Got a Phobia? Share it!

I am terrified of Ostriches. I was bitten by one about 15 years ago when I took my daughter to a petting zoo, it snatched my purse and when I tried to get it back it bit my hand HARD. They are the meanest sneakiest creatures on earth and I have Ostrich PTSD. True story.

Hi,
I used to have claustrophobia, fairly mild at first but it seemed to have progressed over time. Whenever I'd get stuck in an elevator or in a metro train, I'd start sweating heavily and feel panicky. My main fear related to this was that of dying of suffocating and dying alone with no close person near me. Later in my life, I'd start having dreams about being stuck on my own in a dark tunnel after a catastrophy. I'd wake up from such a dream gasping for air - pretty typical for a claustrophobic person.

I'm not sure if I was born with this or if I developed it in early stages of my life, in which case I wouldn't remember. It seems to have always been there, except for the last couple of years.

Two years ago I got a painful condition in my face (a type of neuralgia) and the pain is so unbereable at times that I wish to be rather dead than going through this. I got several pills from my neurologist that make me emotionally "flat"; I stopped having those dreams and pretty much any other dreams and the claustrophobia seems to be gone. Or maybe I have just moved it into the depths of my subconscious mind, who knows...

when i was a kid I was very afraid of the dark. All the way up into my 20's infact. Isn't that crazy? Like well into my 20's. I think I was like 30 before it started to wear off. I'd be scared that something was "in the darkness" and or maybe a killer was hiding in my house or stuff like that. Like not all the time. Just once in a while it's like my imagination would run wild and I'd get freaked. But up until 14 I could barely sleep on my own. And or with the lights out. Then I finally got over it. I'm okay now though. Not much phases me anymore. I'm kinda the opposite now.

reply to post by jude11


damn, thousand of spiders running up your leg [shudders]... sounds like a living nightmare. my phobia is spiders.no incident, thankfully, I was born with mine

I have an intense fear of trains and train tracks (Siderodromophobia).
They are beautiful, majestic (especially when plowing through snow) and useful but they scare the crap out of me and I stay as far away from them as possible.
It doesn't matter what kind of train, be it a passenger train, subways, freight train, holiday train, kiddie train, bullet train, maglev etc.
Toy trains I can deal with but any one bigger than that forget it.
I don't like being near railroad tracks and if I am on foot I will not cross a railroad track if there is a train on it, I don't care if it is turned off and parked.
I don't care if it is just an unattached gondola sitting there - I wiill not cross.
Even if there is no train present, if I am on foot, I will stand there at the approach and hem and haw about walking across.
If I am in a car and on the approach to a rail crossing my teeth actually clench and I will get a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. There is a set of tracks in my community that I have to cross if I want to go to the store or to appointments. The City is building an underpass that should be done by winter and I am so glad because once it's built I won't have to cross the tracks after that.
For a spell I lived in Chicago and didn't have a vehicle and had to take the EL and the Metra.. I was a freaking nervous wreck inside. I would see those folks who like to hang out near the edge of the platform and I would just shudder.
Heck, I didn't want to be in the station, much less that close to the tracks.
I would wait at the farthest point away from the platform and track area as I could be and still be able to get to the train in time to get on board.
It probably doesn't help that when I was a little girl I was visiting some relatives in Chicago and my cousin and I were going to the store and saw a woman get run over by the IC (now called the Metra) on 71st street. When I was in my 20's (again in Chicago) I happened uopn the aftermath of an apparent train suicide.
Those freaking things are evil.

for some reason after a near death experience i forgot about my phobias

Came back to add a biggie I left out of my list. The ocean. I used to be able to at least dabble in the surf, go in waist deep, but not anymore.

When I was young, my ignorance was my bliss. What I didn't know couldn't hurt me.

Well, one time, I am a teen at the beach with some friends, drinking, hanging out, etc. We go get into the water, and its waist deep or so. It was crowded, we were seperated by dozens and dozens of people. I stop for some reason, and begin staring at the water. There were spots, millions of them. I rubbed my eyes, thinking my eyes were the problem, and I bent closer to the water to have a looksee. It was jellyfish. Millions of them. After hearing stories of my brothers finding them on the beach and throwing them at each other, and the horrid stings they endured, I panicked. I looked around at the people around me, seemingly oblivious to the jellyfish. I shreiked, "Jellyfish!", and immediately grabbed the first person next to me, a total stranger.

I climbed onto his shoulders, wrapped my arms around his face, trembling, crying, begging, to be taken to the beach. He, needless to say, was both surprised and stunned. He kept telling me it was alright, they were harmless, and proceeded to gather handfuls of them, and then smash them on his face and chest. I again panicked, crying, I don't care! Get me out! Please, just get me out! The poor guy, I feel sorry for him now, but the panic consumed me.

Another time, I am at the beach with my husband and two children, who were toddlers at the time. I had bought a cheap mask, and as he was walking on the beach, just in the surf with them, I was swimming in the waves, perhaps 3-4 feet deep, right before the break. I was searching the bottom for pretty shells, called bay rollers. As I swam along, I suddenly got this sense of impending doom, that something BIG was following me. I paused, glanced over my shoulder, and my worst fears were come true. In the murky water, I could see this GIGANTIC shadow. I waited a moment, making sure what I was seeing was real, and it was. It was bearing down on ME, coming right for ME.

Now, understand, this was HUGE, and black, and I don't mean fish huge, or shark huge, I mean whale huge. It was also impossible to make out and definite shape, because the water was cloudy and murky, there was a lot of waves, and so it was all stirred up. I just saw massive blackness coming for me.

Panic hit when I realized my worst nightmare was about to come true. Some THING from the depths of the sea was coming for me, I was finally going to meet my untimley demise, in front of my children. The end was nigh, and I was going to die. Right then and there, it was really happening! My sixth sense told me to look, and I did, and it was there!

I started swimming frantically, parallel to the shore, raising my head from the water to take a breath, scream a water muffled "Help", before putting my head back below the surface and looking back, only to see this massive black mass was rapidly gaining on me!

I swallowed a lot of water. I tried to find the bottom and stand and run, only to have my feet slip from under me, falling back into the water, and looking back. It was getting closer!

Totally overcome with panic, I half ran, half swam, instead of just calmly standing up and walking out, I was a mass of flailing arms and legs, and gasps and shreiks, and chokes and sobs, and swallowing lots of water, finally, falling the last time. This was it, I thought. This is the end, it has to be upon me now, IT IS HERE!

I finally relaxed and turned onto my back, waiting, succumbing, for the searing pain surely to start at my feet, as whatever this giant black monster from the depths of the sea was, that had come to feast up ME, finally acheived it's satisfaction.

It was indeed there, and, in total amazement, I wached as a huge school of black fish swam by, millions of them, maybe 3-4 inches long, tickling me as they went by, mostly avoiding me. I felt a sudden surge of relief, and idiocy, and calm wash over me as I realized what was happening.

I got a fresh breath of air, and put my head beneath the water to watch as they flitted past. That was when it hit me.

Something is usually in pursuit of these schools! Once again, the rush to get out was overwhelming, but I stood up and walked out, collapsing on the beach crying and laughing at the same time. I told my husband about what had happened, but no one really seemed to realize the true impact of that event, except me.

I still cannot get in the water anywhere past ankle deep. If I do, I have this sense of dread, not knowing what is out there lurking in that vast openess of the sea. Even armed with a mask is no longer good enough, because they move much faster in the water than I can. I owe my jitters to Jaws, Sharkweek, and my parents telling stories about my brothers and the jellyfish.

I can watch Jaws, or documentaries, but you will never catch me in the sea again. Never.

Plane turbulence freaks me out. I love the feeling of taking off and landing though.

When I was a kid I stepped into a nest of ground hornets. When I went to the hospital they stopped counting stings at my knees and had counted 250. Needless to say, I am terrified of anything that might be a wasp. God forbid a bee comes into the car while I'm driving!

I have a pretty severe case of odontophobia (fear of the dentist). Had milk rot growing up and required some major procedures and eventually surgery. The thing is, I was doing okay until I went to one of my appointments and heard a child screaming and that created an intense phobia. Even at 5 years old, they would need to hold me down just to examine me.

Now, for check ups and other appointments, I am given sedatives. I think my wisdom teeth are going to need to be pulled soon, so I am saving up to pay for an anaesthesiologist 'cause there is no way I am going to be awake for that traumatic experience.

Spiders above and beyond all

trypophobia and it is gentic. Half my mother's side has it.

For me, those lotus pods they put in dried flower arrangements make me run screaming for the hills. If you want me to rock back and forth and cry, show the video of that stupid frog that has babies fly out of its back.

I wonder if anyone is as freaked out as I, in regards to this, what I definitely regard as a phobia. Someone knocking at your door unexpectedly. It just makes me feel utterly frightened, and like my bowels will let go. It's a terrible feeling/reaction, and it happens every time I get an unexpected (but thankfully pretty rare) knock on my door.

Well, I used to skindive and the occasional scuba until I came across a nasty one of these. Latched onto my flipper with its beak and suckers. The thing was menacing and scared the S#&t out of me. Nearly choked on my snorkel and as hard as I tried to swim backwards the thing held on and tugged the opposite way. When the tentacles touched my ankle I freaked, ripped the flipper off and took off for the boat as fast as the other flipper would take me. Lept into the boat much to my mates amusement.



The cuttlefish was nearly a metre long and taunted me by swimming off with the flipper just under the surface. Since then the sight of them and their eyes is enough for me to leave the water. Huge beak on the suckers.

Regards,

Bally

I have halitophobia, the fear of having bad breath, especially when going out, socializing, etc.

As such, I always have a pack of gum to chew, especially after eating.

But it's not that serious.

TIPS:

Buy your gum at wholesale clubs to save money.

If buying the Trident-style brand, divide each each gum in three pieces so the pack last longer.
One-third is enough to freshen one's breath anyway.

jude11

I have a fear of heights. I have a lot of dreams where I'm in high places trying to get down without falling. I think ti's real common. If I ever have a GF I'm going to have to man up.

edit on 8-4-2011 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)

Funny, my other fear is heights also. But, I have no problem in a plane, bungee jumping or even rappelling down a mountain. Just if I stand on a building's edge with no fence or rail. I freeze up and my legs go to jelly.

You know I get the same thing.

I have a phobia of pressurized canisters. Not pre pressurized ones but air tanks and especially putting air in tires.

Remember those ford tires that were just a little off from some other rims. I saw a guy lose an arm along with a lot of other damage by making that mistake. Anytime I am dealing with something that has been or where I need to pressurize it myself I think about that explosion. Sux because I love scuba diving so I have to face it then.

reply to post by jude11


I am scared of spookies... aka ghosts!
Saw two one night and although they were minding their own business... the shock I got when I saw them cast my heart in unto thump status. That's when they reacted to me and showed me that they respond to vibrations. Scary!

I sure wouldn't mind if a mental health professional would offer an opin on this'un. Is this some kind of PTSD? It's a phobia I get, once I have posted certain kinds of things. See, I will have this surge of bravery, and want to share something in a post, (info or picture) which has to do with experiences in my past, even decades ago, that regard certain ufo, ufology, and military, (related) (legal,) (technically,) matters. After I fire away, my body wrenches. My heart feels like it is going to fail, (it flipflops -hard-) I get abdominal cramping, I might vomit, and I moreso, empty my bowels. I can't stop shaking, and also feel like I'm going to bawl. It happens --every time-- I decide to do certain.......things. I DON'T WANT it to.
This causes me to appear I suppose, like I'm effing with people here, when such is furthest from the truth.
If I have time to ahem, reverse my sharing action, the extreme reactions subside, leaving me drained. I know I should speak to a local counselor of some kind about this, but the context and background is like, oh good god, daunting as to be not worth it. On this kind of forum however, it's different to me, because everyone is used to knowing that people will have 'X-Files' type of histories.

Phobias can occur at any time at any age.
www.iammovement.ca...

I'm terrified of being in pitch black darkness. If there is no light, and I can't even see my own hands in front of me I'll freak out.
I had a really cruel babysitter when I was around 5, she would lock my sister and I in the garage and turn out the lights.

That and heights.. and elevators... but I think that has to do with the heights. I'm fine if it's a only a few stories, but going more then 20 I get all jittery and start to hyperventilate.