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Do you have any irrational fears or phobias?
I am absolutely terrified of mice and rats, think it’s just that awful scratching sound their feet make and those long string like tails. UGH!! the very thought makes me shudder.🐀🐀🐁🐁
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I’m absolutely terrified of tower blocks, 10 storeys and I get mild panic, 12 storeys and have to move fast, over that and I’m a complete wreck, it’s not quite so bad if there’s only one, but when there’s several it’s absolute torture, had it for years, never been abroad because there’s always tower blocks, it’s looking up at them, whether near or far,
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Oh you poor thing! do you mean just looking at them or actually having to go inside one in a lift for example?
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Hi carol,it’s actually looking at them,pure terror, strange thing is if I was unconscious and came round inside a tower block I would just about be able to cope with being in a tower block, but I’d have to be knocked unconscious again before I came out and moved out of sight of it, whether that be 300yards away or a mile away, so difficult to explain as I know it sounds so stupid, you say you like crafts,any in particular? and you do keep fit ,I do yoga and learning Tai chi on you tube since retiring, have a nice day🌝
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OH that must be truly terrifying fear ANNIE BETH. Do you have any idea what triggered it? Yes,I was really into different fitness classes until I had a bad fall last summer and shattered my wrist.it really knocked my confidence but I have recently started doing Qi Gong following youTube videos as a gentle way back into exercise. As for crafts I can crochet, knit, did cross stitch till it got too tiring on my eyes but most enjoy just making ‘stuff’ out of odds and ends! what about you? DM me if youprefer than posting on this thread.
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Airplane. I do like to travel visit other countries but don’t like flying at all have nightmare days before the longest flight I had was for 8 hours.
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That is such a shame if it ruins part of a holiday Alive.Have you tried asking your GP for any pills to calm your nerves before a flight?
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Oh such a shame. I used to be like that then I decided that I would pay for airport lounge and extra leg room seats . I don’t know why but they seem to make me calmer. Still don’t like air travel though. You are not alone I think there are many people like it.
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Blood tests and wasps.
I had a blood test when I was 13 and fainted 3 times that started my phobia. It used to be injections as well but I got over that one. I have had hypnotherapy for it, v. expensive but apart from the first time after its not worked. Fed up with the number of people that tell me I am silly because of my phobia.
My phobia of wasps comes from my mum who used to scream whenever one came near her.-
Phobias aren’t silly at all Kitty! I was always a fainter with blood tests too but I have grown out of that and my fear of needles.
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I can’t even go to a blood test, I’ve been known to faint while my daughter was having one while I sat in the waiting room
I could honestly murder the person trying to get near me with the test
Last time they gave me mild sedation which helped. -
If it is any consolation, Kitty, sometimes blood tests cause a drop in blood pressure especially if the person doing the test is unsure or cannot find the vein. I have ended up in A & E as I passed out after a few of these and then threw up on coming round!!
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I’m 6’2″ and 18 stone and I’m absolutely terrified of big moths ! I will not sleep in the same room as one. Horrid things, love butterflies though.
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Wasps – do a silly flappy dance if one comes near, no reason, never been stung.
Raw meat – hate and loathe the texture, makes me squeal like a little girl!-
With you on the raw meat dreamyboy, especially things like liver or kidneys! I’ve never been stung by a wasp or bee either but I think we all keep our distance just in case!
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Was attacked by swarm of wasps😬head was covered in stings cannot bear to hear any buzzing noises now!
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I fear the (imaginary) bed monster which will grab any limb I leave overhanging the side of my bed
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Oh yes! When I was little I used to check in the wardrobe and under the bed every night to make sure no one was hiding there😁
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Feel so stupid and don’t know what it is 🙄no one else in family has and don’t understand what the problem ☹️either feel so jealous how they can just use their phones so easy!
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This is going to be something that goes back to unconscious memories. It may not even be something that has anything to do with phones or phone calls, because the mind undergoes transference when confronted with things it finds unacceptable, and substitutes common things for whatever caused the trauma. But you’d need some therapy to uncover what it might be.
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So how many people have had, or would have , hypnotherapy to help this? And do they think it would work?
I made myself hold a snake once although it was controlled circumstances, so now I have no trouble , I just psyched myself to do it
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I have not found it helped me with confidence to drive long distances. I have done so when younger but I think it suddenly became stressful plus breaking down a few times. Now I a really worried about driving somewhere I don’t know . I tried hypnotherapy but it made no difference. I guess it depends who is giving the hypnotherapy of course
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I think we must all get like this as we get older. Maybe we don’t feel that desperate need to get to something exciting any more. I also think our eyesight deteriorates. I remember coming back some years ago a motorway in the dark and thought some lights ahead were road works, my brain could not compute what was there . Very worrying
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I’ve always hated driving, my wife does 90% of ours. Both myself and my brother get very anxious over parking at the end of it, for whatever reason. Again, I’m not sure what it is but we really lack confidence. I also, like yourself, have a lot of trouble interpreting what I’m seeing at night, or even making out the line of the road on poorly lit motorways. And when it’s raining it’s an absolutely nightmare.
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I remember a terrifying journey once when I had a friend from LA staying with me, and offered to drive him back to Gatwick. It was 3am, and torrential rain by the time I was driving back. Visibility almost zero, and I remember driving into what seemed like a lake on the motorway, and skidded all over the road. I hadn’t seen it at all and I think what saved me was the fact there was no other traffic. Hate it!
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I had to give up driving at night many years ago, I just cannot see if a car comes towards me. I’m ok in the day.
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I did the same thing with a tarantula. I was a Youth Worker and the animal man came to the club. Some of the so called really tough boys said they were scared of spiders. So foolishly I said I will hold one if you will afterwards. So there was no backing out, I did it and now I don’t mind big spiders like you Marica with snakes it has to be in controlled circumstances. Still run a mile, screaming from small fast moving spiders though.
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Sure was Carol, I was shaking all over. It just sat in my hand, it was grey with pink knees and furry, quite pretty colours.
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Haha, I know what you mean, Jo. I could not pick up a house spider though I have been known to name them in the past! 😜🕸️🕸️🕷️
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I named one Harry. He lived in the bath in the Prefab at Avoncroft museum. I told him we would get on fine as long as he stayed in the bath. He really used to freak the visitors out.
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Yes. I tend to suffer from imposter syndrome. Despite being told regularly that I am an expert in my chosen field and well respected, I still experience self-doubt on a regular basis. I suppose this counts as irrational!
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I have read about that too, Simon. It is good if you stay in the jobs though. When younger, I got really god jobs, started off well then I seemed to sabotage the job in some way and left. I always thought the job was too good to be true and looked for something wrong with it . The ones I stuck at either moved location or closed down!
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Ok, I have no problems with mice, rats, heights, flying, spaces large or small. Mine is butter or any equivalent spreadable item. Makes me want to heave and I hate it. Don’t have any in the house. I shudder just typing the word!
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Yup! I’m ok if the stuff is *in* something, like a cake (I just mentally block that out), but as for on bread, in sandwiches etc – nope, can’t be done. Had this phobia since I was 5 or 6.
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According to the Internet (and consequently I see no reason to doubt this whatsoever) this phobia is known as Voutyrophobia.
How are you with Peanut Butter Phil – because apparently that’s a separate phobia altogether!
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Good to know, thank you. There’s a couple of other people I know who have the same phobia, so it’s not entirely unknown. As for peanut butter that’s fine, love it!
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Hi I am absolutely terrified of dogs and find this so very embarrassing.
However, last week my friend came over for a walk with her baby dog and for the first time was able to walk almost comfortably with a dog and was brave enough to touch.
Feeling quite proud of my self.
(BUT still not brave enough to be around other dogs – strange)-
Well done, that must have taken a lot of courage on your part, if you make friends with the puppy it might help you to be less afraid of other dogs.
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Thank you, have to admit I was very worried before they arrived.
I really hope regular walks with my friend will help me to be less afraid -
I don’t like spiders but don’t want to kill them, just put them outside but I can’t do that myself. Also wobbly ladders
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lots of people share your fear of spiders Margaret, very understandable when you think about it!
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Yes, Carol, but I have found this year that putting conkers in every corner of the house has kept them out so far!
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I’ve heard of people doing that Margaret and glad you find it works!Wonder what’s so special about conkers that keeps spiders away?
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You can buy a spary that you spray round windows and doors that comes from horse chestnuts, conkers, that keeps them out too. I have conkers on my bedroom windows and have not, fingers crossed had any spiders in the bedroom yet.
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Hi carol I would say that my irrational phobias are snakes, spiders. That is big spiders. Just not for me.
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I can say I don’t like small enclosures to many people around. There is many phobias that people have and we never understand why.
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Mine is noisy eating. It makes me rage. I have an almost uncontrollable instinctive reaction to it, totally irrational.
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Also… A really weird one is my mate’s. Tomato Ketchup, if we’re out for a drink (a fond memory!) and someone puts some on their food he will turn white, and start shaking and sweating and usually has to get away as soon as he can!
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Now spiders I can deal with! Both my daughters were petrified so good job I can pick them up in my hand so they couldn’t escape under the sofa or all hell would let loose. But any sight of a Snake omg they are so evil looking I have to look away. Hate the thought that people keep them as pets and then they escape!! 🤦🏻♀️
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YES! I remember reading of a lady going to the loo and finding an escaped pet snake lurking in the toilet bowl! that freaked me out for days! 🐍🐍
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😱 I would need resuscitation! Can’t even stand cartoon snakes or play ones … just the shape the look of them turns me inside out.
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I don’t like rats. However, I’m very fond of mice. They’re really cute! It’s rats’ tails that make me shudder, though I’m OK with water rats!
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I used to be scared of spiders until many years ago I watched a children’s animated film that had a lovely, friendly spider in it – I think it was called Charlotte’s web. I had never seen anything positive about spiders before! I was never frightened of them again.
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That’s a lovely book Viv and luckily spiders don’t scare me anyway! Maybe a story about a lovely rat would help me get over my fear of them…but I doubt it!
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When I first came to England I lived with my (ex) husband in a house owned by the company he worked for, in Ipswich. The house, along with all the houses along the canal had resident rats and when we left the kitchen to go into the living room, we could hear the rats scuttling around. One day my husband brought me some Belgian chocolates and I left the unopened box on the kitchen table. When I returned, there was a hole in the box and some chocolates eaten 😲.They had got onto the table 😨 We also found that they were able to go up the stairs 😱. So glad to leave that house 🙄
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I also hate being close to Rats and Mice but am not bothered by spiders at all. I have what could be described as a Phobia of speaking on the phone, I really don’t know why but I will try any other form of communication rather than use the phone to talk to people.
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All of them. I was attacked as a child. I could have been mauled to death, but it just took a large piece out of my leg.
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Well i was 58 before i could fly & then i took on 11 1/2 hour flight to met the most beautiful lady .
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I am totally and absolutely terrified of feathers. Completely hyperventilated and then slept for 2 hours when a sparrow touched my leg.
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I love to look at the birds in the garden, but only look! I even avoid stepping on a feather, so terrified of them. Birds would be lovely if they were bald!
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I don’t like heights, and suffer from vertigo, but I think it really stems from my ‘megalophobia’, which is a fear of large objects, or objects which are larger than they should be for their surroundings. I think it stems from lying on my back when I was a child and staring at the sky. Eventually, I would be overwhelmed with dizziness and felt the whole world was shifting under me, and got the same feeling if I stood at the foot of a large tree and looked up. I get the same feelings of dizziness and nausea now standing at the foot of a cliff or seeing photos of huge objects next to small ones. Cruise ships, giant engineering projects, giant statues, all make me feel sick and like I’m going to fall over.
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I don’t like heights either Colin but don’t suffer from vertigo or the feelings you experience whch must have been pretty terrifying as a child.
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I was probably fine, I don’t remember ever going near heights as a child, so it was more the large objects. But there are far more debilitating fears that people suffer from, so I count myself lucky.
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