disability support pension claim for paruresis

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stanley
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:34 pm

disability support pension claim for paruresis

Post by stanley » Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:51 pm

Hi guys

alright this is a long one, i hope you can read it all.

I was wondering how many of you have actually spoken about paruresis to a GP or therapist??
if so what were their reactions??, were they of any help???, was it a waste of time??

Did they try any cognitive behavioural therapies or exposure therapies with you, or offer to do so?? I feel from reading Steven soifers book that therapists can do very little. Perhaps more for other phobias than our phobia.

I was sent to a psychologist by centrelink two years ago for anxiety and i exposed my paruresis to him and he tried exposure therapy and also just talking, but i felt humiliated by him in the end and couldnt go anymore, so i only did four sessions and then never turned up for the next.

I saw a doctor today who reccomended me to a EMDR therapist, but she cost $180 an hour so i declined. I have paruresis about as bad as it gets and have had it my whole life, im 30 now, but its been at its worst now for probably about 4 years, it cant actually get any worse, i can only pee at home, in my room, i empty it out when everyones gone, i can pee in public when im drunk, but only by sitting down and squeezing so hard that i feel i will pass out, which is kind of scary, so i have always been drunk when i had a job or was forced to do work for the dole. This is how i have survived all these years, but now my blood pressure is through the roof, im sure because of alcohol, (i also used it for social anxiety and i guess because im so lonely), anyway im determined to stop drinking, but i cant piss if im forced into work or work for the dole, and will have to be drunk or just leave to go home and pee. this will mean im breaking health and safety rules by being drunk, or risk losing my newstart allowance if i just leave.

Im currently a student on newstart, so they want me to get part time work, i was studying to be an accountant, (accountants work in offices, or atleast earn their CPA qualification after uni in an office), my plan 2 years ago was to have overcome my paruresis by now, im always remaining optimistic about my problem, but anyway, now ive changed this semester to international business so i can import from china and have a home business on ebay.

I cant see how im expected to work for 15 hours a week and not be drunk or leave for home for pee breaks. There is no law in Australia that says we arent aloud to drink as much as we want before work, we shouldnt have to dehydrate ourselves before a shift to get through it, no dietician would reccomend that, im sure the Aus government reccomends 2 litres of water a day.

i found this on OHS rep
http://www.ohsrep.org.au/law-rights/rig ... /index.cfm

Unscheduled Breaks

Further, workers must be allowed to go to the toilet when they need to - NOT allowing workers reasonable time and access to toilets puts their health at risk and this is a breach of the employer's duty of care. The provision of toilet facilities is a legislated duty. (see Toilet Facilities - what should workplaces have?)
Not being able to go when you need to can cause a range of health problems, including digestive and urinary tract problems and kidney infections which can develop into more serious health conditions. Also people on certain medications may need to visit the toilet on a more frequent basis and working in the cold (for example on construction sites or in food cold stores) may also increase the need to use the toilet. Women may need to urinate more frequently when menstruating, when pregnant and during the menopause, while prostate problems in men may mean they may need to urinate more frequently. [from the UK's TUC guidance for representatives: Give us a (Loo) break! - available to download here]
For more information, contact your union.

See also the section on Fatigue on this site.

(last amended March 2010)

The government literally says that not being able to go to the toilet puts your health at risk!!, I think this makes a claim for DSP with extreme paruresis very strong.

The problem is they want a long history of therapy, they want proof that you have been seeing someone, that you are taking medications, but my phobia is so embarassing i dont want to tell some therapist about it, who is probably secretly laughing at me, i dont want to humiliate myself for an hour each week if i cant see any benefit from the session. I feel i can do everything a therapist can do for me on my own. Practicing exposure, positive thinking, fluid loading sessions, all that stuff talked about in the book.

Centrelink are bloody crazy sometimes, the guy i talked to today said people who arent getting therapy and taking medication shouldnt qualify anyway because they probably arent sick enough. WTF!!!, its those people at the extremes of the mental disorders who are trying to avoid it all together.
For example, the extreme schizophrenic living on the street, is probably scared to death the therapist is in cahoots with the north korean army.

the Extreme social phobic probably cant even get to the therapist because theyll collapse from fear before the get there.

For me in my anxiety, i stopped taking medication because i would get anxious about buying the medication over the counter at the chemist 2 weeks before it even happened, and then after id buy it id feel bad for a week because the chemist looked at me like i was a freak for having to get anxiety drugs.

This is another thing that makes me angry about Australia, there is no way to get medication other than from a bunch of unqualified judgemental chemists who have had no training in medical practices with patients and will make you feel like a loony by giving you weird looks when they read your prescription.
surely i cant be the first person whos felt like that.

What are your opinions on how much a therapist can assist in paruresis compared to other phobias?? Ive signed up for a free therapist at the uni, i guess im going to have a year or twos worth of sessions with her before she realises, maybe i cant fix this guy, wow, maybe i should have signed his form a couple of years ago.

The doc i talked to about the Disability support pension today was sure i could improve within the 2 year time frame that centrelink sets out for qualification for it. so refused to sign the form.

just after your opinions i guess, and to see how many are getting or gotten therapy and what your personal thoughts on it are.

thanks guys
stan.

rossco309
Posts: 88
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:18 pm

Re: disability support pension claim for paruresis

Post by rossco309 » Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:36 pm

Hi Stan,
Sorry for the delay in answering your post. My reply is also fairly long, and rambly as well, but I hope it is of some help to you.

To answer your basic question in your first paragraph. Yes, during the years I have spoken to a couple of GP’s and a psychologist about my paruresis. None of them had ever heard of my problems so were not really any help.

I spoke to the first GP when I was 24y just before I got married in 1969. I was having a medical checkup and he gave me a cup to pee in his office and then left the room. Consequently when he returned I still had an empty cup!! I explained to him my problem that I had developed when I was about 14y and he recommended I see a psychiatrist, which I decided not to do. I then went on to live with my fairly extreme paruresis for the next 44 years until I discovered this PAA web site. I also have 4 grown up children (2 boys, 2 girls) who had no idea of my problem until I told them in 2005.

Like most people with paruresis many of us develop ways to cope so that we can live ‘normal’ lives. In my case I developed a form of self hypnosis which enabled me to be able to pee sitting down in a cubicle. Even with this it would sometimes take ages to get my flow going, especially if the toilets were busy, or if they were too quiet, no locks on doors etc.. I would also try and plan my day around being not too far away from home so that I could slip home and have a leak when needed. Car travel holidays with my wife and children were a nightmare. I also avoided many work situations and travel opportunities so that I wouldn’t get caught out. Unlike you I found that alcohol made my paruresis worse, so I normally would avoid excess drinking of any kind of fluid.

I also had another anxiety disorder which developed when I was about 13y. I called it my ‘nervous bowel syndrome’. I would empty my bowels out like diarrhoea every time I would leave home to go somewhere strange, especially if I didn’t know if there were any toilets nearby. This disorder had been caused by one traumatic event in my life.
The large firm I worked for had had a couple of work related suicides and in 1998 they gave all staff, and their families, access to a psychologist for free. As my wife was suffering with very severe claustrophobia at the time, she went along and was helped greatly by him after about 6 or 7 x 1hr sessions. This stirred me up to do something about my anxiety disorder. After about 7 sessions talking through the issues with me he suggested EMDR. He first explained to me, that it was used on trauma patients, that it worked for some people and not for others. I went along the next week and was cured !!! after 37 years living with this disorder. I still have the memories but I don’t dwell on them, and they no longer control my thinking. (or my bowels!!)

Seven years later , when I found out all about paruresis off the web, I plucked up enough courage to go back to the same psychologist and then told him about my other social anxiety disorder, bashful bladder. He had never heard of it. So after about 4 sessions with him he said that he really couldn’t help me and he recommended I continue with the monthly Sydney AP Support Group Pee Buddy practice that I was also attending by this time. He also asked could he refer any other patients that he found with this disorder onto the group, as he could tell I was improving greatly.

I have since attended 2 Sydney Workshops, and now use public toilets everywhere without fear or any extreme anxiety. Paruresis no longer controls my thinking or my life. I now deliberately do not go to the toilet when I leave home so that I will have to pee while out and about. My life has completely been changed.

Like John’s reply, to your other post, I recommend you first address your wider social anxiety issues. See a psychologist, CBT is a great help to get us to change our faulty thinking. Chemists and Doctors are there to help us, but you have to let them, and trust them. Hopefully the free therapist at the Uni will be able to help you get started down this road.

Then, when you are ready, join an AP Support Group in your local city. Find a Pee Buddy to help you start down the recovery road. It will take time and effort but I can assure you it’s well worth the effort to be free from this particular social anxiety disorder.

Let us know how you go, Ross.

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