Before the psychosis I was a showered daily.

Since the psychosis I've been only showering once a week.

I know, I know it's gross...But it's the best I can do right now. The risperdal is helping though tremendously, so maybe it will be more often. Also it hurts to shower bc of my back, so I bathe first, then rinse my conditioner out in the shower and do one last scrub...

[Sometimes psychotic]

3-4X per week....

[CANDC]

However you can manage is fine. Use deodorant and keep your face clean and the "sand" sleep out of your eyes (only use clean hands or a washcloth).
Shower every other day - hair every 4 days.
Hang in there sunshine. There is light to light your way.
Have you any creative impulses like drawing painting or music?

Originally Posted by CANDC

However you can manage is fine. Use deodorant and keep your face clean and the "sand" sleep out of your eyes (only use clean hands or a washcloth).
Shower every other day - hair every 4 days.
Hang in there sunshine. There is light to light your way.
Have you any creative impulses like drawing painting or music?

Thank you so much, again. I don't play any instruments but if I can ever get stable enough I hope to learn piano. I wash my face about every other day. I use clinical strength deodorant so don't start stinking much until day 5 or so.

Once again thanks so much.

[CANDC]

As far as piano goes a keyboard can be a great friend
Yamaha PSR E333 61-Key Mid-Level Portable Keyboard | Musician's Friend
The PSR-E333 features a touch sensitive keyboard. It has 497 dynamic, high quality, natural sounding voices, 106 accompaniment styles and 102 built-in songs. Music database provides one touch set-up of the keyboard, to play the selected songs. The Easy Recording feature lets you record up to five of your original songs. You can save them into the onboard memory: great for practicing and composing.

[CANDC]

It is none of my business but from a practical point, if you could adapt and wash every 4 days you would avoid that odoriferous situation. That would not be a major change. Just a thought.

[newtus]

since i was young i didnt like showers but would take them maybe 2x a week. when my prodromal phase and all the way til now - i dont shower but every two to three weeks. i wash my hair 2 times a year.

Originally Posted by CANDC

It is none of my business but from a practical point, if you could adapt and wash every 4 days you would avoid that odoriferous situation. That would not be a major change. Just a thought.

Yeah this is gross but I cleaned, scrubbed my apt the other day. I feel more grimy than usual from the sweat, dust ,dirt.

I bathed Sunday. I'm gonna probably bathe tonight but not shave except under my arms. It's just a pain to shave legs and other areas, lol, right now.

[@nonymous]

Several times daily (no AC).

[Loial]

I usually get showered or have a bath every day at the moment... although I don't shave often & I don't bother brushing my hair properly. Usually I'd put in a lot more effort than that. I don't really care about my appearance much at the moment.

At my worst, I probably got a shower every 2-3 days on average.

[justmeandmyhead]

I shower about 2-3 times a week. It gets a lot worse when I'm unwell I can go weeks without showering. I used to shower more but since everything started this is the best I can do. Sometimes I want to shave all my hair off so I don't have to wash it.

[The_little_didgee]

Usually 4 times a week. Last winter when I was at the lowest point of my despondency I went 9 days without a shower. Gross. I just did not have the motivation to. When I decided to wash I took a long bath followed by a shower. I felt better afterwards. During that time I usually showered every 5 or 6 days.

I used to take a shower everyday until my mid twenties when I started getting sick. It was as if my motivation to tend to my self care slowly eroded away. After that I have never ever managed to regain it back to the previous level.

I'm really reluctant to be honest because I do know that I'm disgusting and need to shower more, but I can't seem to care enough to summon up the energy and motivation to do it.

Pre-this I used to shower every other day, unless it was really hot or I'd exercised/gotten sweaty somehow, and I'd wash my hair 2x week because I have very dry hair and it goes frizzy & brittle if I wash it too much.

For the last 7 years, I've varied from showering 2x week with one hair wash at my best times down to every 6 weeks (after much nagging from my family) for both my shower and hair. I just find self-care so hard and IDKY. I only occasionally brush my teeth, even though I'm worried about them falling out, and I don't always brush my hair every day, and I only wear makeup for a special occasion that will involve photographs (I would also shower and wash hair) or for an appt that requires me to seem capable, like the craft class I run. Also I find bathing less exhausting cos I can do all the washing and shaving sat down the whole time, rather than bending over and lifting legs to reach toes in the shower. Either way I am completely exhausted afterwards.

I know that I'm gross, but I can't seem to motivate myself to make (and more importantly keep up!) the effort needed. I was showering once a week for a bit to convince my parents I was well enough to go back to Uni, and I thought that was pretty good, but it still wasn't up to acceptable standards imposed by society *sigh* And weirdly, poor self-care is my first sign of depression and it is also the last thing to improve. I can feel pretty good and be functioning reasonably well, going to Uni etc, but I still have no desire to shower more than once a week

*Willow*

[CANDC]

Even skipping doing the hair and other stuff, it just feels good to wash off the dead skin and get clean. Only a 5 minute shower and 5 minute pat down. Makes a world of difference for me.

[ickydog2006]

I take a shower everyday, except when depression and/or psychosis get the better of me. It's one of the ways my therapist can tell things are starting to get bad. I'll wear the same thing a couple days in a row and shower a couple days a week.

[Hobbit House]

I shower daily... even when I'm not well I still shower. might wear the same clothes a couple of days in a row though

Well I bathed/showered and shaved. Feel much, much better. I'm gonna try my hardest to do it every 3 days. Then get to every other day and stay at that.

But I will probably only wash my hair 3 times a week bc it's very thick and wavy and Its gets too frizzy if I wash it every day.

[roseblossom]

I find that if I don't shower at least every other day, that I notice it and that makes me feel even worse. So when I'm really struggling I will strip wash to get the minimum done. Also my hair looks awful if I don't wash it most days. I can totally relate to the lack of motivation though to self-care though. I have trouble looking after my teeth too, even though I worry too about the consequences. I think that this lack of motivation could really be the meds.

[Terabithia]

Usually I take a shower every day, sometimes every other day. But I can completely understand the problem with motivation- it's often very hard to get myself to do it, but I know I'll feel better, and if I want any lovin' from my husband, I better!

I hope it gets easier. Do you find that seeing others motivates you?

Every 4 days at the moment. Things not too good.

[Terabithia]

Originally Posted by 8888an8888

Every 4 days at the moment. Things not too good.

I'm sorry you're not doing well. You're quote is awesome - something I'm sure so many of us on this site can relate to.

[CANDC]

When I was working in a hospital, there was a quaint old man that told me when I gave him a bed bath
"Cleanlinest is next to Godliness (or Goddessliness!)"
I don't know what happened to him after he left the hospital but that simple phrase has stuck with me all this time.

Originally Posted by Terabithia

I'm sorry you're not doing well. You're quote is awesome - something I'm sure so many of us on this site can relate to.

Thank you i relate to it so well,i just had to put it on here. It is the epitomy of mental illness in my opinion.

[Secretum]

I used to shower everyday, depressed, manic, psychotic, whatever. One summer our electricity went out, which meant we had no water because the well pump didn't work. I went 2 days without a shower, and felt so gross and smelly.

But lately, my hygiene has been declining. I try to shower everyday, but it usually ends up being about every other day. But! I've been washing my face once a day, whereas I used to never wash it. Definitely helps with the acne, haha. I wait as long as possible before shaving, oftentimes covering up under sleeved shirts in the summer to hide the hair in my armpits. In the winter...I don't shave. Seriously, I go from November to April without shaving, lol. I personally don't think that is gross. Men never shave their bodies, and we don't think their body hair is gross. Women shouldn't have to either.

Originally Posted by Secretum

I used to shower everyday, depressed, manic, psychotic, whatever. One summer our electricity went out, which meant we had no water because the well pump didn't work. I went 2 days without a shower, and felt so gross and smelly.

But lately, my hygiene has been declining. I try to shower everyday, but it usually ends up being about every other day. But! I've been washing my face once a day, whereas I used to never wash it. Definitely helps with the acne, haha. I wait as long as possible before shaving, oftentimes covering up under sleeved shirts in the summer to hide the hair in my armpits. In the winter...I don't shave. Seriously, I go from November to April without shaving, lol. I personally don't think that is gross. Men never shave their bodies, and we don't think their body hair is gross. Women shouldn't have to either.

Yeah, I don't think it's gross either. And in the winter I don't shave my legs as often either. But my underarns will get really itchy if I don't shave them.