No one plans to have their marital bliss interrupted by injury or disease that result in a disability. However, things happen and that’s when your relationship faces a huge challenge. They say love conquers everything, but the power of emotion alone might not be enough to counter all the damage of a caregiver’s stress. If you want to avoid that fate and have your relationship survive this challenge, you need to know how to cope with a spouse’s disability. Therapy, lifestyle changes, time for yourself, and maintaining intimacy are the things that will help your love prevail.
3 Tips on How to Cope with a Spouse’s Disability and Not Lose Your Marriage
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Stay intimate
Intimacy in a relationship leads to happier marriages and disability does not prevent you from enjoying it. However, becoming disabled, as well as becoming a full-time caregiver, is a tremendous stress and quite often people won’t be ‘in the mood’ or will be too embarrassed to even attempt an intercourse.
If you want to cope with a spouse’s disability most effectively, you should try to keep your intimate encounters as close as possible to what they were. If there is no physiological issue to prevent an intercourse, you should be able to boost your libido using natural aphrodisiacs like maca powder. Men, who struggle with an onset of erectile dysfunction due to extreme stress can benefit from natural male enhancement pills.
When the disability comes with severe physiological issues, you can resort to facilitated sex. In these situations you will need to consult an expert first.
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Remember the love
When one encounters a devastating medical problem, especially a permanent one, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and lose track of the love you share. It’s essential to prevent this if you want to have a chance of saving your marriage.
Both parties must work for it if you don’t want to become a part of the sad statistics on the prevalence of divorces among people with disabilities. The healthy spouse needs to separate medical issues from the person who they fell in love with. Those problems are a challenge, but underneath them is the same person who loves you just as much.
The disabled spouse also needs to separate their medical problems from their relationship. Even when in severe pain or immobilized, they need to remember that the love their marriage is based on is still there and cannot be touched by the matters of the body.
For the couples struggling with separating the pain from their love for each other therapy would be the best help.
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Have some ‘me time’
It’s hard to cope with a spouse’s disability and you can’t be expected to stay positive, helpful, and supportive 24/7. Humans require some time to ‘unwind’ in order to simply stay sane. The situation is stressful on both of you and therefore you both should have some time to relax and be alone with your thoughts.
Scheduling a regular spa night and/or meeting with friends is a must. Both spouses should have some personal space and time when they interact with various social groups. Sticking together 24/7 will not only be trying and stressful. This might result in the development of ‘codependency’ or other perversion of your relationship that will hinder the disabled person’s rehabilitation.
Coping with a spouse’s disability is never easy. But if you work together, you can do it. The most important thing is to never forget that no medical issue can be strong enough to beat your love.
