Extreme phobia

[Deleted member 487]

Did you know that a can of OFF and a butane lighter works wonders against Black Widows? :occasion:

 

[2quilt]

...Just as long as it doesn't catch the foliage on fire, then the house itself.

 

[Cecilia]

2quilt knows what she is talking about. She caught her pillow on fire. Hopefully not trying to kill a spider. LOL

 

[2quilt]

I posted the pillow fire story on my blog.

 

[Lucky Laser]

Thunder and lightning during the night has been one of mine. When I was a child the chance of a thunderstorm at night would keep me up for most of the night worrying and at the smallest rumble I would go running into my parents room. The fear has decreased a lot but when I wake up to a thunderstorm I still get a scared feeling inside and sometimes get up and do something. The odd thing is, if I am not alone or its daylight then I love thunderstorms.

As a kid I also used to be terrified of flushing toilets. I remember my parents making me flush one of the toilets in our house many times until I could do it without being scared!

 

[fragile_4_life]

I also have a terrible phobia of spiders. Like you I have no idea where it came from but I've always been terrified of them. It's crazy and I know it's totally irrational, but I can't control it. It's so bad that I tired to jump out of a moving car once that was going about 60 miles per hour because there was a spider. Luckily the other person in the car grabbed me before I jumped.

Last summer it was horrible. I worked at a camp all summer so I lived with spiders. It was really hard for me. I had to work really hard to not think about how many spiders were around and when I had to face one I had to concentrate on my breathing and talk myself into calming down. I always had a can of spider spray with me so I could kill them. I can't get close enough to squish them without having a complete panic attack so spraying them is the only way I can kill them. So I made it for 2 months living and working at camp with spiders and I was pretty proud of myself. But once I got back home things got crazy bad. I saw one spider in the house and completely freaked out. Then I saw another one a few hours later and I was convinced that the house was infested. I was in complete panic and very hypervigilent. I would search each room before I would feel comfortable to stay in there for a long period of time. I would scan the ceiling to make sure that there were no spiders and then I'd look in the cornors. If I found a spider I would have to leave the room and I couldn't go back in there untill it was killed. I would have a "safe place" where I felt like there was no spiders and I felt safe there. I was almost paranoid. At one point I seriously started to think that the spiders where out to get me because everytime I found a "safe place" a spider would show up there and it was no longer "safe". I couldn't sleep because I would think that I felt spiders crawling on me. When trying to go to bed I wouldn't be able to cover up with blankets even if I was really cold because whenever I covered up I felt the spiders. Then I thought that spiders had contaminated my bed so I couldn't sleep there. So I went to sleep on the couch in the livingroom, but then I saw a spider on the ceiling. I would sit on the couch and stare at the tv all night trying to distract myself because I couldn't sleep. I went for almost a week without sleeping at all. I was always in a state of panic, I was exhausted, but I couldn't sleep. I knew it was rediculous but I couldn't stop it. The terror was so real for me. It lasted for a little over a month. Luckily after I went back to college for the school year it ended. I still have a horrible phobia but it's not as psychotic as it got last summer.

I'm going back to work at camp in 2 weeks and I'm really nervous. I'm so afraid the psychotic episode or whatever it was that happened will happen again especailly since I really will be around a lot of spiders at camp.

-Mandy

 

[rob4444]

M phobia is meeting new people...more people to think im nuts!....as for spiders and snakes,i pay them respect,but dont fear them...even after being bitten by the male Sydney Funnel Web last year...the worlds deadliest spider..i survived..barely..without medical attention(would definately go for help/antivenom next time)...its deadly nuero toxins actualy improved a problem with my nervous system...go figure..im more worried about why i didnt go for help(he only got 1 fang in temporarily..which i quickly removed,and i thought i should be sweet)the pain and massive panic attack,similar to a heart attack..followed by days of feeling like id fought Mike Tyson...ouch!..i cut firewood in the bush for a crust,and see hundreds of spiders and a few snakes..i used to kill them,but now i pick them up and move them(not funnel webs!)

 

[Lisa]

rob4444 - I just couldn't live anywhere with those deadly spiders. I'm glad you survived the bite!

The funny thing is, I suppose most would think I fear spiders biting? But I don't think any in England do, or if they do they don't have teeth! I'm just scared of them getting on me! How crazy is that? I should *flick* it off... but I can't describe it, the terror.

fragile 4 life, I have actually been like that, always do when in a panic, though the worst lasts maybe 3 or so days, but the leftover hypervigilance, difficultly sleeping, thinking they're on me, that lasts usually about a month after seeing a spider in my house. I swear some of that you wrote was word for word me! AND...it's much worse if a spider's in my room as that's where I sleep and I won't sleep if I think there's a spider in my room. The thoughts about being infested, thinking they're trying to get you- I have believed that kind of paranoia too. In fact, every time... when I'm in that panic all I can think is "They're everywhere, there must be a nest, AND THEY ALWAYS COME FIND ME!!!". Seriously man, it's not even funny.

I am glad to say the spider in the kitchen has not been seen or spoken of since, so I am assuming it's dead/gone. And so my panic is lower... until next time...

 

[sunnydaze]

Lisa,
I have had many phobias. I was deathly scared of birds, large snakes, small garden snakes, horses, going into basements alone and heights. Over time, I overcame some of them. I went to Aruba, the Caymen Islands and the Bahamas. I finally allowed myself to have a pic taken with a big bird on my shoulder. Than, I went to Canada to Bird World and actually walked around w/ birds flying around me and all of a sudden, I noticed I was not fearful.

One day, I went to a festival and a man was walking around w/ a boa snake and I ran immediately. I disassociated w/o realizing and found myself petting the snake. I have no memory of walking towards it.
As a child, I was always chased home from school by a boy with a garden snake and am still quite fearful of them even worms.

When, I went through my 2nd divorce, i went to Canada and hired a open bottom helicoptor and flew around the falls. I am still very scared of heights but I did overcome the initial fear.

As far as horses, never ever get near one again. In the past on many occasions being close to a horse they have tried to bite me and kick me.

My point is one day, I made out a list of all my phobias and could not believe how afraid of living life I really led. I made a determination to overcome some so I would not be afraid of the world in general.
sunnydaze