HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

A nightmare visit to Target for a Uc'er

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 8/9/2011 1:57 AM (GMT 0)
I have been gone on vacation - to Florida (from MI) and then to Georgia. On the day that we were supposed to leave (while in GA) we went to a Target. We had just had lunch; so I was walking thru the store when the urgency hit. I barely made it to the bathroom (I'm not flaring from my Uc btw, it's my diverticulosis and IBS that triggered this). So I make it to the stall, do my thing and the stupid toilet wouldn't FLUSH! I tried lifting the lid and pulling the plug (ick) and it still wouldn't work. So I did what I had to do....I laid toilet paper across the seat (there wasn't anything else to do!). I was alone when this happened but then a group of women came in as I was leaving the stall. I told her not to use that toilet because it was broken.

Talk about embarassing! blush
Posted 8/9/2011 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
lol, I have had bad situations at target a couple to times. Once I had urgency and I ran for the bathroom and it was closed for cleaning. I thought I was going to have an accident but I managed to get out of the store and to another place to use the toilet. Another time, at a different target, the urgency hit and I had already done all my shopping so I left my full cart next to the bathroom and went inside. Of course when I came out, my cart was gone and I had to start over. It seems like stores tend to cause anxiety and the urge.

I think you did all you could given the situation.
Posted 8/9/2011 6:29 AM (GMT 0)
I had a nightmare at Target too. I got the urge, asked the nearest store attendant where the bathroom was, and proceeded to run all the way across the store, while the attendant was laughing. I got the impression that he thought I had to pee like a little kid. I made it just in time.

I used to have the hardest time pooing outside, but after having experienced severe flareups, I couldn't care less.
Posted 8/9/2011 10:05 AM (GMT 0)
haha as embaressing as it is, you get over it :) i've had times where male toilets were full and i honestly didnt have a choice, absolutely destroyed a female toilet (UC style lol) and when i walked out the most beautiful lady was waiting outside, i got a real weird look but i felt awesome :D haha
Posted 8/9/2011 12:30 PM (GMT 0)
Red_34,

Been there, done that too. And it isn't any fun.


 

Posted 8/9/2011 1:08 PM (GMT 0)
Ah the joys of broken toilets and having bowel issues......
Posted 8/10/2011 4:42 AM (GMT 0)
My all-time worst public toilet breakdown was when I rushed to the stall & found the bowl already overflowing with bloody yuck. It could have been a miscarriage. Of course I still needed to find a usable john ASAP-- so I turned away quickly and then bumped into the cleaning woman as she entered the rest room. I really felt for her-- having to deal with that mess, and the empathy must have calmed my colon enough that I could hold things in 'til I got to a ladies room on another floor of the bldg. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal) *** P.S. Welcome back, Sherry!
Posted 8/10/2011 6:22 PM (GMT 0)

subdued said...

I used to have the hardest time pooing outside, but after having experienced severe flareups, I couldn't care less.

I read an article once by a travel writer discussing the poor state of some restroom facilities in foreign countries, but he concluded when you really have to go, nothing else matters by saying, "Any port (is welcome) in a storm." That always stuck with me when I had urgency issues. LOL
Posted 8/10/2011 7:13 PM (GMT 0)
I agree! I used to have to go home in the midst of shopping to do my "business" before I got sick. And I was very selective of the bathrooms I would use until I got sick. Now I am thankful for even the ugliest of bathrooms when the urge comes on, I keep a small travel size Lysol or hand sanitizer(if no Lysol) handy to at least spray the toilet seat before I park. It is not as if there is alot of time to get to the bathroom, in a stall, hang your purse, get past your buttons and whatnot, get a seat cover and properly get it to stay in place when you are holding back with all your might LOL... It is funny how your shame flies right out the window when you have UC and gotta go! I would never go #2 in public before and now I just go when I have a bad day(occasionally THANK GOD!) and I am a polite pooper and spray alittle more Lysol LOL
Posted 8/10/2011 10:23 PM (GMT 0)
I am still very reluctant to go in public. I try to hide the noises by doing the "flush" method. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulder's when no one is in the bathroom tho! lol

My daughter is a bathroom "phobe". She will not go in public, even to urinate. The only time she will use a restroom is if we are on vacation traveling and she has no choice.
Posted 8/12/2011 2:35 AM (GMT 0)
Goodness! What is it with Florida Targets???? That's where the old guy wouldn't let me into the bathroom because he was cleaning it!! Funny coincidence!

I used to be horribly embarrassed about going in public. Now I'm just relieved when I can find a clean bathroom with toilet paper!
Posted 8/14/2011 4:20 AM (GMT 0)
Well for me any stall is a huge advantage over a pair of panties! Nothing is as worst as having mucus or a saucy fart in your knickers.
Any stall will do.
I use the flush method too lol. It attenuates the initial pooping farts... My favorite places to go are the pubs in england. They are everywhere, quite anonymous and everyone is drunk so really having a BM there is as anonymous and innocent as a drop of beer into a bottle of whiskey.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply