Posted by Carl W-Mids on 26/6/2015, 8:44 pm

Hi all, I've visited this site a few times and finally decided to post about my experience with Paruresis. Like most people I'm unable to remember a point where I went from not having this condition to when I did have it, how it works for me is that I can only pee in a public toilet if I'm in a cubicle sitting down (this is because I hate the idea of someone knowing I'm stood in a cubicle trying to pee), even in this scenario I still sometimes struggle, I can pee at home and at my workplace fairly comfortably but there are some occasional exceptions to this however i.e. if someone I don't know very well is around. When I was a younger man the problem didn't really affect me to much because like others I could overcome paruresis when I was drunk (which was almost every time I went out when I was younger ), after hitting my late 20's I gave up booze completely and since then I have struggled with the condition when going out, like others I sometimes hold off drinking liquids hours before I go out. About a year ago I changed my job and now work as an account manager (which is a posh title for a salesman basically), in some ways it has made things easier but in other ways more difficult, for example being on the road all the time means I have to pee behind a tree somewhere very remote (which can be difficult but at the same time I have no one I know watching me), due to a lack of public toilets most people that are on the road all day have to do this anyway but unlike them I have to be completely unseen by passing traffic, so I'd love to be able to pee at the side of the road with my back to the traffic, because at the moment I sometimes have to drive miles away to find a wooded area somewhere. Obviously common sense has to prevail and I obviously wouldn't urinate or want to urinate in the middle of a town/city centre against a wall while people are walking past, but in thos situations it would be great to just find a supermarket toilet and just have a pee there instead. Lastly I'll focus on what I've done about the condition so far, I visited my GP about a year ago who then referred me to a urologist, to be fair he was very understanding and admitted that it was quite educating for him to hear about (because as you can guess no one else had ever been to him with this problem before) this problem, The main reason I went to see him was about self catheterization which he accepted might be a good idea. A week or so later a nurse visited my home to show me how to use them and to be honest it was one of the most harrowing experiences I've ever had, while it did work it felt absolutely awful and to be honest I've never tried it again (I'd just like to say this was just my personal experience and don't let this put you off if you are thinking of going down this route), so yeah I'm basically back to square one. Lastly I have a girlfriend who I have been in a relationship with for 16 years who knows about the condition, she try's to be supportive but it's difficult for her to understand sometimes. So that's kind of my experience and any helpful suggestions would be most welcome.

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