Posted by Roy on 6/2/2012, 11:06 pm, in reply to "Outing myself..."

Hi Cpt. There will be thousands of us out there that has read your tale of woe,a few wil respond but by the very nature of this affliction the vast majority will just read it and agree that is how they feel inside.The anger that they feel against themselves when failing to do what is described as a natural bodily function you have described in your account very vividly. Andrew does excellent weekends where fellow sufferers can meet up and learn to overcome these unhelful thoughts.I myself cannot overcome it even after two weekends ,perhaps I've had this problem too long (50 years),but you are only young and by attending you have a good chance of improvement. You talk of only being able to exist on the outside for about 4 hours without having to dash home to relieve yourself.This is what goes through most sufferers minds,going out,how long,can I hold out?Unfortunately by holding the urine in (symptoms excessive sweating eyes feeling that they are bulging) damage can be done to the renal system,as well as feeling awful,my bladder muscles seem to be now weakened by withholding.So what I've done is to use self catheterisation,doesn't matter if theres no lock on cubical,just insert the tube and the bladder empties,guaranteed every time even if the yobs are banging on the door.This is not a cure ,and it is a poor substitute for what Andrew advocates but hey its broadened my horizons and allowed me to get out into that big world and enjoy myself.

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