We had a nasty fight… Any advice?

[mlunsford10]

This is going to be rather lengthy, so please bear with me. My girlfriend and I have been dating for a little over six months now (there’s some additional background info in my introductory post if anyone is interested). We’re both “severely” disabled, but we’re doing our best to make things work out. Unfortunately, these past couple of days have been extremely rough (I spent the past week in and out of the hospital getting a battery of various medical tests [ten tubes of blood drawn, three x-rays, and an MRI]); however, today resulted in a nasty fight. Both of us basically snapped under the recent amount of stress. The fight resulted in both of us getting physically ill. The good news is that my girlfriend says she still loves me and vice versa; however, she’d like to spend about a week apart so the damage can heal on both sides. I’ve been crying all day thinking that this might be the final “nail in the coffin” so to speak. Has anyone been in a similar situation or does anyone have any advice so that we may avoid falling apart? We’re both madly in love and want this to work more than anything.

[Kiyama]

How is the relationship going in general?
Is it rocky and have you got a lot of fights?
A week of space seems pretty tough for an argument but if you have ongoing issues, it is an explanation.
Try to get to the ground of them and figure what to do in certain situation when things get heated.
Communication is the key here, not only for ldrs but generally.

[Dezface]

In general, I'm against set periods of not communicating. But, with all the extra, maybe in this case it's needed. I can see why medical issues on both sides would result in an enormous amount of stress.

I would give her the space she requested, but after that I'd push for a long hard talk about what you need to do to make it work. You need to talk about better ways to cope with the stress. Fighting over it is understandable, but not healthy. Let her know how much you love her and how committed you are to making it last. Don't let the conversation end until you have some good, solid plans.