This feels toxic
I (34 f) have been in a relationship with my partner (35 f) for over five years now. We live together, we have a bunch of fur babies, and we love each other, but about three years ago she had a really bad accident. She can no longer walk.
She still has feeling in her legs, but it is so painful for her to walk she just doesn’t anymore, she is wheelchair bound.
This has meant I have gone from working to being her full time carer.
I don’t mind this too much, but it has led to a lot of issues. We own our own home, but our main source of income is her disability payments. She nets over 1000 a month and I get 500 a month on top to take care of her.
Now, I will admit, I can be lazy when it comes to house work. I accept that fault entirely. Back when I was working, she didn’t and did all the housework and cooking.
Now it is down to me and I lack the motivation most days. It is a flaw and I know it is wrong.
However, since the accident my partner has become vicious.
Daily she verbally insults me, calls me a leech, tells me it is my fault she is in so much pain all the time. She argues about the fact I don’t work, when she needs me here to take care of her. She shouts at me a lot, speaks to me like I am human trash and belittles and berates me.
The main source of argument is my cleaning or lack there of. Now, our house is not filthy by any means. It isn’t spotless, but I know I don’t vacuum as much as I should and she has to ask or remind me to do stuff. I am trying to get better, but it feels like nothing I do is good enough, especially when I get so much verbal abuse thrown my way. It just makes motivation leave me, especially when she calls me a child or insults me, telling me she hates me.
On top of this I am caring for our three dogs too, since she can no longer walk them.
I don’t want to leave her, I love her and I know she loves me. I just don’t know what to do, she has bad days where she can be really nasty and days where she is calmer, it normally depends on how her pain is. She is on medication for the pain management. Before all this, she had a temper, but it was never this bad.
If I leave her, she has no one. She cut ties with her family.
But I can’t talk to her about how I am feeling without her going off on me or twisting it into an argument in some fashion, so I just feel like I am walking on eggshells around her.
I just need advice on how to try and make her less angry all the time. I know I need to step up in cleaning, but there have been times I have cleaned the entire house and that buys me like one or two days before she finds something new to fixate on and criticise over.
Tldr: disabled partner is verbally abusive when it comes to me keeping the house clean, but I know I am kinda a slob. But I don’t think I deserve to be spoken to like I am garbage.
Posted Sep 12, 2026, 9:32 PM UTC