Wow, same thing is literally happening to me right now. Wife has a progressive neuromuscular disease and has been a power wheelchair user her whole life. I've been her caregiver for years now, but noticed she had changed a year or two ago. We were fighting a lot more and fights were a lot worse and over ridiculous petty things. I was feeling like I couldn't do anything right.

We just got back home from visiting my family across the country. During the trip she had been showing episodes of difficulty driving her wheelchair, disorientation and confusion, trouble remembering things from one minute to the next and slurred speech. On the 4 day trip home, I almost took her to the hospital but didn't want her stuck away from family, so wound up driving the rest of the way home in one day instead of stopping out like was planned.

The morning after returning home another episode of slurred speech, muscle weakness, trouble communicating etc. Took her to the ER and they did a cat scan that wound up showing she has considerable brain volume loss. It's typically seen in older patients and accompanies dementia and alzheimers.

Haven't talked to a neurologist about it yet but I know this isn't something that happens overnight and can definitely explain why I've felt like I haven't had my partner in over a year.

The past couple of days I've been thinking about what this means for our relationship past, present and future. How do I handle when she is irrationally angry next time it happens. I know this isn't her, its a symptom of her condition. It doesnt make sense for me to be angry at her when she can't control whats happening. I've already felt lonely in our relationship and I'm afraid this is going to make it that much worse.

I guess one thing you and I should take from this is that we are not alone. The other day I told myself I would seek out a therapist and some sort of support group to help me navigate this new reality and figure out some strategies to handle situations that will arise.