Phobias

[Saucerman]

So, the centipede with really long legs, was it a regular one or one of those house centipedes:

Used to get these in an office where I used to work. We'd actually gather around and stare at the things. Had no idea what they were at the time. It's almost hypnotic the way they walk.

*squirms* Yes...that's the one...make it go away now please.

[Newt]

Ah yes, the running mustaches.  Had lots of those in the house I grew up in.  Ugh.

I am not a big fan of spiders, but it must not be a full-fledged phobia because I have been able to consciously overcome it.  Mostly.

Heights caught me by surprise: on a horseback riding trip in the Rockies.  OOPS.
We were at a stop to climb a short rock face up to a glacial lake and I froze.  Horrible feeling.  My arms and legs simply would*not*comply.  Full body revolt.  I finally made it up, but between the shock and embarrassment it was terribly distressing.

I don't drive.  Just sitting behind the wheel brings on hyperventilation and elevated heart rate.  Yup: it's fear.  Tractors are OK; cars and trucks for road use...forget it.  Might have something to do with my Dad breaking his back in a car racing accident when I was eight or so...don't know.  Could be (and likely is) completely irrational.

[AndyC]

Hard to say whether I'm afraid of heights. I don't like walking around on a roof very much, or standing on top of a tall ladder, but I love tall buildings and I love flying. I won't hesitate to take a bumpy ride in a little single-engine plane that gets tossed around by the slightest air current. Done it many times, and I might have lined up an opportunity to do it again soon.

Likewise, I have a great time visiting high observation decks. Went up the Sears Tower in Chicago once and loved it. Been to the CN Tower in Toronto lots of times, and even have no difficulty standing on the glass floor and looking down at a thousand-foot drop. And I've visited lots of shorter towers over the years. Basically, if I visit a place with a really tall building that's open to the public, I want to go up and see the view. Just don't ask me to shingle the roof on a house.

[Patient7]

Germophobia (Wash my hands 90 times a day it seems.  Worse in winter, when they get cuts, raw, bleeding, etc. from being chapped.)

That's EXACTLY haow it happens to me.  I got scolded by my biology teacher last winter because of the whole MRSA thing and open blood. 

[Doc Daneeka]

If talking about phobias and the like and not more of OCD-type-things, I consider myself overall close to a hypochondriac. I hear of healthy people dying of the most minor stuff, or mentally ill people totally oblivious to their disorders, and it gets to me... Every so often I find symptoms in myself that resemble deadly signs, but hesitate to visit a doctor for the fear that it'll be overreaction, and so on and so forth :P ...

And teenagers are supposed to think they're invincible...

[HappyGilmore]

Germophobia (Wash my hands 90 times a day it seems.  Worse in winter, when they get cuts, raw, bleeding, etc. from being chapped.)

That's EXACTLY haow it happens to me.  I got scolded by my biology teacher last winter because of the whole MRSA thing and open blood. 

It's even worse for me, for two reasons.  First off, I use a cup only once, and if something even comes near it, I wash it.  Something is near a fork, I wash it.  Mind you, they don't even touch, but the IDEA they're near each other, I wash it.  Same with food.  I'm so picky about who handles and touches it, I don't even eat at friends houses, and I've known them for YEARS.

Secondly, about hand washing, I work in the food industry, so I'm doubly washing my hands.  At work, and then at home.  It's at the point where even lotions and gloves don't help the scarring.  I really should see a doctor.

I'm very obsessive compulsive about things.  But that's not a fear.

[akiratubo]

Needles.  I can't even look at a needle -- I can't even look at a DRAWING of a needle!  To have blood drawn, I typically have to take a tranquilizer by mouth, else they have to put me in a chair where they can strap me down.

People being tortured with needles is a recurring theme in my horror stories.  Imagine that.

I'm also pretty afraid of heights.  You just *won't* get me near the edge of anything over a couple of feet high.  Once, when I worked at Lowe's, I had a panic attack on the cherry picker.  I just crouched on the platform, hyperventilating, holding onto the side rail for dear life.  I don't remember much of it, really, aside from being scared out of my mind.  Someone else actually had to come up on another one and take mine down.  I'd even start sweating on the ladders.

[Ash]

Needles.  I can't even look at a needle -- I can't even look at a DRAWING of a needle!  To have blood drawn, I typically have to take a tranquilizer by mouth, else they have to put me in a chair where they can strap me down.

So then I guess you'll love this scene.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfdEqeyBzIY

[akiratubo]

So then I guess you'll love this scene.   

Made it to 1:48. 

[Allhallowsday]

...As I age, I seem to be developing a mild fear of heights. It's not debillitating, but I get uneasy too close to the edge of a high place. And I hate, hate, HATE driving over high flyaways (really, seriously, I don't like 'em). I get occasional vertigo, and it happened once on a 60'-80' high flyaway, and I only made it over by sheer force of will. I talked like a retarded Jerry Lewis for about two hours after; I couldn't help it.
...

I don't think I have any fears, spiders don't bother me I saw about 100 or so Brown Recluses today, as I do every day. Well I do have one phobia it's Broke-aphobia, fear of being broke ... so I avoid it.

I, too, am afraid to be broke and avoid it. 
I used to be afraid of spiders, still am, but always save the lives of spiders I find in my house (though if bigger than a pea they are banished to the out of doors.)  Spiders do good work and I want them to prey on them ugly things AndyC posted!!   

[Patient7]

Germophobia (Wash my hands 90 times a day it seems.  Worse in winter, when they get cuts, raw, bleeding, etc. from being chapped.)

That's EXACTLY haow it happens to me.  I got scolded by my biology teacher last winter because of the whole MRSA thing and open blood. 

It's even worse for me, for two reasons.  First off, I use a cup only once, and if something even comes near it, I wash it.  Something is near a fork, I wash it.  Mind you, they don't even touch, but the IDEA they're near each other, I wash it.  Same with food.  I'm so picky about who handles and touches it, I don't even eat at friends houses, and I've known them for YEARS.

Secondly, about hand washing, I work in the food industry, so I'm doubly washing my hands.  At work, and then at home.  It's at the point where even lotions and gloves don't help the scarring.  I really should see a doctor.

I'm very obsessive compulsive about things.  But that's not a fear.

Wow, that's pretty bad, at least I know there's one person who can trust when I shake their hand. 

[AndyC]

I used to be afraid of spiders, still am, but always save the lives of spiders I find in my house (though if bigger than a pea they are banished to the out of doors.)  Spiders do good work and I want them to prey on them ugly things AndyC posted!!   

Unfortunately, I think the predator-prey relationship for those two is the other way around.

[Sister Grace]

The Mailman! he literally freaks me out. If I'm out in the yard and I see him coming; I'll dash into the house till he has finished his round on my street. There is something unnatural about him and the fact he knows so much about me gives me the heebie jeebies...

[Derf]

Yes, Allhallowsday, that is, indeed, the object of my revulsion. And it's just about life-size, too! Pictures of them don't bother me, just them dive-bombing me. A guy I knew who owned a dental lab caught one once and cast it in dental filling material. Every leg spur, recreated in metal. It was fascinating, but also pretty repulsive.

[AndyC]

The Mailman! he literally freaks me out. If I'm out in the yard and I see him coming; I'll dash into the house till he has finished his round on my street. There is something unnatural about him and the fact he knows so much about me gives me the heebie jeebies...

I do the same thing with the garbage men, but only because I expect to get hassled about having too many bags, really heavy or drippy bags, or some recyclables mixed in. I dash out of sight to avoid the dirty look or disparaging remark I'm expecting to get.

Probably comes from when I lived in the city, and they were really picky about garbage. They'd leave bags behind without explanation, or slap stickers on cans that didn't explain much for the effort it took to get them off. In three years, I never once succeeded in having a bag of yard waste picked up, no matter what bag I used or what day of the month I put it out. Still, it was better than the dump, where somebody actually searches through your load like some kind of border guard, then directs you to 25 different bins that you have to remember, and the attendant acts like you work there and gets PO'd if you don't know all the procedures. Never saw a place that took its garbage as seriously as the Regional Municipality of Waterloo.

The dump here is organized but laid back (and sometimes has bears), nobody's ever been rude and nobody's ever refused to pick up a bag of garbage. Still, I have this sense that anyone in waste disposal is going to be a fussy, judgmental prick. It's not a fear, really, but I make myself scarce just the same.