Emily Titterington, 16, who had a mild form of autism, had a paralyzing fear of toilets, say her parents.
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Pathologist Dr Amanda Jeffery testified that the symptoms Emily suffered from were similar to “stool withholding”.
According to reports by the BBC, people with toilet phobia have in the past refused to take a job for fear of the toilet being located in a communal area, or denied themselves fluids to stop them from urinating, which can damage the kidneys.
The brain then begins to ignore the signals that would usually alert a person to the need to empty and the stools build up in the rectum and colon. ‘Her death could have been avoided with the right treatment at the right point.’. “Withholding stools means that the person’s condition only worsens”.
Titterington’s general practitioner doctor Dr. Alistair James told the coroner he prescribed laxatives, but had not examined her abdomen.
A teenage girl has died after suffering from cardiac arrest brought on by a chronic case of constipation.
“Had I done so, we would be having a different conversation”, the GP said.
He said he visited Emily at her home three days before she died – but she had not allowed him to examine her.
However, she refused to go to hospital and had been reluctant to be examined.
Emily also refused to go to the hospital, despite complaining about pain in between her shoulder blades.
He said: “We were allocated to an emergency at the house we’d just left”.
Inside they found Emily’s mother leaning over her daughter, who was lying in the doorway of the bathroom.
Paramedics described their “shock” at Emily’s “grossly extended abdomen” when she collapsed at St Austell in February 2013 and said she was “vomiting faeces”.
Her sister revealed during the inquest that she had not been to the toilet for “six to eight weeks” and this was “routine”.
She told the inquest Emily was not taking any orthodox medication at the time, but she and her husband, James Titterington, had explored a number of alternative therapies for her, including so-called “distance healing” and homeopathic pills. “Her lower ribs had been pushed out further than her pubic bone – I was shocked”.
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An inquest heard the condition was so bad that some body parts had been displaced, including her diaphragm.
