Self-neglect

Post Reply New Topic

Since near the end of 2012, I've been neglecting my personal hygiene, only becoming occasionally aware of the fact, but my therapist doesn't know at all.

Until tonight, I hadn't brushed or flossed my teeth in who knows how long while eating lots of sugary foods.

I've been wearing the same shirt for 3 weeks straight I just noticed, but no one else seems to notice at all.

It's always more important that you're aware; you're the 1st person to be of help in such ruts after all. cberg's personal reccomendation? Dr. Emmanuel H. Bronner's magic castile soap. You can buy tons of versions and it's extremely concentrated & versatile.

brush your teeth tonight. it'll be a good first step. you want to have a decent body left when you get your reassignment.

I do this too, depending on how I feel.

At one stage I went pretty much an entire year without showering or cleaning anything and throwing food and rubbish onto the floor of my room as well as dirty clothes if I bothered to take them off. I am not exaggerating when I say my room got knee deep in rotting filth before I did something about it.

Very recently I learned that my body does not tolerate casein or gluten well and while I am on a ketogenic diet, sugar too... when I stop eating those, drink lots of water, get the recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals each day and exercise, over the course of a couple of weeks all sorts of things improve quite dramatically. One of them is my hygiene... it doesn't become perfect but it becomes manageable and I can clean up after myself. I think the effect on my hygiene is because I feel generally happier, more motivated and proactive and less depersonalised on this diet/exercise regime.

Maybe there's something in your life that can be changed to similar effect?

It is not easy to find what it might be, or even know if there is something, and if you're like me even once you know what you have to do it's not easy to stick to the plan... but it's definitely worth trying, trust me.

Perhaps they just say they don't notice in order to be kind. Someone who hasn't brushed their teeth in even one day, well, stinks. They would notice the shirt smell, after 2-3 days maximum too, trust me.

I've known a few people who stank of BO when they were neglecting themselves. People do notice it - very well, but they keep their traps shut. It's not something you're supposed to say to someone, it's like saying they have their breast showing or something.

I suppose. It's been much worse these past 2 years, however. It seems like my executive functioning has been slowly failing these past 2 years.

^ I don't really know what that is. I hope you manage to improve it.

I feel like my brain is riding the waves, but I must work.

I've been wearing it to my therapist and he has said nothing.

None of them seem very aware of my self-neglect, though my dentist sure was last year when she noticed my dental hygiene had dropped like a rock.

I do the same thing and people, not brush my teeth, or shower, or get changed for days or weeks at a time. When I don't get changed, people don't mention it to me either, probably because they're used to it.
If I haven't been happy recently I think I go longer without these things and without noticing.
I don't see it as a problem, though. As long as I always shower, brush my teeth etc when I have a reason to.
Although I really should brush my teeth more often, I don't like the consequences of not doing that enough.

Depression does that.

Some of the easiest work anyone can do is simple chores for themselves. Ultimately, we're discussing situational memory; at one point there was some neural feedback telling you to clean something up, of course it's possible you forgot this trigger but the physiology responsible is still there. Case in point, no way I'm the cleanest person out there (mountain biker/hippie) but after dragging myself out of bed & choosing some good tea, I can keep my demeanor shiny enough for most social functions...