How do you get out of the bath?

[KewMummy87]

Aibu to ask how you get out of the bath (if you are healthy with no disabilities)?

I’m not a weird bath perv. I let the water run out yesterday and couldn’t get out! I had to re-fill the bath. I can only get out by sitting sideways, getting onto my knees and climbing out from there.

I need to know if that’s normal or if it’s because I’m enormous at the moment. I can’t remember my slimmer days. They weren’t even that long ago!

Thank you. Sorry for odd aibu.

To anyone who is interesting is losing a bit or a lot of weight, come join us over here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/4438034-LOSE-IT-January-2022
The core group have been on there for a year and some people have lost a lot of weight and everyone seems to have had success. We are a lovely friendly group ( if I do say so myself!)
It is miserable OP when you cannot do the things you used to do so draw a line in the sand today and change things if you want to do so.

I'll definitely keep all of the water in before I get out now to see it it helps. Hopefully this won't cause some sort of tidal wave and soak the whole bathroom floor

@StarsAreWishes hope you manage ok

One of my favourite things as a kid was lying in the bath and letting the water drain away because of the heavy feeling you get - like the suction of the water draining pulls you down too.

I still quite like it now but, as you have discovered, it’s a bit harder to get my arse up afterwards now and I’ve got a dodgy back so I don’t often bother any more.

My DH says he feels no such sensation and that I’m making it up though so take that with a pinch of salt.

Staying in the bath with the water draining would freak me out. Something from the sewers might swim up the plug hole and attack me.

OP, I’ve just just remembered that years ago I suddenly forgot how to stand up in the bath, I just couldn’t do it. Anyway it turned out that I had a severe vitamin D deficiency and this had caused weakness in my proximal muscles - I just couldn’t squat any more.

@StarsAreWishes oh I no longer feel fear. I was once in the bath when the window cleaner appeared at the (thankfully, frosted) bathroom window. I’m untouchable.

(Obviously I did the only reasonable thing - stayed completed still like he was a fucking T. rex or something and wouldn’t see me. I still hope he just thought we had a very dated peach bathroom suite)

I can't remember when I stopped being able to just stand up and get out!
I have to haul myself out by pushing down on the sides. It always feels like a bit effort like my body is very heavy.

I am in my 50s normal weight, no knee issues etc.

Used to be grab bath handles and pull myself up, until I moved and the bath had no handles so it was hands on either side of the bath and push to crouching position and then stand up. I always let the water out first. The only time I couldn't do that was in a hotel and the bath was too deep. I had to turn onto my front and get up from kneeling

Well with me being infeasibly thin, I just twizzle down the plug-hole. Once I arrive at the collector/hopper thing on the side of the house I hoist myself out and sneak back into the house.

I perhaps should have said i am a SPIDER.

I've both a bad shoulder and a bad foot and have just had a bath - sat up and turned myself round and got up from my knees - graceful, not!

I just sit up and then stand, maybe using the side as a push up?

I've always let the water drain first before getting out. My DP finds it really weird. As a kid i used to drain the water and slide up and down the bath for ages so I think it's a habit from then, only if it's cold I get straight out, run to the hairdryer, blow it up my towel and create a heat tent. I now realise I'm strange.

I am hugely fat with knackered knees and have had to develop a specific technique, which I will describe in a bit. However not all baths are created equal! I used to have huge problems in our old bath, which had handles. We redid the bathroom and got a bath which is 5cm wider, which is practically nothing, but it is also a much better shape as the sides are quite vertical, which means that the bottom of the bath is wider. I rest my forearms on the sides of the bath and lever myself up enough to get one knee bent and under me, which then allows me to get the other one under me. I then put my hands on the sides of the bath and push up to get into one foot and then to stand up. When we redid the bathroom I got some quite attractive looking hand rail things which don't look like disability aids (a corner shelf with a hand rail and a big circular chrome thing with a soap dish in it) and I use those to keep my balance when I'm stepping out.

[quote KewMummy87]@BlankTimes I think I may need to consider eating less…[/quote]
I think I love you!

Your posts have been honest and refreshing and this was just the icing on the cake. I think most of us have had these moments in one way or the other. I’m glad that you seem to be taking it in your stride.

@HopeYourHighHorseBucks

I just sit up and then stand, maybe using the side as a push up?

I've always let the water drain first before getting out. My DP finds it really weird. As a kid i used to drain the water and slide up and down the bath for ages so I think it's a habit from then, only if it's cold I get straight out, run to the hairdryer, blow it up my towel and create a heat tent. I now realise I'm strange.

Oh I forgot the swooshing! I used to do that, as did my kids. What happy memories

I just get my feet under me and stand up from a squat

I've got arthritis in my knees, so it's very hard for me to get up from sitting in the bath.

I used to get myself on to my knees, and then stand up, using the handles on the bath for support. However, I had a partial knee replacement 3 months ago and still can't kneel on that knee. I haven't had a bath since September.

Thankfully, I have a shower, so I'm not minging, but I'd love a soak in the bath.

The ambulance service often have to go to people who get stuck in the bath. The advice is to get into all fours and get out that way.

I also have to get onto my knees OP. I don't know why perhaps I have lost upper body strength so can't push up on the sides anymore. You're not the only one though!

I also 'just' get into a squat and up from there.
pull the plug first though as standing in water makes it too slippery.

I'm tall and wouldn't be able to turn over and get on my knees

I have little handles on the sides of the bath, a leftover from the previous owner who was elderly. I am damned if I could get out without them anymore! DH wants to replace the bath but I'm having none of it!

I don't think it's about weight, more strength relative to weight, I'd imagine a healthy weight or even underweight person would struggle if they were weak due to illness or something. So you could work on increasing strength instead.

I put my hands on the bath handles and pull myself up to sitting. I pull up my knees and stand myself up, using the bath handles for leverage. I grab a towel and wrap it around myself, then step out while holding onto the shelf next to the bath, so I don't slip. I don't pull out the plug until I am out. I am also overweight, borderline obese, if that helps.

This reminds me how I got drunk in the bath once, and decided that the best way to get out would be feet first. I got stuck with my legs bent over the edge of the bath, me tilted back and my feet dangling over the side. The more I tried, the more I laughed and the more I laughed the less I could move. I had to ring DP to come upstairs and help me.

I have a bath most days, and even at 6.5st overweight, I don't remember struggling to get out, just sit up, hands on the side, stand up and step out. But I have no injuries and have done yoga even at my heaviest, so am quite flexible with fairly good balance.

I've lost about 3st on the last 18 months or so, and things like standing up and certain yoga poses are definitely easier. I can still do handstands, too.