It’s the end of day 2 of my partner quitting smoking.
I’m anticipating being told to leave my partner or give up on him. Please don’t. Not only do I love him and want to support him but even if I didn’t financially it wouldn’t work for us to split. We would lose everything.
My husband is the type that refuses to go to the dr, and when I talk him into it he won’t take the medication, or he’ll try and forget about it. He had a bad childhood and has had depression from a young age as well as malnutrition as a child. Thankfully he has been a kind, gentle and hands-on daddy to our two boys (2and 5)and is actually a stay at home, home educating parent whilst I work full time at a minimum wage job to keep the lights on. However, he has kept this up by smoking a 20 pack of cigarettes a day, topped up with cannabis which helps his depression and joint pains. Please don’t judge us on this, while he is quitting now, it genuinely has worked and even though perhaps might not have been the best in some eyes, it’s the reason at least in part he hasn’t committed suicide yet.
Anyway, now he is quitting, he has become vile. The way he looks at me makes me feel like he hates me. He snaps at the children when they play up though at least is generally sweet with them until our eldest (who has adhd) does something naughty then he storms out, slamming every door he goes through.
I have had to refuse to spend a single penny more on his smoking due to our increasing debt. Because he has relied on it for so long for his sanity (in the past when I talked him into trying he literally had nervous breakdowns) I just kept paying for cigarettes. Our debt is due to repairs to our house, but it really is building and paying it off and paying the bills now takes up my entire wage with little to spare. In the past when I said he would need to stop he just chose not to buy new things - like he has maybe three threadbare outfits and no personal belongings except his phone. He sold his PlayStation for cigarette money. Now though I had to put my foot down and gave him a week’s warning where he tried to cut down before taking the plunge. However now he is saying he isn’t ready and can’t do it. But I literally have no money. Only enough for nappies and groceries. So he is quitting, ready or not.
So basically, it’s day 2. On day 7 however I am due back at work and if things haven’t improved significantly I can’t leave him alone with the kids or he will probably break down. Just to be clear, I know he won’t harm them, but he might have a panic attack and phone me, sobbing and pleading. With young kids it’s not like he can just leave them in front of the tv/games console for the day.
With Coronavirus it’s actually a blessing he can’t go over to his friends to beg for money/cigs, but also he can’t get help from family for baby sitting. Can anyone help me figure out what to do?
As far as I can figure, my options are:
1.) pretend to be ill so I can stay home and support him another week
2.) tell my work he is severely depressed and hope they pay me for being off to support him
3.) tell my work he has a bug and is too ill to watch the kids
With all this, please bear in mind he refuses to go to the dr normally and absolutely will not go for mental health issues at all. He is only quitting because he is forced to. He sits and fumes all day and night and only has kind words for the children, so me suggesting he go to the dr for any reason will not work.
Please don’t judge.