What do you recommend for BAD BO issues for an elderly male w/PD?
My husband used to be the cleanest man on earth. He would shower every day before work, wash his hair every day, brush his teeth, well, you get the picture.
Once he retired (age 55) he stopped the daily showering and everything... but here we are, MANY years later. He is now 80 and was diagnosed with PD 3 years ago. Something seems to have changed in his body chemistry after PD, because he has the worst body odor, especially arm pits. My grandpa out on the farm used to talk about "civit cats" and their smell. I have to admit that I have never smelled a "civit cat" but a skunk's smell isn't all that far off from hubby's armpits.
When I can get him in the shower, all he has to do is sit on a chair in the shower, and I do the rest for him... but we have to have a drag out fight for every shower. I don't understand. If I can get him in the shower once a week, I am doing great. I usually just give up because the fight that we have to have just isn't worth it. He has this continuous "greasy" smell, but those armpits are something else.
We have a walk in shower (I had the old shower pulled out and a new shower installed about a year ago. This shower has all sorts of built in grab bars so that all he has to do is walk into the shower and sit down. I shampoo his hair and rinse it off and wash his face and body. I wipe him down and help him in and out of the shower and dry him off. I put Vasoline on his arms and legs after the shower, so he doesn't get dry skin... I do everything I can to make his life easy, but it's a big fight to get him in the shower. Early in the day, he will say that YES, he would like a shower, etc... but when it's time, there's just one more television show he wants to watch... until then he's too tired for a shower. It's one excuse after another.
If anyone has any ideas on what to do, please feel free to tell me how to make a shower any easier on him. I even had the shower door taken off to give him more room to get into the shower. I stand in the place of the door, so I end up soaked in the process, but that's okay, because after his shower, I put him to bed and then I hop into the shower.
He does admit, after he's in bed, that he's glad that he had the shower, and that he feels so much better and cleaner (I always wash the bedding on his shower day, so he's getting a clean body into a clean bed) but many times, the fight just isn't worth it.
I have tried getting him into the shower right after he gets out of bed, in case he's just too tired in the afternoon, for a shower, but now he sleeps until 11 am, so he misses his breakfast and just gets up barely in time for lunch. I don't know if this late sleeping thing is another tactic so I won't ask if we can take a shower, or if it's his PD getting worse. I'm afraid it's probably the latter.
I am about ready to just get the things to clean his arms and legs and give up on the shower, but I don't know how to get his hair clean. I have tried the cap things that SAY they clean the hair (to replace getting his hair wet) but the ones I have tried really don't get rid of that greasy smell, and he still scratches his head like his head itches from the greasy scalp...
So my main question that I should have asked right up front: What do men use for deodorant? Hubby has a really BAD underarm smell (that he didn't have before PD) and that's even after coming right out of the shower.
Thank you for anything that can help that underarm smell. It's BAD. It seems to be worse some days, but never very good.
