2 Comments on “How to Stop Shy Bladder Syndrome”

teenager on June 01 said:

I hope this works my shy bladder is very bad
bashful bladder survivor on August 05 said:

What a great article. It’s nice to see this issue discussed in a mature and realistic way. I suffered from shy bladder until my mid-thirties. I remember a time when I was young, out fishing on a lake with my father, brother, uncle and cousins and REALLY having to pee badly and they pulled the boat up to the side of the lake and I got out and went into the bushes but I was still visible and even though I was almost exploding, I couldn’t pee! I got back in the boat for another couple hours and remember the intense feeling of pain and embarassment and of course relief when I was finally able to relieve myself.

What did I do to overcome it? I still occasionally suffer from pee shyness, but have developed some work-arounds.

1. Don’t give a shit what other people think. It’s hard I know but who cares if people are waiting or looking or staring or judging or whatever? That is their problem. Sometimes I like to imagine that I’m standing at a urinal like some kind of Stoic warrior or samurai, literally for two hours until finally I pee, like some kind of crazy ritual, even though there are hundreds waiting behind me. It actually helps to visualize it as somehow heroic and cinematic. It’s my bladder and I’ll damn well empty it when I please. Reality is, no one will remember or care or tell anyone or anything and if they do that’s their problem, not mine. I don’t care anymore if I look stupid moving from a urinal to a stall if someone comes into the room while I’m peeing. I just think, “Well, maybe I just realized I had to take a shit, and it’s not as though anyone is going to notice or care.”

2. I imagine peeing on the face of someone I’m angry at or just feel like peeing on for some reason. It’s such an absurd image that it usually causes me to laugh to myself and takes my mind off the task at hand. Really imagine the pee just splashing all over the person’s horrified face. It works, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing it down.

3. The last one was the most effective and is related to Number 4 above. Once while out at a bar, I went to the washroom with a guy I’d known for a long time. We’re pretty close and comfortable with one another. He noticed that I was pee-shy and proceeded to take on the role of a supportive and accepting father figure, encouraging me and warmly congratulating me when I was done. This may sound crazy, but I am forever grateful to that guy for stepping in and helping out. I think I had maybe absorbed some of my father’s anxiety about everything to do with his body when I was a child. My father was just one of those anxious, uptight guys who was probably pee-shy himself, although of course he would never discuss it. Just to have a supportive, nurturing witness be with me through the anxiety helped a great deal and now it’s quite rare that I get pee shy anymore.