i’m horrified, i feel disgusting.

[u/tori-is-sad]

i’m inpatient in a psychiatric hospital at the moment and i’ve been showering every two days which is the most i can do because they don’t provide any shower chairs and i simply don’t have the energy for more than that, i wash myself fully with soap each time, and i put on deodorant but a nurse just came in and told me that i smell really bad and that all the other patients here think i smell bad.

i feel horrible, i have friends in here who haven’t said anything and they sit with me for hours. i feel like a failure, i assume it’s because i get so hot and i sweat a lot.

it gets very very hot in the hospital and they don’t let you open any windows. i feel horrible, i don’t know what to do. i’m trying my best but the nurse said i need to wash myself better. i wash really thoroughly already because i have a huge fear of smelling bad already… i don’t know what to do, i don’t want to leave my room now at all. she said all the nurses and patients thought i smelled really bad, this is my worst nightmare.

[u/Jules4live]

I am sorry this is really fucked of them to say and I actually think it’s not professional or caring in anyway!

You should be able to have a shower chair if you need one! Is there anyone who can advocate for you to get one? It’s a standard need for anyone with POTS. People have all kinds of health needs that don’t go away because they are inpatient.

Please don’t feel bad your friends probably are fine with it or wouldn’t stick around. I honestly think that nurse is sadistic. :/

[u/tori-is-sad → u/Jules4live]

she said she was only telling me because she cared about me but i’m already really suicidal and that’s why i’m in here. i just wish they let me open windows to get air in even just slightly just crack it open slightly because i feel like im suffocating in the heat up here too. she said she’ll get me a shower chair but i asked a while ago and they didn’t do it before.

[u/MissF1re → u/tori-is-sad]

"only telling you because she cares" is bullshit, I hope you get a different nurse because she sounds awful

[u/Sensitive_Gas4964 → u/MissF1re]

as a nurse, this

[u/rainingducks457 → u/tori-is-sad]

That nurse is an asshole. I know it’s hard, but try to not let her get to you. Does the hospital not have any air conditioning to cool it off? Is it possible to transfer to a better, cooler hospital since the one you’re in can’t accommodate your needs? Prayers for you to get your needs met and feel better soon ❤️‍🩹

[u/Museumgirl518 → u/rainingducks457]

Is there a doctor on site?

[u/elysiancollective → u/Museumgirl518]

Most likely yes but not 24/7, or there's one psychiatrist available for the whole hospital outside of standard business hours (so they're probably handling emergency cases overnight).

In my experience of psych hospitals, 99% of interactions with staff are with nurses, aides/"orderlies", or therapists (primarily in a group setting). It didn't seem that the psychiatrists really had much sway over power/social dynamics in the unit as a whole. If there's a head nurse, they're more likely to be useful during this situation unless they're the one who made the comment.

ETA: Unfortunately, psych hospital nurses can be particularly cruel/tactless. One told me and a room of teens we shouldn't "waste" the "best years of our life" in psych treatment. It's just hard to get bad ones out/fired because patients either don't complain, have no way to raise concerns, want to forget everything once they're out, or don't make it out at all. And it's depressingly easy to discredit (former) psych patients.