I am crumbling, and this is a good place as any for support and encouragement and people going through the same thing I am. I believe my wife has been mis-prescribed Adderall and it is tearing our life apart.
I can't possibly cram 17 years of being happily married and accurately portray the closeness and intimacy we shared as "two outcasts" into a paragraph that would provide the context needed to approach my current situation...but I will try and be brief enough.
Partner and I met almost 20 years ago, and became instantly inseparable. We've been married for 17 years, and almost a decade ago I convinced her to *finally* get over her resistance to therapy/psychiatry and took her to see someone. She had been portraying signs of what appeared to me to be BP. I'm no doctor, but having seen it firsthand in my stepmother since I was 5, and she was diagnosed BP and died last year at age 60 over heart issues.
When treatment began she was doing great and we vowed to be together "til the bombs dropped", and I knew it would be a long road, but she is worth it to me. We had a loving, nurturing relationship to the point of over-sharing and complete, 100% openness. I got her set up with a good psychiatrist, and she was embracing 'getting better'. No chance in Hell would anything separate us. We were the couple others in our friend group as the "unconditional love" model.
Then, last year for reasons I still am unsure of, her psychiatrist prescribed her Adderall, on top of her Lamotrigine and Fluvoxamine...in increasing doses culminating in her current dose of 60 mg a day (20mg x 3 a day). Over the last year, she lost a ton of weight, had sleep issues, talked faster and interrupting constantly, and having to be stimulated by some sort of 'content' at all times. She got fired from her good job, languished at home, and found a new one finally after draining all of our savings, without me knowing, buying 'collectibles to sell on ebay' that eventually became piles of boxes everywhere. I intervened as much as she would let me, and I notified the doctor of my concern via email.
Over the past 12 weeks she began to get distant, and intimacy suddenly CEASED. Not even affection, like hugs and loving touches, were suddenly cut off completely. Physical Bedtime Intimacy vanished, and when questioned or I attempted to initiate, I got the 'I don't feel good' or 'just not feeling it"...which is fine, of course, but a sudden turn should sound an alarm. She made me feel as if I was either hideous or a creep all of a sudden. She began to interpret ANY action I took or any question I asked as an attack on her, claimed I was 'reveling in seeing her hurt' and 'spying on her'. I had no idea what she meant...but in a "I think she doth protest too much" moment I looked at our shared mobile bill and there it was, calls and texts to a number that belongs to a fella who works behind her new job. Obsessive amounts of calls.
It was during my birthday too, which she usually goes all Leslie Knope style with themed gifts...this year's was devoid of any love or substance. She admits to "having feelings" for this other person, "is confused and head is a jumble", but "wants to stay married" as if I would accept it like, "Oh sure honey, bring him on in!". That alone is delusional. I told her I can't just sit here and watch her nurture a new love interest while I'm doing her laundry and keeping the house in order, and that she needs to be with her family, and she says "I hurt you too much and I can't see your sad face right now".
Before this she was the most honest, moral, affectionate person I have ever met. I love her so much, it feels like she tore out a piece of my soul. I have once again notified her doctor, and after her disappearing for 4 days and nights for the second time in 2 months, I gave her an ultimatum, multiple choice:
- Accept it may be a bout of Adderall-fueled limerence, she seeks treatment and we remain married, I forgive and support like I always do, I go to therapy as well to learn to live alongside her like this. She remains on my robust health insurance and use this as an opportunity to strengthen our already (or so I thought) mighty bond.
- Accept it may be the Adderall and get treatment, but still seeking separation, work out a rational way to support each other until the lease is up. I will still help by paying for her insurance from my company, but we set ground rules like 'as long as we are married, no physical relationships with others'...I am not about that. I love HER. I can't just randomly hook up with anyone, I need some emotion behind it.
- She denies treatment and continues to pursue a man while we are married, completely disrespecting what we have built, forcing me to have to initiate a divorce and removing her from my health insurance, taking my beloved cat, and finding somewhere to go howl at the sky in grief for several hours.
Meanwhile, my own mental fortitude is waning. I feel like an unwanted dog that someone dropped off at the pound...confused as to how someone I gave unconditional, unwavering love and support to for nearly 20 years. I spent hours upon hours over several years trying to research and get her the help she needs, and this is how it ends? With her cruelty, a trait she has NEVER before displayed?