Stress, blood pressure and therapy

Stop me if you've heard this one before. In order to lower C's blood pressure/stress he feels that I should start seeing my therapist again. Let me repeat that: he is stressed, so I need therapy. I don't know how, but I actually laughed when I heard this! I suppose that I would not have found it very funny had I not just called her earlier in the day. I repeated back to him what he was proposing, and to his credit he did say "well, you put it like that, it doesn't sound right". I made the suggestion that maybe he should make an appointment....he is not unwilling, but is quick to say that he feels like he deals with his stress just fine and he doesn't think he would learn anything....but if it will make me feel better then he will go. Hell, don't do it for me - that isn't the point. This all came up at his doctor's appointment today. He was recently put on blood pressure medication and this was just a follow up. Part of the discussion was about how he was handling stress and it's affect on blood pressure.

I'm not sure how far to push this idea of C seeking therapy. I'm a big fan of it myself. Someone once told me that it was like taking a class and the subject was all about you. I think C has issues that he has not dealt with. Many years before I was in the picture he was engaged. She died in a car accident on her way to see him. That has got to leave a mark. He collects things....lots of things...baseball cards, comic books, DVDs, first addition books, state quarters....etc. Some of the collecting has gone a little too far. We must have at least 800 DVDs. I think it is unnatural. He is also overweight and has been most of his life, there is certainly some genetic disposition, as he is built just like his mother, but there has to be an emotional component as well. I think therapy would help - if he would let it. If he is going to go into it with the attitude that there is nothing that he can learn, then why bother.

This is going to sound like a stupidly obvious statement, but this last year and a half has been very stressful on our relationship. I don't have much sympathy for him when he's having a bad day. "Try getting poked and prodded, and hopped up on hormones, followed by intense pain and ultimately devastating disappointment every month" is usually what I am thinking when he starts complaining about a difficult client. I'm not really playing the supportive wife role very well right now. It is a vicious cycle. He is stressed because I am stressed. I get stressed because he plays computer games entirely too much for my liking versus basic household maintenance, and he is playing computer games because it is one of his ways to relieve stress. We actually had a very pleasant conversation about all of this, not emotional, I didn't cry or get pissed off - an accomplishment for me.

We won't really have any time to sit down and talk about this anymore until Monday or Tuesday night as I am working all weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. When I have this schedule, I pretty much just work and sleep.