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Thread: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

  1. #1

    Post Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    Hi all. I've had OCD for 10 years now and at times its worse than others.
    Im really looking to talk to people who have it as its hard for other people to understand.

    Mine started 10 years ago when i got promotion to a new office and had to start travelling with work. At this time i had ibs and travelling about meant having to stop quite frequently to go to the toilet. I also had to travel in groups of mainly men, sorry, but they didnt seem to understand what IBS was or how it affects you?! I started panicking on every journey which in turn made my IBS worse. Then every time we had to travel anywhere or be out of the office i got panicked as i wasnt near a toilet.
    Then i took time off work to see if it would settle down but it didnt and i ended up being off work nearly a year. I also became agoraphobic as i then didnt leave the house. I went on medication and went to see a hypnotherapist. Both must have helped as i decided to try and go back to work. Eventually got moved to a new job near where i live based in an office. The OCD continued but i had to control it as best i could.
    Ive since moved jobs three times and every time i do i start to get very panicked. I find it hard going to work some days and still have all the same OCD feelings but so far ive tried to control it by myself. I was told the best thing to do is to try and concentrate on something else or do something that takes my mind off it - i cannot find anything that does that and believe me ive tried. My life is so controlled and i cant do anything spur of the moment.

    Well to cut a long story short i cannot get through this by myself. I have made a doctors appointment for next week and i think i need to go back on some medication. I want to get better. I dont travel, i consume my life with work and very rarely do anything but work.
    I want to travel - i have family in england,america and australia and i cant go anywhere.
    I just wanted to know if anyone has the same OCD as me. Ive been on loads of websites and no one has the same obsession with going to the toilet as me!!
    Sorry this is so long but i would prefer to get replies relevant to my situation and not just people saying hi or we understand etc. I dont mean that rudely, i just want to find someone who has the same problem as me to stop me from feeling very alone. Other OCD's seem to have many people with the same problems so they have someone to talk to.
    I have met many people with OCD but no-one with my type of OCD.

    Thanks for reading this anyway and hopefully there's someone out there who has something the same or very similar to me.

  2. #2
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    Hi fimil

    A huge warm welcome to nmp.

    You'll get loads of advice and support here and make some lovely friends along the way.

    Best wishes
    __________________
    Nicola

    “Don't be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don't have to live forever, you just have to live.” - Natalie Babbitt

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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    678

    Re: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    I have a thing about toilets. When I go anywhere I scope out where the loos are. It makes me feel secure!I also feel like being sick as soon as I enter and I won't touch door handles without a tissue if I am out. I suffer with my bowels and have to watch my diet too. I am on a plane for 4 hrs in a few weeks n I am dreading it because of many things including using the toilet on the plane. Its the hygiene and space issue. My solution: I will use the airport wc just before I get on the plane so I don't have to use the plane toilet. I won't have bread that morning coz that gives me problems. Yes, I know I am not facing my anxiety, I am finding ways around it. You have a medical issue with the IBS as well as the anxiety around it don't you? I assume you still suffer IBS. All I can say is to adjust your diet when you know you are travelling and some anxiety counselling would be of benefit. Distraction is a gr8 idea, its not THE solution but its PART OF the solution. Have you tried calms for your nerves at all or any natural remedies?

  4. #4

    Re: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    That post could have been written by me.

    I have suffered with this for a few years now and going anywhere is a nightmare because I literally need the toilet every 10 minutes or so. If I am away from a toilet I panic and that makes me want to go more!

    It's a vicious cycle and it stops me from travelling more than 5 miles away from home. I know where every toilet is in a 5 mile radius and how quickly I can get to it from where I am.

    I too have IBS and I think this is how the panic started as I get the sudden urge to go and when you gotta go, you gotta go! Lately though it's not just been my bowels over reacting but my bladder too. Oh what fun

    If you find anything that helps then please let me know. I've lived with this for far too long ~ I just want to be normal again

  5. #5

    Re: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    I am exactly the same. You are NOT alone. This issue has prevented me from doing so many things and it controls my thoughts. I panic all the time if I am out and think I won't be able to get to a bathroom. I too have IBS and when I am anxious my bowels feel it straight away. I am EXACTLY the same as you.

    Im on medication and see two professionals and things are slowly getting better but I am still very anxious about it.. I want to be normal too.
    __________________

    FEAR is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real.


  6. #6

    Re: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    Nitemare - i just typed a really long reply and then lost it.

    So to be brief - i have tried traveling - ive been on a plane about 10times in the last 10 years - hated them all. didnt drink or eat much and went to the toilet exactly before getting on but once i sit in the seat its a nitemare for me until the seatbelt sign goes off. so havent been on a plane now for three years. Its a control thing i know - i have to be in control of a situation and on a plane or on public transport im not.
    so i avoid all travelling unless im driving - but i can only travel with my boyfriend and noone else - so i feel so selfish - i cant offer anyone a lift or take a lift.

    Thanks for all the comments - i can just say that i am better than i was ten years ago - i became agoraphobic and didnt leave the house for 6 months and then after that had to force myself and i cried each time i went out. So please keep making yourself leave the house even if it feels terrible.

    I think the best thing for me is that i went to a psychologist via my doctor. she was great - i was able to cry through each session and not worry. I coudlnt talk to anyone about it especially not my parents as they are very old school and wouldnt understand. But i was determined - i got back to work and that routine made me better.

    I had hoped that i would be completely back to my old self by now but im not - recently i got a new job and its so busy that i stay long hours and dont do anything but work - bad idea, i now find that what i had built myself up to do i can no longer do without panicking big time.

    So i am going to my doctor to see what he says - i used to take prozac years ago but im not sure if thats what i need now with counselling again.

    Its a hard thing for anyone who doesnt have it to understand, its mind over matter and i obviously dont have a strong enough mind to stop worrying what other people think of me or what they are saying behind my back when i have to leave rooms etc to go to the toilet for the 5th time,.

    Its great to talk to someone that i know wont judge me as you all know its not a silly issue and it is a serious illness.

    If you have any questions for me please feel free - ive tried everything to cure myself - hypnotherapy, counselling, reflexology, colonics to relieve the associated ibs, allergy testing etc.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    1,877

    Re: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    My dad has this fear. He is 79 and has probably had it for 50 years!! He's oblivious to the fact that it's an anxiety symptom. He always makes excuses that he's eaten something that's upset his stomach so he can't go anywhere. If he has to go out in the evening he will not eat anything all day incase he HAS to go to the toilet! He's such a simple soul that we don't make a big deal out of it but it has dominated his life. He just didn't even think about doing anything about it! We all love him to bits but my heart has gone out to him at times. So yes, it is a common fear, and you are doing the right thing discussing it and getting help. It's an anxiety like any other symptom and you can get through it. Don't despair, you're not alone.
    Myra
    __________________


  8. #8

    Re: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    Thanks Myra

    i think i got this from my dad too. He's the same - don't remember him being like this when i was younger but he does get nervous now and has loads of doctors and hospital appts every week. He goes to the loo about 10 times before he leaves the house but he's not as bad when he's out and about.

    I don't tell people i have it, no one in work knows and they probably wouldn't notice as i'm not as bad there as i'm indoors.

    Thanks for replying.

  9. #9

    Re: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    Hi everyone,

    I have just searched google to see if anyone was suffering from Anxiety with Toilets, I dont have OCD or IBS or to be honest any problems with the toilet its self.

    A couple of summers ago I came back off holiday and ended up with cystitis, before I knew I had this I jumped into a friends car for a lift to the local shop, all of a sudden I had this urge to go to the toilet, I had to stop off at a friends house, and had to stop off in a couple of public toilets all the way home, once home I was fine, I knew the toilet was there and went when I felt I needed to go (but never did, as you'd probably know if you've had cystitis, its a water infection). I booked an appointment with the doctor he explained that I had this said water infection and gave me some antibiotics.

    This was all said and done, then a couple of months later when I was getting in other peoples cars I felt like I'd need to go to the toilet (not all the time in general, like when having the infection, just whenever in someone elses car). This has then been imprinted in my brain, I dont like toilets anyway Im scared people might hear me go, its embarrasing so this isn' the best phobia to have for me. I thought back to where this could've come from and about 3 months before my cystitis I remember being on the motor way with a so called friend, they wouldn't stop when I needed to go to the toilet, I was desperate!! they had to pull over on the hard shoulder, I had to go there and then i broad day light I couldn't believe it, I have been to the hypnotherapist he believes this would've been the initial cause of it. I have been there 4 times now, had medication, read books, done everything and still cant get rid of the thoughts, everyone says try thinking of other things, but to be fair when you've got that on your mind its not easy! Like others I know where every toilet is around my local area, when Im somewhere else its the first question I ask.

    This is the cause to my panic attacks but they have got worse, sometimes I cant leave the house because Im scared I might faint, I love flying i've always thought it was the best thing, but Im flying in a week on an 11 hour flight, Im not too bothered about the toilets as I know they have them on the plane, its the queues before that are worrying me, and if I get a window seat if im stuck there I will constantly think I will need to use the toilet, even if I know I dont need to go, I haven't ever had an accident but this feeling of pins and needles shoots up my legs its horrible!

    Sorry to have gone on, theres loads more I could've explained.

    Does anyone else have this problem, or even better had it but have managed to get over it, please help..............

  10. #10

    Re: Hi - toilet ocd anyone???

    Hello everyone, I too suffer from a toilet phobia, and I have mild IBS. My IBS is predominantly controlled by my anxiety over toilets, and finding a toilet in time if I am out and about, as I am worried I won't make it in time and will have an accident, and be humiliated in public. My anxiety over this started 2 and half years ago when I was a an all day concert and ate three bran muffins and didn't realise that bran was a laxative. This resulted in me later having to dash to the portaloos to do my business and although I didn't have an accident, I thought I wasn't going to make it as I had to wait in a long line and it was very urgent. Since this incident, I have developed such anxiety of going to the toilet in public or not making it in time, that I always go at least three times before I go anywhere that is not my home, or my workplace. I think I do this, so I don't have to worry about finding a toilet or getting there in time or waiting in a que, although I know where all the public toilets are in my town, or wherever I go, as it is the first thing I seek out when I go to new places. I travelled overseas last year for six weeks, and I was fine, but I think I would have enjoyed my holiday more if I didn't spend most of my time worrying about where the toilets were or if I would make it in time. Travelling on a long haul fourteen hour flight was a nightmare, as I worried the whole time over the ques for the toilet, and the fact that the aisles were tight, and that I might not be able to get out and make it in time to the toilet, this in turn resulted in me having diarrohea on the flights, but luckily I had my anit diarrohea pills with me, to help ease this. I have tried counselling for my anxiety, and I finished this a year ago before I left to go overseas. I think this helped a little bit with mindful breathing excercises, but I believe I have gotten worse after going overseas and now that I don't regularly go to these counselling sessions. I am constantly worrying about where the toilets are, and watching what I eat the day before I have to go somewhere or to an event, as I am afraid I will have dirrohea, caused by the food I eat. Does anyone have any suggestions or any success with other options that have worked for them? I haven't tried anxiety drugs, as my counsellor didn't want me to take this approach. I am desperate for some help, as I want to enjoy life to the full, instead of worrying about the toilet all the time.

    thank you and your suggestions and help is much appreciated.

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