One of the earliest and most useful things that my parents had taught me back when I was little was to NEVER ignore nature’s call as even holding urine in the bladder can cause infections and well, prove fatal. It is unbelievable how restrictions are put on little school kids when it comes to using the loo.
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#1
Emily Titterington, a 16-year-old English girl with mild autism, died two years ago from a heart attack, but just this week an inquest confirmed it was caused by severe constipation from "stool withholding."
#2
Titterington apparently had a terrible phobia of toilets and refused to use the bathroom for two months. Yes, two full months. Paramedics who responded to the emergency call back in said the teen's swelled abdomen was "grossly extended," her chest cavity was compressed and her "lower ribs had been pushed out further than her pubic bone."
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#3
If she had gotten medical attention sooner, she likely would have lived, but Titterington also had serious anxiety around doctors and refused medical treatment. It sounds like she desperately needed mental health services as well.
#4
Her mother told the BBC that Emily's death could have been prevented "if my daughter had been designated a support person, a professional person allocated to herself that she could build a relationship with." It's unclear whether such services were available to her before her untimely passing.
