Fellow clinic patients that don't bathe

[Chicken Little]

This may come off snotty, but I hope not.     I'm having to do Hemo for the next few weeks.  Among the time group I'm in at the clinic there are 4-5 men that come in unbathed, stinking and in unbelievably filthy clothing.  All of them appear to have emotional/mental issues and I do feel for them, BUT I'm am more than a little concerned about the contaminates they bring into the room.  Anyone else ever dealt with this? 

[goofynina]

If it is that bad, shouldnt the nurse or social worker talk to their caregivers and find out why they are in that condition.  There should be no reason for that.  When i was in clinic i did encounter one woman who would go in with her daughter and wear the STINKIEST, CHEAPEST perfume, oh man, we knew she was here as soon as she walked in the lobby (and we were hooked up mind you).  Before i left i know they were getting ready to call the family to have a talk with her cuz the patients were literally choking, fortunately i left before they took any action and i never knew what happend, but i know how miserable this can be and i hope someone does something about it. 

[Stacy Without An E]

We have a guy who is one of the preening male idiots.  You see a lot of these guys at the gym.  After every treatment he bathes himself in this cheap cologne that infects the entire clinic.  I complained enough that they had to move me to the other side of the clinic, I just couldn't take it anymore.

What really gets me is guys who do this think they're going to get laid by spending $0.99 at WalGreens.  Schmucks.

[stauffenberg]

When I was in the hospital with the autoimmune disease that first caused my renal failure, a patient moved in next to me who had probably never bathed in his life, having come from a foreign country where that might not have been the cultural practice.  Various doctors and nurses tried to coax him into having a bath, but problems with language, as well as his stubborn resistance to the idea of ever voluntarily getting himself wet, meant that for days I had no defense against him except the drawn curtain between our beds.  Finally one nephrologist just shouted at him, "You NEED a bath!" and I think the patient was ultimately forced to have one.  Though I can understand that if you had spent your whole life without having a bath, it might seem shocking to lower yourself into a tub of water.

Standards of bathing vary widely from one culture to another.  King James I of England, for example, living in the late 16th to the early 17th centuries, never bathed, and guests at royal banquets disliked sitting next to him because they were invariably infested by the clouds of fleas coming off of him.  A few other famous monarchs as well did not not bathe, or bathed very rarely, such as Elizabeth I of England, who took a bath only once a year.

Of the European countries where I have lived, bathing is the least popular in Austria.  I was always surprised to find in Vienna strikingly beautiful women, dressed very elegantly and expensively in leather skirts and fishnet stockings, with a heavy dose of perfume, stinking almost to the point of revulsion from not having had a bath for several weeks.  In their defense I would say that it was not always easy bathing in Austria, since most apartments and houses then (in the late 1980s) had no showers and only a very limited boiler capacity for hot water to fill the tub.

[goofynina]

Very interesting, thanks Stauffenberg, you really know your stuff huh?  Keep on my friend 

[Sluff]

This stinks!    Sounds like that would be an effective birth control method. (not bathing)

[okarol]

Hope this helps...

[goofynina]

Hope this helps...

    I could see it now,  tree's dangling from their ears, around their necks and from their pant zippers (we'll put two there)    and on their shoe strings,    i think they would end up smelling like a stinky pine forrest  

[Sluff]

That reminds me of the blonde who rolled her car over, the officer asked her what happened and she said I swerved to the left and swerved to the right then swerved to the left again to avoid that tree, The officer said Lady there aren't any trees for miles from here, that was your tree car deodorant hanging from your rear-view mirror.

[Chicken Little]

Hope this helps...

The visual of me hanging trees around the clinic cracks me up.    The more I see these guys, the madder I get that the social worker or their doctors aren't helping them.  I know people have to accept help, but some of these guys have sores all over their bodies.  I get a spike a slight temperature and they act like the flipping sky is falling.   The care doesn't seem to be equal. 

[BigSky]

We have a guy who is one of the preening male idiots.  You see a lot of these guys at the gym.  After every treatment he bathes himself in this cheap cologne that infects the entire clinic.  I complained enough that they had to move me to the other side of the clinic, I just couldn't take it anymore.

What really gets me is guys who do this think they're going to get laid by spending $0.99 at WalGreens.  Schmucks.

You sure it wasnt this??

[Sluff]

I wonder if they still make that High Karate?

[kitkatz]

Axe sucks.

[Hawkeye]

I have seen and smelled many offensive things coming from patients. 

1. You have your dirty clothes people who come in wearing the same dirty outfit everytime.  I can understand not wanting to ruin your clothes so you have a "dialysis outfit".  Please wash it at least once a week like you would other clothes.

2. Urine smell.  I am not sure if they are just used to it, but I have met a few patients that always wear clothes that reek of cat urine.  They must either have several cats and don't clean the litter very often or something because with every outfit they wear it's the same smell.

3. Poop smell.  I have read that dialysis makes some people gassy, but when it always smells like you have crapped your pants there is an issue.

4. Bugs.  I have witnessed first hand cockroaches crawling out of someones pants leg and go running across the treatment room floor.  If they are that infested still by the time they get to the clinic I can only imagine what their home is like.

[angela515]

I have seen and smelled many offensive things coming from patients. 

1. You have your dirty clothes people who come in wearing the same dirty outfit everytime.  I can understand not wanting to ruin your clothes so you have a "dialysis outfit".  Please wash it at least once a week like you would other clothes.

2. Urine smell.  I am not sure if they are just used to it, but I have met a few patients that always wear clothes that reek of cat urine.  They must either have several cats and don't clean the litter very often or something because with every outfit they wear it's the same smell.

3. Poop smell.  I have read that dialysis makes some people gassy, but when it always smells like you have crapped your pants there is an issue.

4. Bugs.  I have witnessed first hand cockroaches crawling out of someones pants leg and go running across the treatment room floor.  If they are that infested still by the time they get to the clinic I can only imagine what their home is like.

Omg... that's awful!!! Makes me sick.

I'm glad my clinic never encountered any issues like this... at least on my shift... I would of demanded they be removed from clinic or told my neph I needed to go somewhere else.

[Sluff]

I have seen and smelled many offensive things coming from patients. 

1. You have your dirty clothes people who come in wearing the same dirty outfit everytime.  I can understand not wanting to ruin your clothes so you have a "dialysis outfit".  Please wash it at least once a week like you would other clothes.

2. Urine smell.  I am not sure if they are just used to it, but I have met a few patients that always wear clothes that reek of cat urine.  They must either have several cats and don't clean the litter very often or something because with every outfit they wear it's the same smell.

3. Poop smell.  I have read that dialysis makes some people gassy, but when it always smells like you have crapped your pants there is an issue.

4. Bugs.  I have witnessed first hand cockroaches crawling out of someones pants leg and go running across the treatment room floor.  If they are that infested still by the time they get to the clinic I can only imagine what their home is like.

That is disgusting, does anyone ever say something to those people? I'd call their social worker, don't know if that would do much good but I would try anything, and not just for me or the clinic but for them. They obviously are to tired to bathe properly or too sick or something. It's just not normal.

[BigSky]

I have seen and smelled many offensive things coming from patients. 

1. You have your dirty clothes people who come in wearing the same dirty outfit everytime.  I can understand not wanting to ruin your clothes so you have a "dialysis outfit".  Please wash it at least once a week like you would other clothes.

There was a guy here who wore the same exact thing 3 weeks in a row, never changed or washed clothes in between.  This was easy to see by the vast amount of dog hair on the guy. 

I have seen dogs with less hair.

[Wattle]

I have seen and smelled many offensive things coming from patients. 

1. You have your dirty clothes people who come in wearing the same dirty outfit everytime.  I can understand not wanting to ruin your clothes so you have a "dialysis outfit".  Please wash it at least once a week like you would other clothes.

2. Urine smell.  I am not sure if they are just used to it, but I have met a few patients that always wear clothes that reek of cat urine.  They must either have several cats and don't clean the litter very often or something because with every outfit they wear it's the same smell.

3. Poop smell.  I have read that dialysis makes some people gassy, but when it always smells like you have crapped your pants there is an issue.

4. Bugs.  I have witnessed first hand cockroaches crawling out of someones pants leg and go running across the treatment room floor.  If they are that infested still by the time they get to the clinic I can only imagine what their home is like.

That is disgusting     Thank God I do Home Dialysis. If and when I have to go to a unit I will speak up very loudly about such revolting personal hygiene issues. It makes me sick thinking about the patients that are subjected to that kind of filth.  Yuck (i need a vomit icon!)

[goofynina]

I too have witnessed the cockroaches coming out of peoples shoes or their purses, i cant stand cockroaches so you best believe i made a scene and i wanted to see the body after they killed it to make sure it was dead. 

[Sluff]

No matter how lousy I feel, I even take a shower before I get blood drawn. I guess it's the old cliche don't get caught with dirty underwear on.

[Chicken Little]

So it's not just my clinic.  I just don't get why personal hygiene isn't an issue for these clinics.   They have a laundry list of rules, including not spitting at or biting others, but there is nothing about hygiene.  It's not healthy for the patient, the other clinic patients or the staff that have to work on them.    

[Bajanne]

All of this is very amusing to me.  You see, we don't have that problem in the Caribbean.  The only people you would meet who are stinky would someone with mental problems, like bag people.  Bathing is a daily priority in most caribbean cultures.  In fact, the lower the class, the more they bathe(shower).  Whereas middle and upper class people could exist on one bath a day, lower classes would not allow their children in bed with out a bath - even if the bathroom is a river or stream(as in some of the islands)
The only person who ever was a problem in our centre must be me with my terrible coughing.  No one has complained, but I am glad it is getting much better.  One thing, as soon as I started to cough, the nurses gave me face masks!

[Wattle]

 They have a laundry list of rules, including not spitting at or biting others,

  All I can say is.... Chicken Little I really hope you heal fast and get yourself the hell out of there. 

[MyssAnne]

That is sad, that you have to have rules to NOT spit or bite others...for adults!!! As for bathing, make a stink.
If someone smells, complain. You are stuck there for over four hours. That's way too long to endure some
one else's stink.  If they're gonna be inconsiderate, then by golly, YOU can be inconsiderate by bringing it up
to the nurses! YOU have rights too! 

[lola]

COMPLAIN!!!!! My 1st grader just had the same problem and was getting headaches because this little girl smelt sooo bad so i called the school nurse and she called the mother, now my daughter says she smells good!! Or you could bring some fabreeze and spray it twords them and maybe they'll get the hint!!!