Agoraphobia/toilet phobia

[Hailmax]

I have been suffering with a fear of going anywhere unless a bathroom is in vicinity. When I have an urge to go I experience panic attacks. When I feel I am trapped the symptoms become like irritable bowel syndrome I avoid going out because of this fear. Have been in psychotherapy for 2 1/2 yrs now to avoid medication. Was on Paxil for 12 years which helped with symptoms but was a zombie most of the time. Had a horrible time coming off Paxil so have looked for alternatives (therapy). It has helped but the symptoms still exist. Anyone else out there having similar problems ?

[mike83]

Yeah I have exactly the same thing, I'm on medication and it doesn't do much for me. It just seems to come on automatically sometimes now even if I don't feel that anxious at the time, its not just a feeling of needing to go though, I do actually need to go. I have various food intolerances which don't help either, I've never been tested for any physical disorder like IBS, they just think its mental.

I don't have any answers though, just know you're not alone!

[jayjoe18]

This is exactly me! I've been suffering this for years now as a result of traumatic experiences and social anxiety. It's by far the worst of them all. I could deal with anything else but this. I'm now agoraphobic because of this and the social anxiety, I'm 20. Never tried meds but I've had therapy and doing CBT now specifically for toilet phobia. So far I've made little progress, I just pray that it will help and I can overcome this. I really feel for anyone with this as it's awful to deal with.

[Hailmax]

Thanks for replying! It is not good to know that others are suffering but at least I know that I am not alone. I feel bad for others in this situation. JayJoe, know that it hasn't always been like this (the toilet phobia) and sometimes it does go away but it takes hard work, positive thinking and patience. My therapist told me not to be hard on myself when I feel frustrated about this phobia, we will have off days. Some things that help with the feeling of "having to go", I watch what I eat and I don't put to much on my plans in one day and I try to pat myself on the back when I achieve going somewhere without the panic. I know, easier said then done, but I will take any little thing that helps.

I have this opportunity to travel to Oxford, England in one month to hear my son speak at the university and I am avoiding it like the plague because I have never been to Europe. My main concerns are using the train from the airport and not knowing where the toilets are. This unknown scares the crap out of me (no pun intended). I live in Canada and I know where every toilet is wherever I go. I'm avoiding this opportunity to travel because of this fear. So, I am trying to visualize the journey to make the fear lessen. If I cannot go, I will try to be forgiving of myself. I know we don't have the answers but at least we have others to speak openly about this topic without feeling like freaks. .

[jayjoe18]

Thanks for replying! It is not good to know that others are suffering but at least I know that I am not alone. I feel bad for others in this situation. JayJoe, know that it hasn't always been like this (the toilet phobia) and sometimes it does go away but it takes hard work, positive thinking and patience. My therapist told me not to be hard on myself when I feel frustrated about this phobia, we will have off days. Some things that help with the feeling of "having to go", I watch what I eat and I don't put to much on my plans in one day and I try to pat myself on the back when I achieve going somewhere without the panic. I know, easier said then done, but I will take any little thing that helps.

I have this opportunity to travel to Oxford, England in one month to hear my son speak at the university and I am avoiding it like the plague because I have never been to Europe. My main concerns are using the train from the airport and not knowing where the toilets are. This unknown scares the crap out of me (no pun intended). I live in Canada and I know where every toilet is wherever I go. I'm avoiding this opportunity to travel because of this fear. So, I am trying to visualize the journey to make the fear lessen. If I cannot go, I will try to be forgiving of myself. I know we don't have the answers but at least we have others to speak openly about this topic without feeling like freaks. .

Yeah I know what you mean, I come on here a lot and there isn't much discussion on toilet phobias so it's nice to hear that you're not alone!

I watch what I eat too, but sometimes a bit too much to an OCD point which I know also isn't good, it's swings and roundabouts!

I do hope that we can overcome this phobia because it really is awful, I've been doing CBT but it's just been cancelled so feeling very deflated at the moment :(

Congrats to your son on coming over here to speak at Oxford uni, it's been a while since you posted about that (sorry for the late reply by the way!!) did you manage to make it over here?

[MKC]

Hello all. I've been searching the internet high and low for toilet phobia and I was surprised that so many people suffer from it, even more surprised to find it has it's own name! However, having read a lot about it I'm beginning to think that I am alone in mine! Let me explain.

Most of what I've read about toilet phobia seems to be about fears of being without a toilet, excretion or urinating in a toilet outside of your own home or fear of the germs from toilets. I'm yet to find anything like mine. I'm actually terrified of the toilets themselves! I have been for as long as I can remember. I'm now 31 and everytime I think I've grown out of it something happens to remind me just how much this fear has impacted my life. What prompted me to bring this up for the first time in years is that my 3 year old son started to develope the same fear recently as well.

I have some irrational fear when I go into toilets I'm not used to. It's like a fear of death or being trapped. The same sort of fear you get in someplace spooky. I sometimes panic and scramble for the door. As a child I would wait outside toilets for someone to go in so I wouldn't be alone. As a teenager I actually came out crying in front of my mates just because the flush went on the urinals when I was in there. To this day I jump and run for the door if that happens.

I'll never use a toilet with a high up cistern and pull chain and I can't even look at black toilet seats without being terrified. The more tiles and sounds of dripping there are the more scared I get. I seem to be less scared with modern toilets, toilets with music in or even I can hear back ground noise outside the room or if the door is open because it makes me feel less isolated.

I know this probably sounds strange to you guys. Anyone I tell laughs (once my "friend" turned the light off when I was in the toilet and I got so scared I punched him in the face!) but me and my 3 year old son seem to be the only people who have this phobia?

[iamcrossy]

Just found this thread on google, is there any recent one with latest views on this exact topic?