Posted by Dan on 22/8/2015, 11:45 pm

Hello. First of all I have to say how relieved I am to have found a message board just for this. I am 18 years of age, and I've been suffering with this issue for as long as I can remember. I can't even pee in a cubicle, which really gets to me. In 2011 I went through a very bad time in my life and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety problems. OBVIOUSLY, my confidence was completely zero at this time. During the past two years however, I've recovered pretty well. Of course I still have my bad days, and I still take anti-depressants, but I'm in a good place. The one thing holding my back is paruresis. Just tonight, I was out with friends from work. It's the second time we've done this this year, and yet again, I found myself completely unable to go the toilet, so I had to make up some silly excuse as to why I had to go home. Obviously, the real reason was because I was absolutely bursting for the toilet, but just couldn't go. The same thing happened last time. The added problem with tonight however, is that I now have a girlfriend, who was also there, and I can't help but feel that she may think I'm so boring for leaving early. She's aware of my depression and anxiety problems. All my friends are. But the one thing I'm ashamed to tell them about is my peeing problem. Now after tonight, I'm seriously considering telling my girlfriend and friends about my problem. I just don't know how they'll react though. A good friend laughed at somebody else who admitted they had a similar problem a while back, and keeps telling people how "hilarious" it is. This is one of the reasons why I'm so ashamed about telling them. And, who knows how my girlfriend will react, and what she'll say. I've reached the very end of my tether after tonight. I would appreciate any advice at all. I'm so upset about it, and I genuinely feel like an idiot. Thank you very much for reading.

633