Planning a holiday should be exciting. Most people can't wait to get away from it all and relax, spend quality time with loved ones, see new places. But I'd imagine for most people using this site, like me, the first thing I will think about is not the lovely foreign food or the weather or the places we'll visit. It will be - how am I going to cope with my shy bowel syndrome? I am nearly 60 and have had the condition since I was a child. Accepted, there are a lot worse things in life to deal with, but there have been a lot of miserable holidays along the way, a lot of elaborate and far-fetched plans to think of ways of being able to have the privacy I need. And days in wonderful places where all I can think about is how long till I can go home! Fortunately I have a very understanding partner and she will give me the space I need, but even that doesn't always help. She's the only person I've ever spoken to about it. The physical discomfort is one thing, but then there's the stress and anxiety, and the certain knowledge that I'm not always very good company when on holiday and the impact this might have on others. I think it's fair to say that, for me, instead of learning to overcome it, it's got steadily worse as I've got older so that it's there in my head, and the more I worry about it the worse it gets. It has definitely had an impact on choices I've made, and there are lots of things I would have done had it not been for this. I've started to try hypnotherapy and am going to continue with that in the hope that it will help.