For those of you who write in first person...

 ...do you ever find a disconnect between your character's voice and your responsibility as an author to carry the narrative in a way apart from dialogue? Or is your narration essentially dialogue? I've been away from my WIP for a while now while revising the other book, and I'm trying to push back into the other story now. I've already changed MCs, changed from a female to male focal character, and made it first person. And some of it goes really well with the first person bits as I have them (the narration-as-separate-thing-from-the-dialogue), especially the parts that involve situational humor. But to get through the draft I'm hoping to write the key emotional scenes and then the buildup and transitions (don't ask me why--I have a plot plan, but the how of it all is only going to come out in the writing, I think). And to really get into my character's head, I'm writing his actual run-on thoughts. He's struggling with running away from the unintended consequences of his actions, and so he's got a lot of denial going through his head. When I let him talk like this, it really shows! And it's a strong voice. But I don't know how well it will work to carry the whole story. Plus, when I let him do this, it's all in present tense, and as a reader, I really, REALLY dislike present tense. I feel I can't ever concentrate on the story because there's this grammar gimmick going on. I guess I'll write these out and then convert them to past tense and make them a little more narrative (one scene converted to past tense after a number of attempts, anyway). But do any of you struggle with either of these? Past-present, or character's voice vs narrator style, albeit in first person? Or should I sign in to my local mental hospital to get help from the voices?