im so depressed. i feel like a nutjob. the minutes seem like hours.

[Kevlin]

I feel so ugly. im balding. I have major anxiety. my hair is falling out. I rarely brush my teeth. my teeth are falling out. I never shower. my skin is falling off.

 

[Ereth]

Is this just how you feel in your mind, or are you so depressed that you're actually neglecting personal hygiene? In either case, I suggest seeking professional help.

 

[Aspieistj]

I feel so ugly. im balding. I have major anxiety. my hair is falling out. I rarely brush my teeth. my teeth are falling out. I never shower. my skin is falling off.

When I feel that awful I know it is time to increase my Prozac. I am a retired nurse and have an excellent relationship with my GP. I think you need professional help right away. Doctors can't remove our AS but they can find us help.

 

[Kevlin]

I don't like the label of having to take meds. I feel like a freak. and I am depressed I really don't shower for days or brush my teeth for weeks a time. go 2 weeks without shaving cuz don't wanna look at self in mirror. and feel like death.

 

[Ereth]

It's only a label if you let it be one. You don't necessarily have to take medicine to get better. You can always do talk therapy instead. (For what it's worth, though, combination therapy---antidepressants and counseling---has been proven to be more effective than either method alone.)

 

[rollerskate]

If you don't want to go the med route, which I understand and accept entirely if someone doesn't... I don't like them because of the side effects I tend to get, which can be worse than what I actually started taking them for, like anti depressants make me more anxious and ocd and aggravate my heart condition... There's therapies that teach you how to take charge over your neural network and rewrite it so to speak. I can't remember all the names involved, I know cognitive behavioral is part of it... If you're interested though I can go dig up some old bookmarks that may help. You may need a counselor as a sounding board, especially in the beginning, and you may be able to go the self help route with reading resources, especially once you get the hang of things and just need to keep up your memory and self maintenance.

It's by far not an easy path to follow. I liken it to getting over a drug addiction. But once you get the right attitude and understanding going it does get easier to accept it when you stumble and easier to set yourself straight again.

 

[tlc]

Good advice given. No need to be perfect, nobody is. My hair is isn't what it used to be, and I go a couple weeks without shaving. The skin issue might just be solved with a good shower and therefore no meds. As far as the teeth, the main reason I take care of mine is that I've had toothache and it's the worst thing ever. Worse than a broken bone or any injury or surgery or illness I've gone through, and I've been through a lot. So I do whatever I can to avoid it.

 

[Ereth]

Even if you can't bring yourself to bathe every day, take care of your teeth. Many overall health problems originate with poor dental health.

 

[Sev]

Judging by the content of your five previous messages you've posted on here, I think it leaves little doubt that you are actually depressed to some degree. If we assume this to be true (that your suffering depression) then we can deduce that the poor hygiene, the anxiety and the poor self-esteem could simply be repercussions of the condition. It's widely known that people diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum are far more vulnerable to things such as depression, I've even read people suggesting that's its hardwired into a minds.

Personally, I've struggled with it immensely and lived a very miserable year of my life before identifying the problem. I on some forums some time ago where I received an excellent piece of advice that has definitely changed my life.
I was told to go get a small notebook, a piece of paper, anything that I had on me at that particular moment and write down what I wanted to do with my life. After several weeks I had compiled a list of things I wanted to do, or skills I wanted to have. Some of them included: Music, Programming, Writing and to learn a second language then travel. I had little to no experience with any of those at the time.

Despite the simplicity behind this approach, I think that it is extremely beneficial and thought that it might help you!
You have to find out what you enjoy, what you want to do, and go do it. Set some goals and strive for them.
It's not what is bad, it's what is good, that we should be focusing on and devoting ourselves too.

I don't know how keen you are for a conversation but if you want a chat, feel free to message me.