When Did I Shower Last?

Seriously. I asked myself this question as I finally stepped into the shower this morning. I tend to only shower about twice a week (sometimes, only once). I know that sounds gross, but I do little sink baths in between when I can, and I have very dry skin due to Sjogren’s, so I can’t shower daily or my skin would flake completely off! But mostly… due to my mental health challenges, I’ve got to a point where I can no longer remember WHEN I showered. This is worrying.

Now, I feel as though there is a logical reason for it. With all of these autoimmune diseases, I know that brain fog is a definite thing with them. Also, perhaps due to the stress and strain I am under both financially and physically, my brain is just “tired” and can’t be bothered to keep up with stuff like that when it’s got more pressing stuff to deal with. I like to think maybe it’s just “picking its battles carefully”… But that still leaves me with quite the conundrum.

I have a similar problem with medications, but I’ve managed to combat that with an app on my phone to help me keep up with it. I have a system. I quite literally do not swallow a pill until or unless I have the app open on my phone and am simultaneously pushing the button, if you will, to tell it I am taking the dose. I had to resort to doing that when I was managing both my own and my late father’s medications. It was the ONLY way I could keep everything straight, and as a safeguard/backup, I kept a paper journal of Dad’s meds as well. I wanted to make sure EVERYTHING was documented – to keep him safe.

The app I use for my meds is called MediSafe. I HIGHLY recommend it, and have been using it for about 4 years now. I think there is an Apple version, but I use the Android one and it is AMAZING! It even throws up a red flag in the form of various levels of warnings if you input a medication that will clash with something you are already taking. The app has saved me quite a few times when medical professionals apparently couldn’t be arsed to actually look at my medical records for themselves. *sigh* Yeah. That’s a thing. We have to be SO careful because at the end of the day, human error could make us very sick. Doctors are so overworked these days (or in many cases, oversubscribed) that many times they just fire off a prescription for something without fully looking into how it might react with other meds you are on. At least, that has been my experience – and with multiple doctors.

As for my meals, I keep track of those with a paperback meal planner that I designed (and have for sale on Amazon*). The meal one was a necessity with me being on the special nutrition protocol. It not only helps me to plan, but it also holds me accountable and shows me when I have been slacking off. Not cheating, mind you, because I truly don’t do that. I simply don’t buy food I can’t eat – that makes it easy not to slip. If it isn’t here, I can’t eat it. And I am unable to hop in the car and drive somewhere, so… I’m safe. Not that I would, anyway, as I am very dedicated to this protocol to try and better my health. No, I’m referring more to my not eating as much as I should. I really do struggle with that. Especially during flares or times of mental health duress. I am NOT a stress eater – I’m just the opposite. My stomach can just be growling away and I will just be curled up in a ball, not eating. At least if I keep track of it on paper, I can see when I last ate (or didn’t eat) and know when things are getting a bit too off track.

I keep track of water consumption in my Fitbit app. I got a year’s subscription and a smartwatch through my Humana insurance, which was nice of them, I thought. It’s not the fanciest, and it definitely has its quirks. The heart rate reading on it is often WAY out of whack (it said my heart rate was 182 when I was in an ambulance the other day – but I was hooked up to the equipment and the paramedics were monitoring it. It was hovering between 75 and 80. But… I do like that it tracks my sleep, and I can track my water, my weight, and other things in the app. The watch is also lightweight, and for someone with sensory issues like me, that’s a nice bonus. This is the model that I have*, and I do quite like it, overall, in spite of its shortcomings.

Getting back to the showering thing, though, I feel like I am going to have to start some sort of “Activities of Daily Living” (ADL) journal for myself. Perhaps I should design one and put it up on Amazon with my other books, like the meal planner? Regardless, I need to start a log that tells me when I have showered at the VERY least. As noted above, I have a variety of tracking tools for OTHER stuff in my life, but I think I am in need of something to remind me when I showered, brushed my teeth, cleaned certain areas of my house (the ones that I am able – there are others that just don’t get cleaned), changed the air filter in the HVAC (which doesn’t fully work anyway, but I do use the upstairs A/C so the filter needs to be changed periodically), etc… I have plenty of blank notebooks here, so I know I can set something up. I guess I’m just sad that it has come to that.

I wanted to write this little blog entry to sort of raise awareness for folks with chronic illnesses that cause brain fog, and/or mental health issues that make even the most BASIC of personal care activities challenging, if not impossible. I think a lot of us just go into autopilot mode on most of these things, not realising that it’s even difficult for others to do these things. I know I did… for pretty much my whole life. I showered daily, and it was automatic. I didn’t even think about it. Therefore, I didn’t have to keep up with when I last did – because it was EVERY DAY. Now? Not so much.

I know I am not alone in this. I know there are others out there with struggles such as these. If you are reading this, I feel you. I see you. I am one of you. And it is tough. I get it. Oh, BOY, do I get it!

One of my late mother’s favourite go-to phrases was “Hang in there”. I know it may sound trite to some, but really… at the end of the day, it’s all any of us can do.

I also wanted to write this article to remind myself: “Hey Janni, you showered on Monday morning, 16 February!”

If I end up designing an ADL log book, I’ll come back and update this post with a link to it. 😜

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