How to handle telling my partner I need help because of my condition

Support wanted

I 27f have been with my partner 25m for almost three years. We have an almost two year old toddler.
I have the genetic lottery of physical and mental health conditions. This Post is about my HS.
Hidradenitis Suppurativa is classified as severe. I’ve struggled my entire post pubescent life with this condition. My maternal family has multiple people with the condition and some are so severe that they’ve been on disability for as long as I can remember.
The condition has flare ups. It can become aggravated by sweating, friction and it is not a hygiene issue. It’s a hormonal one.
The past three days I’ve been deep cleaning our three bedroom apartment. We live with my mom and I’ve been cleaning by myself.
My boyfriend who is unemployed at this time only helped with the bedroom and keeping the toddler with him while I cleaned. Usually all child care falls to me except nap time and bed time.
I have been pouring sweat for 9-10 hours straight the last few days. On my hands and knees scrubbing floors and baseboards.
My mom has a puppy that she refuses to potty train, so I’m currently handling that.
She also just recently brought a kitten home.
I wasn’t aware the apartment was as bad as it was because she had the puppy before I moved in and she did quick cleans that made it seem clean enough. And I’ve been doing the bulk of the cleaning since moving in. I didn’t think I had to move furniture away from walls and scrub baseboards that had been coated in dry dog pee.
However we have an apartment inspection and so I started to clean and realized how bad it really was. She has large heavy rugs that I had to move and scrub and then mop the floors under them multiple times. The dining room took 5 mops and I changed my water every single time.
The sweating, multiple trips up and down the stairs, being on hands and knees scrubbing, squatting and reaching has made my condition flare up.
My thighs, underarms, under my breasts, my stomach where my breasts lay.
This is the worst pain I’ve ever been in. I’ve taken ibuprofen 800 and it won’t touch it. I called my dermatologist crying begging for an emergency appointment and got one on Wednesday which is in two days.
My issue?
My partner has told me before he doesn’t want to hear details about any of my physical health conditions.
I’ve been hiding how severe my flare up has been the last few days. Not undressing around him, not complaining about the pain. But today I can’t lift my arms or lower them all the way. I can barely walk from the couch to the downstairs bathroom about 10 feet from me. I can’t sit I have to lay sorta at an angle to keep off my thighs and keep them from rubbing.
I want so badly to go upstairs and take a bath with epsom salts and put Vaseline and gauze on the worst areas and take a nap. I stayed up for over 24 hours trying to make sure that not only our inspection goes well but that I have provided a clean and safe space for my child.
However, my partner has handed baby off to me and decided to sleep.
I’m writing this while sitting on the toilet bawling from the pain. I can’t tell him about what’s happening. He makes awful comments about my hygiene and how it’s gross and disgusting and he makes me so insecure and makes me feel completely worthless over a hormonal condition that I inherited.
I need advice on how best to proceed with telling him that I need help because this flare up is severe and I’m in pain.

Posted Sep 14, 2026, 8:01 PM UTC

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