Posted by Emily on 25/6/2009, 8:16 pm, in reply to "Re: I have had enough of this."

Thank you Alex and Andrew for the responses. In regards to CBT, yes it did work to a certain degree. It worked in some situations, but it never got as far as working in highly stressful/time pressured situations, and never got as far as working 100% in the non stressful situations. However having it helped with other anxiety (such as social situations/giving class presentations). I am willing to try CBT but am not optimistic that it would work to a degree where I will always be able to go no matter how anxious/stressed I am in whatever situation, which is what I would be aiming for. To an extent I can sort of do CBT by myself, after learning about how it works, the effectiveness of it and what to use it for during psychology AS/A2 level. I can identify thoughts and challenge them: Thought: "I don't want people to hear me because they will tease me/laugh, etc." Challenged to: "Everybody has to pee. Everybody pees in the same way (females, at least!). Water hitting water will make a sound. People are mature enough not to tease you about a natural bodily function." & Thought: (If out with friends) "I am taking such a long time and people will think I'm weird." Challenged to: "If I take a while I can go back and say there was a queue and I didn't want to wait. It is ok to wait for something to happen. It is unlikely everyone else will be super quick/go as soon as they get there". Doing this helped previously. It now doesn't though. But, I could never ever get the "if I don't go now I'll have to wait" one changed. This is why I feel that Plan B/having a catheter would be helpful, as it would, as Andrew said, remove so much anxiety. Having a plan B in other situations has also been helpful to me (e.g. coping with exam stress is helped by thoughts of being able to resit, and knowing I can leave the room if I start to panic). So I think if I had it there, I wouldn't necessarily need to use it if that makes sense? I will make a GP appointment to ask them about getting a catheter. I am prepared to "fight my case" as it were. I think I have thought about it enough to arrive at the best option. -If it is on prescription does that mean that they will order it? -Who will pay for it? Me or NHS? -Is it expensive? -Is there anything I can say if GP is adamant that its a no? (I have the option to see another GP if one is really not understanding). Thank you both so much for your help! (& apologies again for length, even though you said not to!) Emily.

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