P.I.I. (pronounced "pee") is Real!

August 7, 2005 4:12 AM

Attention: Urologists! Is there a name for the phenomenon where you have to pee, but you can still hold it awhile...

...but then as you get closer to home (or some other place/facility where you know you'll be able to relieve yourself), the urgency with which you need to pee increases greatly and suddenly and chronologically disproportionate (meaning, if you weren't physically near your place of relief, you could hold out much longer)? If not, I propose "proximity-induced incontinence."

posted by Hat Maui to grab bag (6 comments total)

More in the realm of psychologist/psychiatrist than urologist I would have thought.
How about 'associative urgency of micturition' or 'pissoir-proximus'.©
posted by peacay at 5:18 AM on August 7, 2005

Proctologists could answer a related question about an analogous phenomenon.
posted by Kwantsar at 10:40 AM on August 7, 2005

analogous, indeed.

I think the term you're looking for is 'anticipation'.
posted by trondant at 11:22 AM on August 7, 2005

thanks, Kwantsar. very helpful.

and trondant, i don't think anticipation is quite it -- i get eagerly anticipatory about a freshly made sandwich when i'm hungry, but not so urgently desperate for it that i must seize it and devour it immediately.

the urgency isn't based on the need so much as the proximity.
posted by Hat Maui at 12:44 PM on August 7, 2005

No answer for you Hat Maui, but i have a tangentially related observation: when I want to pee, and then hear the sound of running water, the the urge increases drastically and i have to find the nearest bathroom before i have an "accident" on the floor. I wonder why!
posted by ramix at 1:34 PM on August 7, 2005

I will confess that I know all too well about this phenomenon, Hat Maui. I've asked other people about it, and most of them look at me as though I'm insane. (Moreso than usual, that is.) But some will nod knowingly, so I will spread the word of PII.
posted by mkhall at 2:29 PM on August 7, 2005