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20124135 tn?1585964097

I would like to ask what is the correct, proper way to practice personal hygiene?

I am dealing with a lot of problems mentally, emotionally and physically.  I have OCD and fibromyalgia.  For a number of years things for me haven't got worse to the point where I cannot get a shower and wash my hair on a regular basis.  Because it takes too long for me to get ready and I run late.  I dread getting ready for anything and I haven't always been this way.  I don't know how often should a person such as myself shower and/or bath on a regular basis.  And the shower stall I have is like a phone booth, it is not a shower stall and bathtub combined with a shower curtain.  I live with a member of my family, my eldest brother and we both own our home.  We each have our own bathrooms but at the same time I have never really been happy with this place.  We cannot afford to move and I cannot afford to have my bathroom remodeled.  I feel boxed in when I take a shower and I cannot convince myself that I am washing myself properly or that I am soapy enough or that I am rinsed.  Every single part of practicing personal hygiene is a chore.  When I am shaving my legs and cleaning the lower part of my body I feel like I am down on my head.  By the time I am finished I am out of breath and I look in the mirror my face is red.  I have a headache mostly sinus and I have to take a sinus pill.  By the time I have done everything before, during and after my shower to complete getting myself showered and dressed.  My legs are sore at times and I have to take a Lodine for muscle soreness/aches and pains.  I don't even have to time to style my hair or put on make-up when the occasion calls for it.  I go for days to weeks at a time where I have not showered or washed my hair.  Because I just don't feel like it, I don't feel like hardly doing anything anymore.  And shaving my legs and underarms whether I do that before I shower or when I am in the shower is also a big problem.  It is time consuming and so far nothing that I have used really does what it is supposed to.  The very next day I feel stubble and that is another reason why I just don't bother to shower, shave and shampoo on a regular basis.  How long after one showers should they shower again?  When someone takes a shower or a bath how long do they stay clean?  For example, Let's say I would go to take a shower at midnight or past midnight because I am a night bird anyway.  I am in the shower alone for an hour or over an hour very seldom if I push myself I can cut it down to about 45 min's.  I would be getting myself ready for an outing such as a doctor's appointment later that day.  If I was to shower along with everything else past midnight because it is going to take me awhile to get ready for any kind of outing/appointment for that same day which would be in the same 24-hour period.  Then does that mean I am indeed clean for that day and if I take care of everything in the middle of the night which is the early morning of that day.  Get showered and dressed and just stretch out and set one or two alarms to get some rest then get up to take care of the usual run of the mill routing that morning and therefore I am ready for my day, outing or a doctor appointment??  I need some help here, please.  There is so much more I could convey about my physical and emotional problems but that can keep until the next time.  I really do hope that someone here can help me, please.  Thank you so much and have a wonderful day!
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Avatar universal
Hi Rapunzel43, I'm so sorry that you are dealing with so many issues. It seems to me that your whole being is shaken up and disturbed by many different factors. I just wanted to encourage you to seek help, even though it seems like an awfully difficult task to do for you. I don't think that anyone can answer or help you on this forum or even over the phone. And at this point you just can't help yourself. Please, get help!

As for your question about the shower, it is possible to do it in 10 minutes. I live in a warm place so I do it in the morning (shampoo my hair too) and again at night before going to bed (just a quick soap up and rinse). Even when I shave my legs and underarms, I don't think I spend more than 15 min in the shower.
And please know that I am not physically limited in any way and I'm not judging people who take long showers. Some people actually like it and do it for pleasure and relaxation.
Maybe you could try just that? Get in the shower and don't think of it as a chore. Just try to relax and let the water flow all over your body. Forget the soap and shampoo if it's too much to do, just try to relax...
I wish you well!
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
COMMUNITY LEADER
I'm sorry you are having this difficulty.  Well, one thing that may help which I do often now due to a life that now includes kids and time constraints on the morning, is that I shower at night.  My hair still looks clean and fine in the morning.  And I am clean for the day.  You can buy a shower cap if your hair doesn't need to be washed every day (I generally do wash mine daily but have friends that do not). You can set a timer and get in and you have that much time to shower that you preset (5 minutes, no more than 10).  Get in, rinse, shampoo hair, rinse, put conditioner in, wash/shave, rinse out conditioner, get out.  I often have something in mind I am going to do after my shower----  have a snack that I want or watch a show on Netflix . . .  and if I get my shower --  then I get to do that thing.  So, I keep it moving for that so it doesn't get too late.  

But the problem is the anxiety.  I can tell you that and all . . .but unless you are treating your anxiety, this will still feel like an ordeal.  Do you see anyone for your anxiety and ocd?  Any therapy and medication.  

In general, adults should be clean.  :>)  In summer, when temps are warmer or if you live in year round warm climate, you'll need to shower more.  I wouldn't go more than every other day without washing key areas.  Good luck
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Hi Specialmom, I am truly sorry that it has taken me awhile to reply to your answer.  Thank you so very, very much for your help, support and advice.  I really do appreciate your time, your input.  I know that I have anxieties but no I am not seeing anyone for my problems.  I'm not in therapy or on medication either.  I tried Buspar for anxiety and it had to be stopped because it made me sick and it contributed to hives.  Which I had been already dealing with due to an allergic reaction to Vitamin D.  I have been on different med's in the past for depression and OCD.  None of them worked at all, I suffered from the ill side-effects.  I felt worse and I did not feel like doing anything.  I just sat around, eating and sleeping and gaining weight.  There was no motivation, no productivity, no energy, no exercise.  I felt worse, I finally got off of med's in 2012.  And it was the best thing I could have done for myself.  I will never take another anti-depressant ever again.  I can't stand having to get ready to go anywhere not even for a doctor's appointment.  I do have a couple of shower caps but setting a timer is not going to get me to shower, shave and shampoo any easier and faster.  If anything that would just cause more anxieties.  I don't think there is any such thing as anyone male or female taking a shower and doing everything that he or she needs to do in that shower and getting in and out in 5 to 10 min's.  In the first 5 to 10 min's when I'm in the shower I am washing the upper part of my body.  Shaving my underarms and then on to my legs and/or washing my hair.  And that can go past 5 or 10 min's.  Sometimes I shave where I need to at the vanity before I get into the shower.  I can't even stand the whole process of having to go get cleaned up.  So if I was to do my personal hygiene at night then I would have to force myself to.  I wasn't always like this and I don't know what is the matter with me.  Where I live right now it is very hot and humid during the summer.  But it is not like that all year round, we have fall and winter, spring then on to summer.  Thank goodness we have a heat pump.  We have heat in the winter and cool air in the summer.  But I can only have the cool air on for so long and then I get really cold, I get chills.  I got to go turn it off for awhile.  I have fibromyalgia and it makes the cold extremely difficult.  But there is a lot that goes on with "FM" my doctor told me that it is hard to understand.  I don't know if anyone else here will come across my question and offer their advice, help or opinions.  I have other medical questions and inquiries that I would like to post on here whenever I can get the chance to.  They are physical, psychological and also some of it might fall into other areas such as beauty, self-image.  I have been thinking about getting back into counseling for quite awhile now.  But I would prefer it if I could go through counseling over the telephone.  If that would be at all possible?  I can't even get myself to get online like I used to.  I just feel tired, sleepy, lethargic, I just don't feel like doing anything.  I take a nap almost everyday.  I have some doctor appointments coming up next month as well as the next couple of months after August.  I don't know if I will hear from you again or anyone else here for that matter.  But thanks once again and I hope you and your family have a good night.  And have a great week.  Bless you.
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