Everybody poops

[next_to_normal]

Heh, so I was very intrigued to see this article on women's bodily functions linked at ontd_feminism today. It seems ironic to put this discussion under a cut, given that the whole point is "we should be able to talk about this," but I'll spare you.

Confession time: Ever since I was a kid, I've had bathroom stage fright. I am one of those people who CANNOT PEE if there's someone in the stall next to me. And up until recently, I absolutely would not poop in public.

Let me tell you, it is remarkable how much an intestinal condition will snap you right out of that shit (no pun intended). It's amazing the things you can get comfortable with when you don't have a choice. My body will do what it needs to do, and it doesn't care if I'm not at home.

Thanks to the diagnosis process I went through, I have gotten bizarrely comfortable (maybe too much so, lol) with talking about bodily functions. I don't have a choice. I have had to talk about it in excruciating detail with my doctors, my parents, and occasionally my friends (I am telling you, when you vomit on someone in public and they STILL LIKE YOU the next day, this is a true friend).

But it's also still an incredibly awkward thing. Because even telling someone I have Crohn's usually necessitates an explanation of what it is and what it does, which I often end up skirting around by saying, "It causes unpleasant intestinal things," and let them fill in the details in their imagination. How soon in a relationship is it appropriate to spring the "vomiting and diarrhea" discussion on someone, lol? I don't know.

I remember when I was in the first stage of this whole deal (the C. diff infection), reading in a discussion forum about how shameful it is for a lot of people to talk about their condition, because it involves gross bodily functions. And that can be incredibly isolating, because you can't really tell people how you feel. Sometimes, when someone asks how you're doing, you would like to actually tell them, rather than wave it off with, "Eh, kinda crappy," (which is, heh, often more literal than they realize). But it's just too icky for most people, which is why I've found I tend to latch on to people with other intestinal problems and we have this crazy "OMG ME TOO!" conversation, and it's such a relief to finally just be honest, you know?

So... yeah. Moral of the story, don' t be afraid to talk about poop. Everybody does it.

Comments

[alexeia-drae.livejournal.com]

I married the son of an OB-GYN and a nurse. There is NOTHING about bodily functions that the whole family does not find to be normal dinner conversation, or the subject of comedy, be it man or woman. In fact, before we were even DH kind of shocked me by going through the steps of how to perform a pap smear...

Reading about how some people with digestive problems are too embarrassed to go to their doctor and get treatment made me realize what a healthy attitude they had to it, even if it is a bit shocking at first. But a lot of people suffer with painful, sometimes deadly conditions because of the shame involved in talking about bowl movements. I think it ties into the Puritan culture America was endowed with that we're still trying to free ourselves from.

In general I try to avoid public bathrooms, more because I'm scared of germs then of anyone hearing me (growing up I did fear that a toilet monster would come out and chase me when I flushed, but I grew out of that). Now that I'm pregnant, when I gotta pee I gotta pee, so I'm getting used to public bathrooms.

[next_to_normal]

LOL, I ran into the same sort of thing with my family. My cousin and her fiance are both nurses, and his sister's a doctor, so there's really nothing too embarrassing for them. And I'm the one going, "Um, maybe not appropriate Christmas dinner conversation?" But it's definitely not the norm.

But a lot of people suffer with painful, sometimes deadly conditions because of the shame involved in talking about bowl movements.

You know, one of the things I read on the C. diff forums was that even DOCTORS didn't want to talk about it sometimes. They'd be uncomfortable listening to people describe their symptoms, which is like, way to make the patient feel even worse. This is your job, get over it.