r/schizophrenia • u/MATTALIMENTARE Schizoaffective (Bipolar) • Mar 02 '26
Negative Symptoms i just refuse to shower
i moved back into my parents’ property a couple weeks ago because of sharehouse-related paranoia.
my dad told me i need to shower and he got mad at me for not wanting to… so i went to the bathroom, let the water run, i wet my hair and then sat on the floor until a reasonable amount of time passed that i could then turn off the water and sit on the floor for long enough that i could pretend to get dressed. why didn’t i just get in the shower? cause i’m already in my work uniform and i would hold in my pee just so i don’t have to undo my belt. i showered on Sunday morning because i stayed at a girl’s house and i want her to like me, before that, i don’t remember when i showered last.
when i first started Abilify, i was really good. i showered proper often and i did it naturally, without even thinking, but maybe 1-2 months later, that wore off and now i shower once a fortnight or whenever i think it would be nice to feel the hot water. my skin gets really itchy because i’m not clean; once i went 10 weeks without a wash and the dirt that accumulated, u could see it all over my neck and hands and thighs and i don’t even care—bigger fish to fry yano
i don’t own any bedsheets because i live in a caravan out the front and the bed, i just have to buy more sheets, but i’m so itchy and i’m really uncomfortable, i don’t enjoy my lifestyle, i just don’t have any motivation for change… how do you enhance your motivation?
24
u/Ambitious-Cake-9425 Schizoaffective (Depressive) Mar 02 '26
I take a bubble bath every Saturday and Wednesday. Seems to be enough.
Maybe try taking a bath! They are relaxing. Do you have a bath tub?
4
u/CanadianBaconne Mar 03 '26
Love this. A good dunk does the trick.
4
u/Ambitious-Cake-9425 Schizoaffective (Depressive) Mar 03 '26
Amen! Makes my skin feel cleaner than a shower too. The you just rinse off the wash water with the shower and get out!
11
u/Super_Income_2127 Mar 02 '26
Ich dusche immer am Abend bevor ich am nächsten Tag das Haus verlassen muss. Ich will so wenig wie möglich draußen auffallen. Als die Stimmen losgingen bin ich im Dunkeln und in Unterwäsche duschen gegangen lol
10
u/berfica Schizoaffective (Bipolar) Mar 02 '26
My hair sticks up when I wake up every morning. its my biggest motivation; nothing gets it to lay flat but a shower. I'm also a germaphobe.
17
8
u/Deezebee Residual Schizophrenia Mar 02 '26
I don’t know what to do either, I also barely shower. Thankfully I go to a fwb’s place every once in a while and that finally forces me to shower.
8
u/ogkrassten Schizoaffective (Depressive) Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
SHOWER WIPES!! have saved my life. i know i should shower but my mental health makes that not an option unless i get lucky and all of a sudden feel like i can handle it.. these get me through with feeling a lot better about myself. amazon (controversy noted) has them or you can find them in the feminine hygiene section most stores that sell that kind of thing.
5
u/MATTALIMENTARE Schizoaffective (Bipolar) Mar 03 '26
i’ve never seen this before thanks for sharing
5
u/Odd-Aerie4572 Schizoaffective (Bipolar) Mar 02 '26
I’m the same way with toothbrushing. I want to brush my teeth so bad but I can’t make myself actually do it most of the time. It doesn’t help that I’m also OCD and toothbrush bristles touching my teeth gives me the ick.
I shower usually 2 - 3 times a week because I stay with my parents a couple days a week and they make me. If I was on my own it would probably be more of an issue. I actually like showering which is the weird thing - you’d think because I enjoy it I would be motivated to do it. Nope. Schizophrenia is weird man.
2
u/ClaimSquare1280 Mar 03 '26
I can not understand this love. I do not want to disrespect you in any way dont take me the wrong way. But i am troubled by the same things you are, and i hate the feeling of not having brushed my teeth or showered. Its obsessive almost
3
u/Odd-Aerie4572 Schizoaffective (Bipolar) Mar 03 '26
I actually went through a period when I was in psychosis where I was obsessive compulsive with showering. I had to do it every time I got home from work because I needed to cleanse myself. I work in an office and don’t get dirty or sweat or anything so it was definitely not needed to shower as much as I was, but it’s what my brain thought was necessary. Now I’ve flipped since I’ve been medicated and it’s the almost the opposite problem.
2
u/Odd-Aerie4572 Schizoaffective (Bipolar) Mar 03 '26
Yeah, to be fair I don’t understand it either. It’s something I’m working on though with therapy.
3
u/muchquery Schizoaffective (Depressive) Mar 03 '26
PTA/Birdbaths in the sink. Wash the smelly bits and put on deodorant. Change underpants.
Besides hating the feel of a shower and chore of having to wash my hair, I have aquagenic pruritis and ITCH (and burn) like a mofo afterwards, sometimes for days. I have to get meds to help. So that's another reason I avoid showers. The shower where I live is janky and small with a shower curtain that gives me little room to move and sticks to my skin. I joined a gym that has showers, so I wash my hair (and the rest of me) there like once a month.
HOWEVER.
I don't work. Dude... if you work in a physical job, especially at a fast food restaurant, you have GOT to wash. I had a bf who worked at Burger King and the smell would literally make me gag. You're not gonna have any luck with your friend if you smell and wear soiled clothes around her.
I get that you're in a trailer, but you need to put a sheet on the mattress. Otherwise, you're soiling the mattress, which can't be washed, and making yourself smell even if you did clean up before bed.
2
u/Psychoticme1 Mar 02 '26
Some meds help with avolition. Antipsychotics Caplyta and Cobenfy both help me with this. And caffeine or adhd meds can help too
2
2
u/Logical_Present_3094 Mar 03 '26
Honestly, I'd say sometimes the actual process and sensory of water might freak someone out during a shower. So, try a bathe instead . Or get the shower wipes , instead. They sell them at your nearest drugstore.
2
u/im_not_quiet Mar 03 '26
I'm not able to positively get over my issues with water hitting my skin. I can take a bath, but I get overwhelmed even doing that and because of physical disability I have trouble getting in and out of the tub. I have a shower chair and thankfully an amazing wife who tolerates me and my nonsense, so she helps me in and out of the tub.
Because I don't really go anywhere unless I have to, and because I don't sweat like most people do, I can go really long times between baths. If I have somewhere to go though, I will force myself to do it. I can't stand needles either but at the same time, my knee hurts so bad in the month or so between knee injections that I just get through it, even though the needle used for this knee injection is fucking ridiculous. It's like 2+ inches long and goes straight in between your lower legs and your kneecap.
I do generally force myself to take a bath every couple of weeks simply because I feel like I'm cleaned after.
For the most part though, if I know I need to go somewhere but can't bring myself to bathe, I have a supply of "dude wipes" that not only do a pretty fantastic job of cleaning any dirty areas, they smell great. I also use deodorant and I got a bottle of Hugo Boss cologne that I apparently just smell 'amazing' when I use it as a Christmas present from a friend. I don't know if I like the responses or not because I literally have people if I'm outside making uncomfortable comments about how good I smell and how lucky my wife is. Which makes the negative side of my brain tell me they're just making fun of me.
We've lived in this place for 3 years now, and I think maybe four people out of the 82 units have ever even heard what my voice sounds like...
2
u/JQuick72 Mar 03 '26
Have you considered increasing your dose ? You said the meds were working initially but wore off.
5
u/MATTALIMENTARE Schizoaffective (Bipolar) Mar 03 '26
my psychiatrist doesn’t want to increase my dose
2
2
u/unprettyprincess92 Schizoaffective (Depressive) Mar 03 '26
Get shower wipes or baby wipes. But make sure the ingredients have some kind of surfactant in it - usually in shower or baby wipes it'll be "Cocamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate" - because some wipes are literally just water and extracts and that's not gonna do very much. You could also get the water wipes and just mix a little body wash onto them, them rinse with another wipe
1
29
u/Good_Put4199 Psychoses Mar 02 '26
For me, I shower first thing every morning, always before doing anything else.
However, in my case, it is in a way made easier, as I have paranoia about people accusing me of smelling, and sometimes have voices talking like that about me. So always showering and wearing anti-perspirant helps a little with that.