Do you have a phobia? How has it impacted your life?

My phobia is needles. I refuse to take a flu shot or any other kind. Now a dentist can shoot me all day & it doesn’t bother me, or they can draw blood. But a regular shot…. it ain’t gonna happen!

I am deathly afraid of heights. I get vertigo, and feel like I might jump. I have broken down my life into categories: Necessary (elevators, flying) and Un-necessary (going to the top of a tourist site, riding roller coasters).

Things in the necessary category get done despite my phobia. For example: Taking an elevator 17 stories up to visit my ex’s grandfather, I had to turn around backwards, hold on to the railing and my ex, and close my eyes to make it through the ride up. Once in his condo, I had to stay in the center of the room, not looking out any of the windows. When my ex went out on the balcony, I nearly had a panic attack. I fly, but am a nervous wreck doing so, to the point of crying (silently, thank goodness).

The only thing is has ruined for me is riding roller coasters and the like. When I was young and visited amusement parks and fairs every summer I could do it after being terrified on the first ride of the summer, but exhilerated by the end of it. After missing several years, I expected to be able to do the same. Alas, even after several attempts, I never again reached the exhilerated stage, and had to give it up for good. I miss that, and wish I could do it. However, as it is unnecessary, I don’t feel it’s worth the time, effort and money to overcome it.

I have regular phobias like spiders and heights. But my one true terrifing phobia is being underwater in a lake or ocean. Once I was at my friends camp and we went in the lake and I almost started crying. The look of the rocks with the slimy algae on it really freaks me out. And the movie Jaws, I cannot watch it! Once my friend put it on at her house and I was petrified! I can’t even explain it. My dad used to always watch the discovery channel and whenever it showed things underwater he would turn the volume up really loud to scare me. Also I was watching TV once and this guy was welding underwater and the fire and water and the murkiness together.. I almost fainted.

I have Haphephobia
Definition:
A morbid dislike or fear of being touched.
I HATE being touched, I will do almost anything to avoid you touching me, I have learned that people don’t like touching someone who doesn’t make a sound then they move/breath/walk so I have trained myself to move with out a sound it’s me he’s describing, It’s also useful to move away from you without you knowing when it looks like you might touch me(mainly when I’m around drunk people) (no “high fives”, no shaking hands, no pat on the back, no holding hands, no kissing, no hugging) I’m not afraid of getting germs or anything like that I just hate the feeling of being touched.
eg: ex girlfriend(studying to be a barber, want’s to cut my hair ugggg)
(someone I don’t really trust, behind me, touching me, with sharp objects)
ok sure , it took 15 minutes to do (did a good job) she takes the hair catcher apron thing off (which is soaked in sweat, shirt soaked, and chair)

Also -Dementophobia
Definition:
is the persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of insanity or becoming insane.
this fear is to become totally insane, not able to do anything I enjoy doing now.

I like my phobias/fears I don’t want to let them go or get over them

http://phobialist.com/

I have Entomophobia which is the fear of insects but only one in particular – cockroaches.

It’s not that I’m deathly afraid of them or anything but I find them absolutely disgusting and nasty. When I see one or several, I just go in the opposite direction because I can’t stand being anywhere near them.

I’m not afraid of insects, but I’m not fond of them. You’re right, Blue, about cockroaches. Because where you see one, there’s more. They’re dirty, nasty things. I’d rather see a mouse than a cockroach, I think.

I have entomophobia as well. It makes finding an apartment increasingly difficult. And let’s not even discuss the panic attack I have when I need to go into the basement to do laundry. Granted, I’ve never seen a bug in my basement, but that’s where bugs always live. Plus, my boyfriend’s house has a small infestation of house centipedes, which are the most horrid things ever on the entire planet and after I see one, I have nightmares for weeks.

@augustlan: I think we were seperated at birth! You described me perfectly!!!

I’ve also experienced agoraphobia during really bad times in my life. Very unpleasant!

I don’t know if this is a phobia(although I am afraid of heights), but when I look up at the sky I feel like I am going to fall down and afterwards I get dizzy and sometimes even feel a bit sick. This is always a feeling I get when I am having nightmares, like I always have nightmares about going on really high bridges/buildnigs then I look up and I fall.

@desiree333: I do that too! Were we seperated at birth, too? I’ve always considered it a part of being afraid of heights. Not the actually being in a high place, but there being a very long distance between me and what I’m looking at.

@loser exactly, you took the words out of my mouth.

I have completely irrational fears of authority figures and telephones, and mail.

Oh, and I hate when I am cooking and someone comes up behind me and touches me or tries in any way to be affectionate. shudder

I am terrified of sock puppets.

Curiously it hasn’t had much of an impact on my life.

don’t even get me started on sick monkeys

@Blondesjon As David Letterman would say, “Have you seen or touched any monkeys?”.

@desiree333 I do the same thing…I’d say it is associated with the fear of heights.

@loser I’ve had mild bouts of agrophobia too. Since I already knew what it was before I’d ever experienced it, I made myself go out regularly enough that it never overtook me. It could easily happen though!

I cant STAND cockroaches. I detest them. I had the most horrible experience: I arrived to an airport and border security had to ask me some routine questions so I was taken into a little lobby. Here, in this lobby, as I waited, I saw a cockroach far away. Time went by and I forgot about the cockroach… suddenly… my leg started itching… I scratched it a little but it wouldnt go away. When I really scratched it and shook my leg and the cockroach was the thing itching my leg!!!!!!!!! I went crazy and started screaming. It horrible, I cant get over it yet.

I cant stand heights… I cant even look outside the window when we’re in a tall building. I cant stand vomit.. ( this is gross I know ) but I really really really get sick if I’m anywhere near it…I turn green literally. But a cockroach beats both of them.

<shudders!>

it was horrible… Most people dont understand me but I know you Entomophobics do.

I saw a couple of episodes of the show Fear Factor where they had to eat a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (they’re huge) as part of a challenge and it completely freaked me out.

Cockroaches are disgusting, period.

Ew! Ew! Ew!

I have a phobia of lifelike museum mannequins. I can’t turn my back on them. The largest impact on me is that I get all edgy after I’ve seen one, and can’t enjoy the other exhibits.

I can’t even read this thread… any more bug stories and I might crawl out of my skin.

When I was down in Myrtle Beach, they had these huge cockroach/Palmetto bugs everywhere down there. One night (middle of the night) I was outside smoking and felt an itch on the back of my thigh. It was one of those bugs! Ugh, ugh, ugh!!! For the rest of our vacation I smoked in my car at night.

@augustlan : I understand entirely how you feel!!!!!!!! Its horrible!!!!! And even if you shake away the disgusting bug, you feel like its still on you….

men

@adri027 : are men your phobia??

Our daughter was in Hawaii when her babies were born. I went over after our granddaughter was born. They lived in military housing, which left much to be desired. They had what they call ‘water bugs’ over there, or HUMONGOUS cockroaches/palmetto bugs. I saw one in her closet..that sucker was over 3” long! I about had a stroke! She called the housing office & they sent an exterminator. We had to leave the apartment for the day. They ARE nasty critters, for sure!!!

I have a huge phobia of waterfalls, I have checked it out and it’s not even a real phobia! So getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth is recognised… but a fear of huge angry noisy water throwing itself off high places? No Sir. In fact I shall use this opportunity to find others like myself =) might make me feel less weird. Oh and the looking into the sky thing gets me too @desiree333, I also cant hang upside down and look into the sky cos I will totally freak.

I have lots of phobias but they don’t really bother me. I have claustrophobia, hemophobia, and sentaderaportophobia. In lay terms, I freak if I am in a small enclosed place, I faint at the sight of blood, and it makes me a nervous wreck to sit with my back to a room. I tend to nurse my phobias. I don’t put my head under the bed when I am vacuuming under there, and don’t crawl around the toilet when I am scrubbing behind it – I just do my best to reach. I have to ask health care workers not to put their vials of blood within eyesight of me, and I always choose a seat that has it’s back to the wall. I have no desire to “train” myself not to be this way – it’s just the way I am.

@Chrissi85 The phobia about looking at the sky isn’t really even about becoming dizzy or falling. It’s much more, actually scary if you ask me. I think I am just afraid of “endless” things, such as looking underwater, the sky, and space. I could never watch things like Jaws or space movies…scares the shit out of me..