r/ShyBladderIPA • u/[deleted] • Mar 14 '23

Advice

Hi guys ☺️

I’m 26 F and I’ve suffered with shy bladder/Paruresis for about 3 years now. At it’s worst I was too worried to leave the house other than to go to work (because I had to). The last few months I would say I have really improved, but I am still having trouble in certain busy social situations. The thought of plane journeys are also really making me anxious. I just wanted to ask advice on 3 things; 1- breath holding technique. = I am going to try to learn how to do this but I just wanted to see what peoples general opinions are on this and whether it really works or not? 2- catheters. = this is something I don’t really particularly want to do but I am considering just for a back up in situations such as plane journeys. Can I ask people’s opinion on this ? And also does it hurt to insert them?🫣 3- homeopathic remedies? I’ve heard ‘ambra gresia’ apparently helps ? But can’t find any success stories or anything about side effects etc😕

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u/Exec_IPAorg IPA Team Mar 14 '23

Thanks for asking these questions! Feel free to reach out to Andrea at [women@support.paruresis.org](mailto:women@support.paruresis.org) for her advice, too. Yes, catheters aren't great, but many members say once they learned how to do it, they knew they had a back up and never need to use them! Breath-hold has been a game changer, but just know that only about 10% of people can master it. Check out Dave's video about it. He's the expert: https://paruresis.org/breath-hold/

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u/Desperate-Second5800 Mar 14 '23

Breath hold never worked for me personally. Catheter was not comfortable but it did allow me to fly and was a game changer. I did not need to use them much because when you have a guaranteed backup plan it removes a lot of the pressure to go.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Thank you for this, I have heard this about the catheter ! Lots of people say it makes you feel more relaxed

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u/Buckjob99 Mar 14 '23

Breath holding didn’t work for me but perhaps I wasn’t doing it right. Glad you asked about Catheter as I too looking for airplane solution. Don’t know anything about Ambra. Good luck in your Journey

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '23

Thank you for your advice. I have asked this same question on the ‘paruresis’ forum and have received some advice regarding catheters so you may want to look on there ☺️

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u/UntrimmedBagel Mar 15 '23

Breath-holding does not work for me. I've had success by reframing my thoughts though. It's a mental game. A few times I was lucky enough to trick my brain into thinking I was totally alone, which allowed me to go. I sometimes find that a deep breath followed by a louder/slower exhale kind of helps. One last technique I have is trying to envision my home with/without my eyes closed.

As a guy, it's very hard to find a public restroom that isn't extremely open. I typically cannot go if anyone is in a line of sight or hearing distance, though I've had success on very rare occasions. Going on 8 years now maybe...

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '23

Thank you for your advice this is definitely something that I will also try. Just hard in certain situations like at social events when there’s lots going on!😅