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bide
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Member Since Mar 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 19
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Default May 15, 2024 at 03:18 PM
  #1
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skeezyks View Post
I don't know if I correctly understood the part about sex, for your husband, seeming to be about his relationship with the rest of the world. (If not please forgive me.) But in reading it, what immediately popped into my mind was this is a means to avoid dealing with the real issues; because if his sexuality-related problems relate to your husband's relationship with the rest of the world, well, there's perhaps not much that can be done about that, it's too big and amorphous a subject to tackle so why try?

Back when MSF was still Psych Central, Doc John had an article in the archives the title of which was something along the lines of: "Denial is a Powerful Impediment to Treatment". To my mind, the attitude your husband is taking is a form of denial in a sense... denial that there is anything that can help, so why try? And, as Doc John wrote, it's a powerful impediment to treatment and a return to a healthy life.

I'm not surprised to learn your husband is 50. That makes perfect sense to me. That's the age when the wheels began coming off the cart for me so to speak. It's unfortunate your husband won't seek some counseling or therapy or perhaps even a men's support group if such things exist where you live. But, there again, the reality is you can't save him. He has to do that himself. All you can do is do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself.

The one thing that occurs to me that might help is if you can get your hubby out-and-about more (assuming the two of you aren't already doing so) doing whatever it is the two of you enjoy doing together. The pandemic has made things extremely difficult from that perspective. But if circumstances where you live have improved at this point, getting out doing things together the two of you enjoy might help brighten his spirits as well as his outlook in general. Then, perhaps, his interest in sex may follow of its own accord. A "tangential" approach such as this may be a more effective way of addressing the problem than is trying to confront the problem head-on, so to speak. Without intending to alarm you I do fear (based on my own personal experience) that, barring some form of intervention or positive action on your husband's part, the hole he appears to be digging for himself may only deepen. (Hopefully I'm wrong.)
Thank you again for the thoughtful message. I look at the year you posted this, and I can't believe how long ago it was. I was struggling to discuss the issue and so I couldn't bring myself to come back to the thread after I replied to you. I'm sorry I missed your response.

You were correct. Things did get worse. My husband had a "widow maker" heart attack a few weeks ago. He was able to make it to the hospital in time for emergency surgery, but it was a close call. We're still kind of in shock. It was likely a combination of stress and genetics that led to it. He doesn't smoke, is not overweight, or have any other major risk factor to explain how he'd have a plaque develop and rupture. He doesn't always eat the best, but nothing too far out of the ordinary.

At least he's getting more serious about managing his stress levels and trying to change his lifestyle to be healthier (exercise more, eat better). That is a relief. I've been trying to get him to make some of these changes for years and now he is initiating them!

We're still not intimate, though we are affectionate. After a heart attack, it is far more out of the question for a good while, anyway. Still stuck as ever in terms of what the future holds, but grateful that he is alive.
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