Aspies with NT partners

Hi folks

I've seen tons of threads on here from people with partners with AS, looking for advice - usually along the lines of not getting anything back from their partner and wanting to know if it's because he/she doesn't give a damn, or because the AS gets in the way.

I couldn't find anything the other way around though, and the Aspie feels like they don;t get anything back from their partner. I will be the first to admit that I often have no idea what to do if my partner gets all emotional about something. Mostly this takes the form of depression or just a big old fashioned sulk. I have tried to say/do something to cheer him up when he gets like this in the past but it doesn't seem to help so have stopped trying. Mostly he looks like he actually likes wallowing in it.

I think he thinks "we support each other", whereas I think we drag each other down. Any time I am not good, if I try to say something it generally seems to start a round of what I think of as competitive misery, so if I mention that life is grinding me down, I will get a 15 minute dissertation on why his life is worse than mine. I think I have had sympathy once, quite recently.

Fact is, I do often feel ground down. I am the main wage earner and I sometimes (well, often) feel like I am slowly killing myself just to get by. Especially at this time of year, mental health is pretty much at rock bottom. He has never once asked me how my day was, although will happily give me a blow by blow account of all the things that annoyed him as soon as I walk through the door at the end of a 13 hour day. I get no help whatsoever around the house. When I told him straight "I need help, I can't do all this on my own" it had no effect. He just ignored me and carried on as before.

I have been married twice and with my current partner for 5 years. All three of them it has felt like they don't give a stuff most of the time. Either they don't notice when I am struggling, or they notice but pretend not to because otherwise they might have to do something about it (like pull their weight occasionally). I will admit that I am not the most "in touch with my emotions" sort of person and I don't spend my whole life telling other people how I feel. I don't like overwhelming emotions, they make me uncomfortable. I am starting to wonder whether I should have stayed single. I left my second husband because I could not see what I was getting out of the relationship, apart from a ton of extra work and responsibility. Part of the problem is that everyone (family included) thinks I am "so capable" when inside I feel like I am going to end up burned out and irretrievably broken at any moment.

Has anyone managed to make this work? Anyone got any advice?