Bowel movement obsesion, anxiety

[zx123]

Hi,
I have got a problem where I am obsessed with my bowel movements. This problem is starting to take over my life, I think about it everyday. Underlying it is the fear that I will need to use the bathroom but not be able to get there in time. I now plan every aspect of my life around this fear and it is taking up a lot of my time and energy. Is there any help for this? what can I do about it?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Can you access any therapy, zx123? It can be dealt with through that, most likely in the form of CBT with ERP.

Have you spoken to your GP about it?

[zx123]

Hi,
I am starting to seriously consider trying to get therapy for this. It is starting to make me feel more and more anxious.
I went to the doctor yesterday and he was absolutely useless, he just wanted me to take tablets. The problem is, getting
therapy is expensive or it takes a long time on the nhs.

I have a problem with needing to use the bathroom and not being able to get there in time.
It feels as though it is turning into an obsession. It is something I think about all the time.

What kind of treatment would I need for this?
I think I would need to speak to someone with medical knowledge.

[Cherryade]

I think it is like most obsessions - you have to make yourself not think about it. Most people, unless you have IBS, move their bowels once a day, so once you have been, you need to repeat to yourself when you start thinking about it 'I have been today. I don't need to go again' and then force your mind to think about something else or start doing a task. It's a question of mind over matter, no matter what the obsession is about. .

[MyNameIsTerry]

Therapy is the best idea for something like this. Meds have their place but all they will do is lower anxiety levels and the rest you would work out on your own to make it go. Therapy will try to address it more directly.

You would be talking CBT with ERP most likely for something like this.

Its worth your GP getting you on the waiting list no matter what as at least you will get therapy then. In the meantime you could try online CBT, known as CCBT, to see if you can work on it. ERP is likely because it will attempt to take you further & further away from the toilet so that you habitutate to not needing it as much bit by bit until you get beyond needing it at all. They will likely spend time having you monitor your bodily sensations so you can understand the difference between really needing to go and the worry of possibly needing to go.

I had some of this early on in my breakdown and later relapse when I was at work. For me, it didn't keep developing as it has for you so I managed to work through it on my own and let go of it.

You are certainly not on your own with this one, I've seen other threads about it and I always thought it to be pretty common given we often start with nausea and experience things like IBS.

Private therapists may offer a reduced cost for those unable to pay full price or a sliding scale. Anxiety UK offer sliding scale therapy to all their members, you just have to pay a yearly membership first which is only around £30 anyway. Maybe have a look at their membership page. You could also check MIND & Rethink as they offer therapy in various locations and they have a large network. In my area, a charity connected to Rethink do all the GP referrals for the NHS under NHS grants and I know other members have said the same in their areas for MIND.

[ricardo]

I think it is like most obsessions - you have to make yourself not think about it. Most people, unless you have IBS, move their bowels once a day, so once you have been, you need to repeat to yourself when you start thinking about it 'I have been today. I don't need to go again' and then force your mind to think about something else or start doing a task. It's a question of mind over matter, no matter what the obsession is about. .

There is no proof that most people have one bowel action a day. It varies from individual to individual and I am not talking about IBS or Crones.Many people go twice a week others three times a day but this is about an obsession about bowel movement.

[zx123]

Thanks for the advice,
I find this a bit of an embarrassing subject.
When I think about this I really do think it is all in my mind, its just an obsession I have developed since I had to hold on for a long time on a long bus journey.
I tried to distract myself from the thoughts yesterday but I just ended up worrying that I might physically damage myself if I really did need to go and ignored it.
I think it all comes down to anxiety, I need to deal with the underlying anxiety. I suppose the obsessions are a symptom of the anxiety.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Many of the themes in anxiety could be seen as embarassing. Don't feel like that talking to people on here as we all go through varying degrees of this stuff and doctors deal in embarassing subjects all day long so its not like that to them. Its just human nature to feel a bit like this when it comes to sensitive subjects.

It's like when you have a panic attack somewhere. Your memory stores that and trying to go back there and be in that situation makes you anxious and another panic attack can even occur.

You certainly won't damage yourself by not going, the body can handle that. If the body needs to expel something, it doesn't ask, it does it to prevent damage.

It is anxiety, zx123. I felt similiar at work as I got closer to my desk, then it became the doors to the office, then it was the exterior doors. I thought I would be sick or lose control of my bowels. I was trying to go and couldn't. The trouble is, when you do things like this your subconscious starts making associations between them and then you have to overcome them later as you are finding now.