My ADD husband hates to be touched (except for sex!). He will cry out if I happen to touch him while asleep, like from turning over in bed, and this wakes me up. We can't get a bigger bed. Is he so sensitive because he has ADD? Has any one else run into this, and if so, how did they solve it? I sleep as far over on "my" side as I can, but it's hard to sleep without touching him.

I am 43 y/o and over the past year have figured out that I have ADHD.  My daughter, who is 8, was recently diagnoised which led me to evalute my past.  I have been married for 15 years and we have always had problems.  I have ruined our credit by not paying bills on time, the house is never organized and everything is always a mess.  The biggest thing is that I have repeated this behavior time and time again over the years.  We took out a mortgage on our home and paid all our bills and for a while I kept up with everything but slowly I slipped back into the same routine.  We struggled but worked through it again, borrowing money to pay for everything...you get the picture.  I knew I was messing up each time but telling him meant I was a failure to him and to myself.  I kept telling myself I would catch up on the bills next month and then the next month came and went.  Finally, he has had enough.  All he does is ask "why, why, why" and now I realize that this is due to ADHD.  I have read a lot on the subject and I have created a schedule for getting bills paid and paid early.  Getting and staying organized is a struggle but I have finally figured out something that works for me.  He, of course, has no faith in me.  I still have a lot to work on including the household chores but I am trying.  We basically live separate lives.  He hardly speaks to me unless it is to question me about the bills and the household chores.  He just keeps saying that I have no respect for him and that I don't care (not true at all).  The only thing we talk comfortably about is the children.  We don't have a marriage anymore we are only roommates.  I hate the way things are and want to be able to work things out.  He says he hates the way things are too but feels that if he gives in that things will go back to the old ways.  He is trying I believe...he no longer yells at me about things but tries to speak calmly.  He doesn't understand and nothing I say is good enough.  I don't know what I should do.  I want to get my husband back, I just don't know how. 

Hello,

I am not married, but my boyfriend has ADHD.  I post on this website, because I've known I've wanted to marry this man from the first date.  He's the one.  I just know it.  And I know he feels the same way.  We've discussed moving in to getting engaged to being married.  But, I've come to the conclusion that all of the issues I have with him center around his ADHD and if he doesn't take steps to manage those issues we won’t be able to have a future together.

I found out he had ADHD within the first month of our relationship.  I asked him whether he had Bipolar Disorder or ADHD.  I considered Bipolar Disorder, because his behavior seemed manic to me.  He told me that he had ADHD and that he was diagnosed with it when he was young.  After finding out he was diagnosed with ADHD I read up on it, but the typical mental health websites didn't offer much in lengthy descriptions that explained what the disorder entailed.  So up until recently I thought his ADHD affected him to the extent of having difficulty concentrating and being impulsive.  Boy was I wrong.

About 2 weeks ago I sat down at my computer and in a moment of boredom thought to look up information on ADHD.  The issue that was bothering me the most, at the time, was our sex life...and the lack thereof.  Previously, I hadn’t thought ADHD and sex were connected, but it was the only frame of reference in regards to his behavior that I could think to look up.  I forget what I put in differently, as opposed to the times I've googled ADHD before, but the links I received contained first hand accounts of people with ADHD and/or their significant others.  It was then that I realized the full extent of ADHD and that most of the issues I had with him that I couldn't put my finger on were all a product of ADHD!  (…on top of the issues I had with him that I already knew were from ADHD).  Initially, I felt relieved that I could finally pinpoint a source to our issues, but the more I read about the disorder the more at a loss I felt.  Now I know that in order for things to get better it is going to take a full commitment on his part to getting help to manage his disorder.  It was different when I wasn’t sure what was wrong.  The idea of having to rely on him for things to get better is terrifying.

We’ve never experienced a honeymoon period in this relationship; although, things have improved since I’ve met him.  Unfortunately, things have only improved because of me and its relative in comparison to the ups and downs of a normal relationship.  I’ve stuck to my guns and enforced every boundary violation that’s come up regardless of how much he’s fought me on them.  He seems to respond very well to structure and boundaries, but if I don’t intervene, educate him on how his behavior is inappropriate and then reaffirm the boundaries he would just be on autopilot following every impulse that comes to him.  He’s been in therapy before, but he told me that the last couple of years he’s wanted to work on his issues himself.  He’s come a long way in certain respects (work, aggression), but is still incredibly behind in other areas.  It’s scary to realize how far he’s come, because of the implication that he was worse!

He doesn’t seem to have any insight or awareness into his interpersonal issues between he and I.  YET, he can recognize them as being unacceptable in someone else.  In fact, many of the things he does he wouldn’t dare put up with if he were on the receiving end, which is a difficult double standard to wrap my head around.  He’s incredibly judgmental and projects many of the things he does onto other people.  His other issues, such as money and mapping out a future for himself (he’s almost 30 and has never moved out of his parent’s house or had any real responsibility) he uses endless excuses for or talks about them like he’s acting on them, but really isn’t.  Then when you call him out on not having followed through he justifies it in some ridiculous way or says “he doesn’t care what people think of him.”  He’s taken not caring what people think to a whole other level in order to cope with years of criticism.  In a lot of ways I would consider him to not know himself very well as he sometimes talks about himself as the person he wants to be and not as who he is in the present.  I’m at the point where I take anything he says with a grain of salt, because it’s not even worth dealing with the potential disappointment of finding out something you thought was in the process of happening isn’t.  So often things aren’t what they seem and that makes me feel incredibly vulnerable.  Often I feel like a fool and that I’m being lied to.  People either pity me for staying with him or want me to meet someone else.

We had two discussions in the last week where I confessed to having been researching more and more on ADHD and that I have come to the conclusion that all of our issues center around his ADHD.  To my surprise, he agreed!  He admitted to some extent the difficulties this disorder has had on his life, but he didn’t use specific examples, such as “My ADHD has affected my ability to follow through with simple plans” which is what I need to hear from him.  I told him that even though I love him I will not accept things as the way they are now and if they don’t change I will leave.  Since that discussion he told me that he saw his old therapist and he plans on going on a regular basis.  He also told me that the main reason he did that was because of me.  He did something like this before during a period of time where I broke up with him.  He did apply effort on his own during that period of time, but his efforts fizzled out.  It seems like he needs help outside of himself to make sure he follows through with things.  It worries me that his reason for seeing a therapist was because of me.  I just can’t imagine him following through with therapy in the long run unless if HE wants to change for HIMSELF.

I’m at a point where I’m actually frustrated with myself for still seeing him.  I love him to death and I’ve never felt this way before, but the relationship is unhealthy.  I see the posts that people put on here and I know we are dead ringers for the same fate if we were to be married (or even just live together).   I will and am not the type of person who will compensate for what he won’t do.  I will help him, but I won’t do it for him.

I am constantly swinging back and forth between thinking we have a future and wanting him out of my life.  Whenever I start to just be he crosses some boundary that I would never think of having to point out and then the chaos begins. I’m so burned out.  I know what it’s like to have issues that limit how you can live your life.  I was diagnosed with PTSD and have a history of trauma, which has caused multiple issues, not including PTSD that I won’t get into here.  I’ve been through the gambit of therapy, probably more so than anything anyone with ADHD would have to go through, so I know first hand what it takes to make issues manageable and to come as close to “normal” as one can.  The difference between me and him is that I hit rock bottom of what I could do for myself and pursued therapy because I wanted a better life than I was having…and I wanted it for MYSELF. 

But going on the assumption that he’s going to pursue therapy because he said he would due to him being reliably unreliable I feel that I need further proof than just his word that he’s 1) going to therapy and 2) working on his issues.  I literally feel like I need to see an insurance bill to prove he went to a session!  And a play by play of his game plan to change in order to believe he’s applying new coping mechanisms.  How do I go about doing this??  What do people normally do in my situation?  And what is suggested someone in my position do?  Should I go therapy with him?  A part of me wants to. I can’t go any longer giving him the benefit of the doubt that he will one day get it together.  I need to be informed and involved in this process on a day to day basis.  I’m just not willing to waste any more of my time on something that I can’t be sure is happening, because if it doesn’t I want out of this relationship for good.

Hi,

This is the first time I've had the opportunity to submitt a "blog" so I hope it will be read by others. I am 48 years old and diagnosed for about 7 years with ADD. My concerns for men are, That I am only hearing about the concerns  from women, complaining about mens ADD or ADHD and about the mans inabilities , but I don't hear about the men's concerns in the women's "inabilities". Maybe its the idea that todays woman is asking for alot from todays man. Maybe to much from todays man. And since this is a forum about feelings and beliefs, and we are living in America, I am one man who tried eveything I could(given the schedules I had to work with in my life and business) to 1) find out what was wrong with me.2) Read several of Dr. Hallowells and Mr. Ratey's books and 3) Medicate myself with through the Institute of Living in Hartford CT. 4) Seek counseling 5) Pay for these Medical services and Medications 6) Explore alternative ways of treating ADD with excersize and Fish oil. 7) Get as involved with my childrens life to seek remedies if needed to facilitate a transition to a childs copiing with ADD. and on and on. The work never stops.

To make a long story short, now that I am divorced, what can you offer to a divorced man who still feels partially lower in  the self esteem department because of the lonliness, and isolation, and over-compensation that goes along with ADD and being divorced??

It sounds like a pandemic when I go onto your site. I recently was sent an article about ADD from the Sun Sentinel Paper in Florida,and Dr. Hallowell was quoted as saying what blessing it is to have an ADD brain. Its "like a race car and all you have to do is know how to apply the brakes"    What more can be done to help those who want to help themselves?The critic in the Sentinel said (another Doctor) " Its not that simple and there are many people with severe ADD that need help and knowing how to put the brakes on may not just require medication" And what do you offer POST divorce for those who have tried ?

So I am hoping that on your site , you can be a little more informative/helpful when you offer a blog to vent. Your responses should be more helpful, since ADDers like myself could get the wrong idea.

Ron Z.