Bathroom anxiety

[zx123]

Hi,
A few months ago I had the experience of needing to use the bathroom while on a long bus but being unable to do so and having to hold on for a prolonged period of time.

This experience caused me to feel very anxious and since that time I have developed coping strategies to try to minimise the the chances of the same thing happening again.

Whenever I have to go somewhere such as on a bus journey I have to go to the bathroom to check and make sure that my bowels are empty before hand. I also avoid eating before I have to go on a bus journey nd I try plan when I eat so that I know that I will be abe to have access to a bathroom after I eat. If I am unable to implement these srategies for any reason I feel anxious.

Are these behaviours normal or am I being irrational?

[Pepperpot]

Due to a bad experience you're obviously linking it to future bus journeys. Try and think to yourself that you never had an accident, and you managed to keep it in until you could go. If it happens again, you would be able to do it again. x

[zx123]

Hi,
thanks for the reply, but I don't think I can get over this.
I found it very traumatic at the time and since that day a day hasn't gone by when I haven't thought about it. I worry that it might happen again and I try to plan ways in which I can try to avoid it happening. This has had a big effect on my life and it stops me doing things that I would otherwise do. It is not as bad as it used to be, but I still worry about it a lot. I know that it might seem strange to some people, but I don't know if I will be able to get past this issue on my own.

[oscar1]

I have this exact problem. I constantly worry about being caught short on long journeys or a day out, and take Imodium as a preventative measure. I know this is probably bad for me, but I am just trying to work with the problem and hope that eventually I overcome it. Because otherwise there is a chance I would not leave the house for long periods of time, and I would never want this to happen.

[zx123]

Hi,
It's good to here from someone who has the same problem,
I don't think it's an uncommon problem because I he seen other people say that they have the same problem on other forums, I just wish I knew how to deal with it. So far I have been dealing with it by trying to regulate the times when I eat and trying to avoid eating anything before I know I will be in a situation where it will be difficult to use the bathroom, but it can be very disruptive. This all started during a very stressful time for me and before then I didn't have any problems like this.

[oscar1]

I'm exactly the same. I never used to have this problem, it's just developed out of no where. I find it quite embarrassing as well so I never talk about it. It's good to know someone else has the same problem

[MyNameIsTerry]

I had a spell of this for a few weeks when I was about 15, which is a good 15 years before my GAD actually came along. I was quite stressed over school at the time.

I've had spells of it with my GAD when at worse stages and it was always about the "just in case" issue. I found that you can make sensible changes to how you eat e.g. avoid larger meals, but it really came down to reducing overall anxiety levels for me which has caused various symptoms to disappear as I became less sensitised to things.