“The sound of the water sends shivers down my spine. It’s awful. I swear it will swallow me up. Once I’ve flushed, the sound of it and the look of the water going down, it freaks me out,” Ney says. She has had an irrational fear of toilets ever since watching a scene in the 1990 film Look Who’s Talking Too, starring John Travolta and Kristy Alley. It showed a fictional big-eyed, sharp-toothed character called Mr. Toilet Man, who screams it wants the child’s pee. I actually remember that scene, it freaked me out a bit as well, but I got over it pretty quickly. Ney, on the other hand, hasn’t, and she has had to deal with her phobia for most of her life. Her mother said she only goes to the toilet in public if it’s an absolute emergency, and always tries to find work close to home, so she can use the only toilet she feels safe on. And even there, she has problems flushing if she’s by herself. She will use a friend’s toilet if she has to, but only if they or a family member flush for her. Now, she’s trying to face her fear by setting up a Facebook group and getting in touch with other phobia-sufferers.
“Ever since I saw that film, I’ve been terrified. When I was about 11 I wet myself on my way home because I wouldn’t use the loo at school. I was so embarrassed, I’d waited four hours but I just wouldn’t use another toilet. I just wanted my mum to be there so she could flush it for me,” Ney remembers. She says the pressure rises as soon as she walks into the bathroom, and builds up until she leaves. “I just flush and run. She washes her hands in the kitchen because she can’t even stand being in the same room as the toilet cistern fills up.
