when he works. With no set hours work has become a near constant presence. It’s a distraction technique but it’s also become a barrier.

This sounds so hard amd everyone is adjusting but I think a very frank conversation needs to happen. If his work are expecting the bare minimum then he does his morning hours, rests and is then present until he can regulate himself better.

I can totally hear your frustration amd this resentment is going to end your marriage. He needs to take ownership that he doesnt just get to opt out of family life. His children need him, they must be so confused bless them. Shit things happen, you adapt and learn.

AbzMoz · Yesterday 23:33

I’m so sorry this has happened to you op
perhaps as a suggestion, mandatory meal times and family story / movie times be a decent start? You need him to be present and engaged with family life so between 5-7:30pm (or whatever) he commits to not being online.
Perhaps once he is re-engaged with family life the urge to escape back to work will be reduced?