hey guys. i posted awhile back and am still dealing with the same problem. maybe someone who has gone through something similar can offer some good advice? i would sure appreciate it.
my parents sent me away to behaviour mod (PCS) when i was fifteen, and on top of still dealing with that (i'm 23 now) i'm also dealing with a younger brother who is now 15, going through the same shit i was.
we recently went on vacation to europe together, and had a ball, but being 1-on-1 for a week showed me how little he takes care of his health.
for his hygiene, he rarely brushes his teeth and his breath is awful, i mean putrid, and you can see stuff between his teeth. he has been wearing the same "lucky cap" everyday for years. which is fine, only he washes his hair and puts it on (hair still wet) and as it dries and he sweats during the day you can actually smell it from 4-5 feet away. we went to a couple fancy restaurants and he =refused= to take off his stinky NY Yankees cap. he also wore the same dirty clothes & socks over and over again. even in a country where many choose not to wear deoderant, people were visually taking a step back when my brother spoke to them.
i know this is normal for boys to be stinky and not care, but also while we were there, he bought some hard liquor over there because of the drinking age, and all i ever saw him drink was that and coca-cola, hardly any water. and what most concerns me, is he only went to the bathroom once a day! he absolutley refused to use a public bathroom even after 20+ hours of traveling between planes and waiting in airports.
i posted before that he got in trouble a while back using mushrooms, he either had a bad batch or took too many, i dont know, but he ended up in the emergency room after getting lost and going up to some strangers house. he had lost his backpack and shoes. the stranger called the cops and two cops took him to the ER and lectured him for 2 hours. THEN, when we were in europe, he wanted to try to score mushrooms!!! i literally grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him and said "no f-ing way!"
i'm really really afraid that he's giving up on himself. he doesn't seem to care about his body/ his health at all. he's never mentioned sucide or being depressed, and he comes off as happy-go-lucky, but i know deep down he's struggling. and i'm not his parent, just an older sister, who is losing sleep with worry about this kid. help!