Do you understand why you have trouble with hygiene? I’ve been stuck on this a lot lately, and I can’t pin it down. I’ve been doing better, but definitely not my best. Showering, changing clothes, washing my face, and brushing my teeth are all difficult. I was wondering what y’all thought about your hygiene, if you have diffiulties in that area. Do you know what yours stems from?
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Mine isn’t perfect. It basically requires energy to do which I only have a limited amount of.
Hence I only shower every couple of days, only brush once a day etc.
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I’m like @TheFountainPen I shower every other day and manage to brush my teeth in the morning most days. That’s about it. I wear clothes two times if they are clean to save on laundry expense.
As far as why, I don’t know, could be lack of energy, low self-esteem, and just plain don’t care most of the time.
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Hmmm… it could certainly be an energy thing. But the catch is that if I shower, I know I’ll feel better and have more energy. It’s so hard to get there, though. I worry about grossing out the people around me. I DO put on deodorant and brush my teeth 95% of the time, so I don’t think I particularly smell bad, but I want to stop this.
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It’s the same with exercise. You feel better afterwards but have to invest a bit of energy in the beginning.
It’s not always easy to get over that hurdle.
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For many sz’s its not really lack of energy per se. It’s lack of motivation. Or avolition, IMO.
One of the most disabling negatives in sz IMO. The worst is still Anhedonia, IMO.
It’s not necessarily lack of energy but the inability to harness that energy, IMO
But there may be other factors at play IMO as well.
Medications is one. They can make you tired. Dopamine may also play a role here.
Another may be the fact that many of us do not have active jobs or other things that keep us moving. Being sedentary kind of has a roll over effect. Meaning if you are sedentary for awhile, you tend to become more sedentary later.
I dont know. THose are my thoughts on the matter.
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I don’t really get my reasoning. I just know it’s hard to get much done
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i shower on wednesday and have a bath on sunday and i brush my teeth once a day in the morning. I need to stick to the routine strongly to be able to do it.
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I have too many things to do that are important and hygiene just doesn’t seem as important so I have difficulty allotting time for it.
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I just do the old, scratch the balls and sniff test. Then its time to have a bath.
Dettol goes in it.
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I wash and shave my beard, brush my teeth when it needs it, I dont wash as much as others but i don’t sweat much and i keep clean. I’d say my hygiene is quite good, worried my skin could be getting a little dry though.
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I have good hygiene. But, I can’t remember which AP it was, just that it was a 1st gen AP - anyway, on it it was super hard to shower and brush my teeth. I was so drugged on it I didn’t have the coordination to do it. I talked my pdoc into switching meds luckily.
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Mine isn’t great. I’ll shower and brush my teeth when I have work. But if I have a few days off I will do nothing.
My hair hasn’t been touched for a week now. It’s very curly so I have some serious tangles and grease going on. I should probably do something about that but idk if I will. Not today anyway. Today is a rough day already. I plan to sleep today.
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I think there must be an unpleasant aspect to some of the hygiene routines. Like I am always afraid of falling in the shower or my toothpaste tastes yucky. I seem to shave and wash my face better now and have no trouble using mouthwash.
Also if it requires a lot of motor function steps that can be an issue. Sometimes in taking a shower I will wait to clean the shower until later so that I don’t have to focus for as long of a time.
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I think ive pinned down the main reason why i dont like showering and doing chores, it might be different for others. Ive noticed that when doing something i dislike i get a lot negative thoughts and emotions and it makes me feel crap. This can put me in a bad mood for the rest of day.
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It is embarrassing, but I go months. 
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Maybe there could be even something weird like we have a skin bacteria that makes us lethargic… it’s in its best interest for us not to wash it off so it has evolved to make its hosts lackadaisical.
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Mine is not bad… I shower once a day.
Actually sometimes I forgot to brush my teeth
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Frankly speaking, I’m pretty sure it’s the meds and depression for me.
Antipsychotics deplete the flow of dopamine and dopamine is essential for motivation and the ability to feel pleasure.
I try to manage taking a shower every 2 to 3 weeks and this is wholly unacceptable to me
I’ll usually brush my teeth once a day but sometimes I’ll skip a day.
Totally unacceptable
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I’m also much more motivated when I’m purely manic, not mixed.
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