Another newbie joins the party

I probably should have joined a while ago but never got around to it.

I care for my wife, who suffers from chronic pain as well as severe depression & associated insomnia. Am in my mid 50’s (she is late 40s) & we’ve been together for about 8 years. I knew she had some issues when we met as her pain issues go back 30 years to a car crash & i knew she had MH issues. Not a problem, i’ve had MH problems myself having been diagnosed with PTSD in 07/08, but had no relapses since my diagnosis.

While she is ambulant to a fair degree (on days when the pain is less) I do care for her in almost every way but suppose my main support to her is from an emotional side of things especially with her mental health issues. We have had a number of incidents over the past few years to the point that in the last 12 months there have been 3 occasions where her depressive lows were pushing her to commit suicide. She has made one serious suicide attempt before Christmas resulting in me having to call the Police - that has since resulted in us finally getting some urgent local NHS MH support & we now have a dedicated CPN assigned (since Feb this year) to us for the foreseeable future. She visits us regularly & keeps in touch.

I work full time (at home for now) although i was made redundant in Sept last year after being furloughed since the preceding June & left my job after a long notice period in November, thankfully straight into a new role. Juggling work & caring, being a husband & best friend, is, as I think all of us in the same sort of situation, is difficult & thats why i’ve decided I need to be able to communicate via online in some form, even if its just to vent.

Cheers

Hi Ed and welcome,

life sounds pretty full on.

Good you have a dedicated CPN to share the load. Living with someone who has attempted suicide is stressful.

Melly1

Hi Ed,

Good to meet you and welcome to the fourm.

As a fellow carer I have some level of appreciation for the difficult situation that you are in. Sounds like yiou are balancing a few balls. Great that you are finally getting some support through the NHS. How are you getting on at the moment?

Allen

Hi Ed,
A lot of this sounds very similar to my own situation. My heart goes out to you, and I hope you get the chance to vent and express yourself in a way that helps you.

–longwalks