Wanted to say hello to everyone. I am 33 and married four years to a woman suffering from PTSD, age 31. Although she has been suffering from it for around five years, she is getting therapy for it and is in the process of confronting the events that caused her PTSD with her therapist. I know it is very hard for her, and I'm trying to be as supportive as I can be. It is hard on both of us...she has not worked in over two years (we have no kids because of this) and my income is limited. I have a high stress job and don't handle stress well anyway.

I have read through most of the posts on this board, and you all seem like a genuinely caring group of people. I also notice that there are PTSD sufferes on this particular chat/forum, and to them I say that I hope expressing my frustrations with my situation is never taken as frutration against any of you.

First, I'd like to bitch a bit, if that's okay. (As far as I know, that is okay on this particular forum, please let me know if it is not) I love my wife very much, and I know deep down that we are good for each other. I also know that alot of our marriage has been a struggle, and until recently I didn't know why. Apparently, over that time, my wife's PTSD has really started to manifest in her daily life even though she didn't realize it (or didn't want to, understandably). The ways that it has come up have been through health problems. My wife has suffered from myriad undiagnosable health issues, from her stomache to her head. She has always thought that she has migraines, although no doctor has ever said so definitively, and no migraine medications ever stopped her headaches. These got so bad she had to quit her job, and we were in the ER often for a pain shot. She has been in and out of therapy over this period of time, with various reasons for missing appointments, usually a health problem. I have been to therapy several times myself, and discussed this with my therapist. She said that I should take charge of the finances and that should be my main duty while my wife takes care of her business. Which I agreed to, and which is the problem I am having today.

My wife seems to expect unlimited patience, understanding and sympathy, but gets angry when I get frustrated or upset with our situation...it's as if I am not allowed to express my frustration with this...its like she doesn’t want to acknowledge that this is affecting both of us, not just her...I am so tired of being the guy who can't possibly understand anything!