Question
Automatic toilets scare me. Am I alone?
I am scared...and I mean really honestly scared of automatic self flush toilets. I have no logical reason to be, I just am. When I was younger I wouldnt use any toilets, other than the ones in my house. Wed have to stop and let me go on the side of the street if we were traveling, or else bring along a bucket. As Ive gotten older, Ive gotten better about them, and will now use manual flush toilets. I just hate the ones that jerk the handle down andor flush loudly when you press it, so I always use my foot and jumpscream if I come across one of these. Auto toilets still drive me bonkers. I get very nervous when I know Ill have to use one, and my heart speeds up. I sometimes make my mom stand in the stall and flush the toilet over and over again so I can see how sensitive it is, if its likely to flush while Im on it, and how long it takes it to flush once I move the delay between when you get off it and when it flushes. Sometimes I can force myself to use ones I quotknow wellquot
Answer
What you need to do is desensitize yourself to these selfflushing toilets. I have a similar phobia about strange toilets but only when I am moving my bowels, not going pee ... but the toilets that self flush ALWAYS startle and upset me, too. To do this desensitization youll need to go into the stall when you dont NEED to go ... just drop your pants, squat, stay that way for five seconds at first, then rise and pull up your pants. After a week, do your squatting for ten seconds. Since you arent actually going you dont need to have ANY interaction with those strong minded toilets ... and you are then free to let them do whatever they want to do. Some should be regular flush and some should have the buttons to push, and some should be self flushing. You may even try talking to the toilets not too loud, or people will think you are insane ... tell them that you appreciate them and hope that you can become friends ... that you know you must always be the one to visit but that you understand their disability ... make it fun and a bit funny when you talk to the toilets, and youll soon be able to go whenever you want to, without the startlement and fear you now feel. brAnd DO NOT BE EMBARRASSED. People have all kinds of weird phobias, and many have a phobia about toilets that arent in their homes. HOME is safe for you, so the toilet is also safe ... when you are outside your home, its not safe ... so the toilet isnt safe and one that flushes itself especially those that flush suddenly while you are still going is very frightening. In the end, though, a toilet is just a toilet, but by making friends with the toilets you use and you can do this with EVERY new toilet you meet for as long as you need to do it youll feel safer ... and when you feel safer, you dont startle as easily, and you dont fear the act of getting undressed in a public place ... and a stall, even with the door locked, is still very public to many of us. Just do this exercise and soon youll be more normal ... by the way, in our apartment, I dont call it the bathroom ... I call it the Throne Room, and I sit on the throne ... which makes it a lot easier to go ... so you are not weird ... but I am!