Phobias....do you have one?

[Doglover8180]

What are ya'lls phobias/anxities/etc...? And how have you worked on them so they don't affect your quality of life?

[sns4063]

I have a fear of falling. It doesn't matter if I'm 1 foot off the ground or 1000 feet, I'm always afraid I'm going to fall. I'm also scared of slipping and falling-unfortunately my work sometimes takes me to places that have wet floors-and I freak out! You can also imagine my dislike of going to the 47th floor of a building for my cousin's wedding reception. Not only did I have to endure the elevator twice, the windows of the rooms we were in were floor to ceiling. I couldn't get near them! I really haven't figured out how to get over it.

[Smee]

I have actually worked really hard to overcome a few anxieties so that I can at least function reasonably normally. I was so terrified of spiders that I twice jumped from moving vehicles and once waddled out of a public restroom with my pants around my ankles to get away from them. I hallucinated (I guess?) about them in that I frequently saw them on the ceiling over my head or on my pillow. I've had to make a very deliberate effort to work through it because my panic was actually dangerous. I'm still afraid, but I have mostly overcome the hallucinations and car-jumping panic. I can pretty much live and let live with them now, but I don't want to handle them or anything.

Despite years of trying, I have been unable to overcome my pork n' bean anxiety or topless toilet tank fear. They're ridiculous fears, I know, I know, but I'm trying. How it affects me is that I very rarely buy any canned vegetables at all (I buy frozen or fresh) because I avoid that aisle as much as possible lest I accidentally lock eyes on a can of pork n' beans, and I have turned down social functions if I knew they were on the menu. On the occasion I see them somewhere unexpectedly, I look away and sometimes try to pull or poke the dish away from the other food. My husband often fixes my plate for me so that I don't have to see or smell them and so that I don't do something stupid like burst into tears. Only my closest friends know-- I don't make a scene or request that a host change their menus or anything like that. Thankfully, my closest friends and family don't serve them at functions. What I'm doing to work on it is talk about it. Just talking about it makes my throat feel tight and makes me feel uncomfortable, so here's to message board therapy. I once mentioned it openly and a person surprised me with a big picture just as a goof, and at the time I swore I'd never mention it again. I was so upset (she never knew; I kept it to myself because, honestly, a fear of freaking pork n' beans is stupid and not something over which I'm willing to engage in battle).

The toilet tank thing-- I just plain don't go into a bathroom that has a missing tank lid. I'd pee my pants first, and I hate that I have that much fear. It's not something I have to deal with often. I guess the only problem I regularly have, and it's only an inconvenience, is that I can't install those little toilet freshener cleaner things.

For the most part, I try to overcome fears instead of letting them overcome me. I'm a work in progress.

[Smee]

I have a fear of falling. It doesn't matter if I'm 1 foot off the ground or 1000 feet, I'm always afraid I'm going to fall. I'm also scared of slipping and falling-unfortunately my work sometimes takes me to places that have wet floors-and I freak out! You can also imagine my dislike of going to the 47th floor of a building for my cousin's wedding reception. Not only did I have to endure the elevator twice, the windows of the rooms we were in were floor to ceiling. I couldn't get near them! I really haven't figured out how to get over it.

I can relate to that! I had an intense fear of falling for about two years after I broke my ankle in a nasty fall. I couldn't stand to step across anything, not even thresholds or roots on the ground, and forget about stepping up on a step stool which was kind of a big deal since I'm short and rely on a step stool a lot to reach things in my kitchen cabinets. I didn't do anything to get over it, though. Time seems to have taken care of it for me, though there is still some residual fear, like if I lose my balance or feel unsteady in any way, I get a jolt of panic that I never would have gotten before. I'm sorry you deal with that.

[jluper7297]

Suffocation. I am terrified of suffocating. So bad that I can't wear masks or anything that covers my mouth or nose.

[CW&M Mom]

I have actually worked really hard to overcome a few anxieties so that I can at least function reasonably normally. I was so terrified of spiders that I twice jumped from moving vehicles and once waddled out of a public restroom with my pants around my ankles to get away from them. I hallucinated (I guess?) about them in that I frequently saw them on the ceiling over my head or on my pillow. I've had to make a very deliberate effort to work through it because my panic was actually dangerous. I'm still afraid, but I have mostly overcome the hallucinations and car-jumping panic. I can pretty much live and let live with them now, but I don't want to handle them or anything.

Despite years of trying, I have been unable to overcome my pork n' bean anxiety or topless toilet tank fear. They're ridiculous fears, I know, I know, but I'm trying. How it affects me is that I very rarely buy any canned vegetables at all (I buy frozen or fresh) because I avoid that aisle as much as possible lest I accidentally lock eyes on a can of pork n' beans, and I have turned down social functions if I knew they were on the menu. On the occasion I see them somewhere unexpectedly, I look away and sometimes try to pull or poke the dish away from the other food. My husband often fixes my plate for me so that I don't have to see or smell them and so that I don't do something stupid like burst into tears. Only my closest friends know-- I don't make a scene or request that a host change their menus or anything like that. Thankfully, my closest friends and family don't serve them at functions. What I'm doing to work on it is talk about it. Just talking about it makes my throat feel tight and makes me feel uncomfortable, so here's to message board therapy. I once mentioned it openly and a person surprised me with a big picture just as a goof, and at the time I swore I'd never mention it again. I was so upset (she never knew; I kept it to myself because, honestly, a fear of freaking pork n' beans is stupid and not something over which I'm willing to engage in battle).

The toilet tank thing-- I just plain don't go into a bathroom that has a missing tank lid. I'd pee my pants first, and I hate that I have that much fear. It's not something I have to deal with often. I guess the only problem I regularly have, and it's only an inconvenience, is that I can't install those little toilet freshener cleaner things.

For the most part, I try to overcome fears instead of letting them overcome me. I'm a work in progress.

Do you know why you have a fear of pork n beans?

We had a kid when I taught daycare had a fear of soup. He was in Foster Care. He had lived on soup. Every once in a while..we would have a sub..who was stupid enough to try and force him to eat soup..and..it wasn't pretty. The poor kid..had had to live off of soup..for about 4 years. He actually had food issues..and so we had to limit the amount of food he could eat..because he would eat till he would vomit, because he was afraid he would run out...Unless it was soup.

[3timesoccermom]

I'm claustrophobic but I just try to avoid places that would make me feel that way.

Below is a list of a few interesting phobias.

This one's a bit ironic. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Hobophobia- Fear of bums or beggars
Hylophobia- Fear of forests
Japanophobia- Fear of Japanese
Judeophobia- Fear of Jews
Koinoniphobia- Fear of rooms
Leprophobia or Lepraphobia- Fear of leprosy
Leukophobia- Fear of the color white
Levophobia- Fear of things to the left side of the body
Linonophobia- Fear of string
Logophobia- Fear of words
Lutraphobia- Fear of otters
Melophobia- Fear of music
Nosocomephobia- Fear of hospitals
Panophobia or Pantophobia- Fear of everything
Papaphobia- Fear of the Pope
Pteronophobia- Fear of being tickled by feathers
Pediophobia- Fear of dolls
Rectophobia- Fear of rectum or rectal diseases
Russophobia- Fear of Russians
Sinophobia- Fear of Chinese, Chinese culture
Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat
Consecotaleophobia- Fear of chopsticks
Dendrophobia- Fear of trees
Dextrophobia- Fear of objects at the right side of the body
Eleutherophobia- Fear of freedom
Epistemophobia- Fear of knowledge
Ereuthrophobia- Fear of blushing
Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news
Genuphobia- Fear of knees
Geliophobia- Fear of laughter
Graphophobia- Fear of writing or handwriting
Geumaphobia or Geumophobia- Fear of taste
Helminthophobia- Fear of being infested with worms
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- Fear of long words

[Smee]

Do you know why you have a fear of pork n beans?

We had a kid when I taught daycare had a fear of soup. He was in Foster Care. He had lived on soup. Every once in a while..we would have a sub..who was stupid enough to try and force him to eat soup..and..it wasn't pretty. The poor kid..had had to live off of soup..for about 4 years. He actually had food issues..and so we had to limit the amount of food he could eat..because he would eat till he would vomit, because he was afraid he would run out...Unless it was soup.

Before I was adopted at age five, my younger sisters and I used to be left alone for sometimes days at a time with (apparently) nothing but canned pork n' beans. I don't remember, but suspect there was probably some violent abuse involved as well. I don't have a conscious single reason that I can identify as the cause. The toilet tank issue came about from my mother trying to drown me in the toilet by holding my head in a topless tank after a potty accident. That is only one incident that leads me to believe that there is probably something more than just living on pork n' beans that causes me to have such a negative reaction to them. It seems like it would be easier to shake a fear when there is a definite identifiable cause (the toilet tank issue) but so far no. It's not like it invades my dreams or is something I have to encounter a lot, though. Not much of a major negative impact on my life. I was also terrified of water in any amount when I was first adopted. I would fight for my life and scream bloody murder when they tried to bathe me or wash my hair. I got over that, but I do still have a fear of drowning and have a hard time with some visuals that involve water.

My adoptive parents tried to force me to eat pork n' beans. They meant well enough and were just trying to expose me to a variety of foods (which I'm overall thankful for) because I used to refuse to eat almost everything just because I wasn't used to it. That was one battle they never won, though, and I'd pity the person who so much as presented them to me and tried to pressure me to try them now.

[jluper7297]

Smee, that is horrible! I'm so sorry you had to go through that.

[CW&M Mom]

We had another child who was in foster care, but his aunt and uncle had custody..so we had more background. He had been strapped to a carseat and only fed yogurt after the age of 1. He was nearly 4 when they got custody of him. He was placed in my 2's class...because he was not developmentally ready for a 4 year old class yet. I have no idea what he would do with yogurt because that wasn't something we ever served..but we learned real quick to never ever say we were out of something..because he would start to panic..and would think were out of food for ever.

so if we said "oh we are out of peaches" He would start running around the room sobbing thinking he was never going to get food again. We had to change, how we served, that we never phrased things like that, and that we had an endless supply of food to our classroom. And he was like the other boy. WE had to control what he ate. Because he too would eat till he would vomit..because he was so afraid of saying "he was done" thinking he'd never get another meal.

Food issues stemming from abuse..just suck all around. IMO they can mess you up for life.