My friend’s sister has “shy bladder” it is an illness where a person is afraid to urinate in public places. They don’t want anyone to hear them. When my friend first told me about this I thought “how stupid, certainly this can’t be a real illness” but then I did some google searchs and there were tons of sites on “shy bladder”
Have you ever heard of such a thing? Can you imagine being afraid to hear yourself tinkle in public?
Mine hasn’t sounded like a “tinkle” in about 20 years. It’s more like “Can you imagine being afraid to hear yourself hose down the sidewalk in public?”
Is it an actual illness? I always thought it was more of a psychological thing. Well maybe that IS an illness in a way.
Anyway, it’s not really that they are afraid to hear themselves urinate. It’s that they get nervous urinating in front of other people and thus cannot go. “Being in the next stall” counts as being in front of someone.
This is the SDMB. We’ve heard of everything.
A new name for stage fright?
“Shy Blader”?
Wasn’t she the K.C. Bomber that refused to be slingshot to the front?
Wasn’t that a British television show starring Rowan Atkinson?
You guys are cracking me up!
But my poor friend’s sister is suffering. She has to hold her urine all day and will only go at home and only if no one is in the house.
I guess that means no trips to Disney World
I asked my bladder if it was shy, and my groin blushed.
Sorry, it was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread. It sounds like your friend’s sister has a more serious problem than just a “shy bladder.”
[obscure Black Adder reference]
Zenster, I beleive his side-kick is Do Dong McPlop.
[/OBAR]
Tell her to join a team sport and she’ll be cured by the end of the season. There’s no secrets on a team.
Some people can only go if they turn on the faucet at the sink beforehand and leave it running. Which is a bit daft, but not as bad as holding it in all day. Maybe she can try that?
She could spit more.
She’s embarassed that someone will hear her pee? What about going #2? Does she not mind if someone in the next stall thinks it sounds like she’s dropping bowling balls in the toilet?
Is she unable to go if she is in earshot of the TV/radio? What if the answering machine is taking a message when she’s in mid-pee, does it suddenly just STOP?
I used to have this problem, especially if there was a line for the restroom. I’d have to wait and go back when no one was there. I didn’t know it was considered an illness, however. I thought I was just strange. 
Luckily I outgrew that problem!
Uh…maybe she should talk to her doctor???
Tell her to wear a walkman with the sound of running water playing all the time. She’ll get over her inhibitions pretty quickly.
From the way ** Isabelle ** described, her friend’s sister sounds like how I used to be, and it’s not an issue of hearing noise when you go, it’s the issue of people hearing you. I’d assume #2 would not be exempt. The T.V./radio/answering machine cannot hear you and so are not really a factor.
Wow, a three way simulpost. I think I need a cigarette.
It’s very, very common, in both sexes.
Best treatment: Exhale, then hold your breath. You will pee before you pass out (usually).
QtM, MD
I have/had this (it’s gotten a lot better as I’ve gotten older) and, although I wouldn’t consider it an illness, there’s definitely nothing funny about it.
It’s not a conscious “fear” of people hearing me pee. Intellectually, I know it doesn’t matter if people hear me do something that every living person does. I just lose all need to go if I’m in a bathroom and know other people are in there.
When I was younger, it was more extreme. I remember flying from D.C. to Salt Lake City for my brother’s graduation when I was about 11. We left at 6:00 a.m. EST and had a layover in Atlanta that turned out to be a 7 hour delay. We didn’t get into Salt Lake until 10 p.m. MST. I didn’t use the bathroom until we got to our hotel room. I tried several times in the airport and on the plane, but just couldn’t go. It was not for lack of really, really wanting to.
As I got older, I learned techniques to kind of make myself zone out and be able to ignore others in the bathroom. One of them is to count the screws I can see in the stall. It seems to be easier, also, if there are a lot of people in there instead of one or two. Being in situations where I was forced to adapt (college dorms) helped, but certainly didn’t cure the problem.
All my life, I’ve had friends tease me about this. I even had a childhood friend who would try to startle me and open the door to the bathroom or stand outside the door while I was trying to go and tease me (this was usually in the bathroom at my house).
It’s really NOT a laughing matter or something to tease someone about.