Does Your Arthritis Affect Your Spouse?
Updated June 08, 2015.
When you married your spouse, your vows expressed that your union would hold strong "for better or worse" and "in sickness and health." Perhaps you already had arthritis when you married or perhaps the disease joined later.
Either way, the disease has affected you. The physical limitations and emotional toll of living with those limitations is part of your reality. Obviously, how much your life is impacted depends on the severity of your arthritis.
While you focus on managing arthritis symptoms such as pain and fatigue, how is your spouse doing? It's quite possible arthritis has affected how often you can go out and socialize. It's also quite possible it has affected your ability to care for your household and family, at least at the level you would like to. Arthritis may have even affected your job and your earning power if you worked outside the home. And then ofcourse, there's the bigger topics like self-esteem and sexual intimacy.
I could ask if you think your spouse understands how much arthritis affects you and how much it has changed your life. But let's flip-flop that question. Let's ask if you think your arthritis affects your spouse, partner, or significant other?
Think about it. If you are socializing less, so is your spouse, right? If you have limitations when it comes to caring for your household, then your spouse is likely taking on some of that responsibility. Whatever affects you, affects your spouse. Do you agree?
Poll: Does your arthritis affect your spouse in any way?
When you married your spouse, your vows expressed that your union would hold strong "for better or worse" and "in sickness and health." Perhaps you already had arthritis when you married or perhaps the disease joined later.
Either way, the disease has affected you. The physical limitations and emotional toll of living with those limitations is part of your reality. Obviously, how much your life is impacted depends on the severity of your arthritis.
While you focus on managing arthritis symptoms such as pain and fatigue, how is your spouse doing? It's quite possible arthritis has affected how often you can go out and socialize. It's also quite possible it has affected your ability to care for your household and family, at least at the level you would like to. Arthritis may have even affected your job and your earning power if you worked outside the home. And then ofcourse, there's the bigger topics like self-esteem and sexual intimacy.
I could ask if you think your spouse understands how much arthritis affects you and how much it has changed your life. But let's flip-flop that question. Let's ask if you think your arthritis affects your spouse, partner, or significant other?
Think about it. If you are socializing less, so is your spouse, right? If you have limitations when it comes to caring for your household, then your spouse is likely taking on some of that responsibility. Whatever affects you, affects your spouse. Do you agree?
TAKE OUR POLL
Poll: Does your arthritis affect your spouse in any way?