Phobias - what's yours?

[Ilovesweatybollocks]

Just wondered if anyone has any unusual phobias?

Mine is glitter, can't stand it anywhere near me so buying birthday cards isn't easy and I have to wear latex gloves to open my birthday and Christmas cards.

I also hate the m word (m*t) and if you don't know what I'm on about it's often used to describe a cake that isn't dry.

This is my first post so you could say I'm a virgin but only on here so be kind if I cock this up

Pipes and being under structures such as bridges.

Moths. Calling it a phobia would be a bit over-dramatic, but I really don’t like them flapping around indoors, and round my head.

Lepidopterophobia. Cannot stand butterflies. When I was little, my grandmother had to cut down her buddlia bush because I would become so hysterical.

Helicopters..... I have always had vivid recurring nightmares about them appearing over the horizon and watching you, just hovering. I was out walking the dogs a few weeks ago and one was flying very low overhead - must have been checking the powerlines, and I nearly had a meltdown. I was terrified.

I have a phobia of people playing with their eyebrows. Eyelashes are fine, eyebrows are not 😭

Dentists. As well as the obvious reasons*, I don't like entrusting myself to anyone who chooses to do that for a living.

• And the fact that it turns out the bloody anaesthetic really doesn't work on me...

Flying things - mainly wasps/bees, butterflies/moths, birds (especially bloody pigeons in town) and bats

Frogs and toads

Water where I cant see the bottom (you can't see what's hiding in there). I won't swim in the sea if there is seaweed covering the bottom, won't even pedal a pedalo over it. Similar for canals, rivers lakes and ponds - think of all those frogs and toads hiding in the water that you can't see (see phobia no.2)

Drains in the bottom of swimming pools.

And heights.

Loose buttons. Can't explain it.

Jewellery. It's dirty. Worn against skin but is never washed.

@SmellbowSpaceBowl
Me too! And butterflies- so scary

Men's pyjamas. Balloons.

Drains in the bottom of swimming pools

Omg this was a massive fear of mine when I was a child.

But luckily I seem to have grown out of it as I'm only mildly bothered by them as an adult (will move away but don't panic).

@Frith2013
God.. I forgot about drains!

Old balloons
No issue with freshly inflated ones, but as soon as they are a few days old the surface texture changes as well as the smell
Can't handle them being around at al
They must be deflated and thrown away, after which I need to wash my hands really well, to get rid of the particles and the smell on my hands

Big ships in dock at end of a street
People falling down stairs behind me
Rats

@mrspotatohed honestly... my arms just start frantically flapping, blood runs cold, adrenaline goes, I scream and bolt. That's just if a wasp comes within 2/3 foot of me! I jumped out a moving car when I was 11'because a wasp came in the window. I'm 36 and never been stung. OH is genuinely considering leaving me 😂😭 I'm glad it's not just me! X

@nomushrooms I'm fine with bees! Can happily cope with one in the same room and regularly give them sugary water if I see them tired! Wasps though - burn them with fire.

I used to have a phobia, but I got over it when I found out what had started it. Fascinating how the mind works.

I worked with a girl many years ago who had a fear of cutlery! It really did make her (DH and DCs life) challenging at times. She had been asked to make a client a cup of tea and came to me shaking and whispered could I help her and told me why. I realised she wasn’t just having a laugh and was deadly serious. I made the drinks and she told me all about it afterwards. She had a good sense of humour and realised that to most people it sounded ridiculous but was a real fear. This was many years ago and I always think of her when the subject of phobias comes up and wonder if she ever managed to conquer the fear.

People. Love them but they terrify me. If I go to a social event, after five minutes I run out of things to say because just not running away and/or looking terrified is taking up all my headspace and energy.

It makes for a very lonely life as you can imagine.

Cigarettes. Not a phobia but a very strong aversion- they make me feel sick. I feel nauseous and have to look away at cigarette butts on the ground( makes walking around difficult!)

I have never touched a cigarette... or even a cigarette packet. Someone asked me to hold their cigarette packet once while they did something and I could not do it.

That has transferred to vaping also..... the bubble sound makes me feel sick

Ghosts- especially in films, to a slightly lesser extent in books. We studied The Signalman (Dickens?) At GCSE and I was shaking with my arms over my head at the back of the room when the teacher turned the lights back on at the end of the film. I had nightmares about them for years as a child.
I know it's illogical as even if they are real they cannot hurt me.

Slugs, worms, snails, frogs and toads, octopus (octopi?).

If DH or DD pick up a snail in the garden I run away screaming. When I was young I stepped barefoot on a freshly severed octopus leg while walking on a beach, it wriggled and wrapped itself all over my foot. Think that's when it started.

Also afraid of things that could fall from a height: sunglasses off my head, mobile from my hand, DD from the edge of a cruise ship deck, a piece of paper or leaf I might be holding. I'm fine though if all is secure and/or strapped on to me, like an organised walk over Sydney Bridge, standing on an engineered glass floor in Willis Tower (before it cracked) or tandem sky jumping.

We're going to the cliffs of Dover today and I will be yelling at DD to stay away from the edge (it was a nightmare for me in Cornwall at the Poldark mine area by the sea).

Birds flapping indoors is a strong dislike. I really object to the casual use of the word phobia though. A phobia is not used to describe a significant dislike and we need to stop using it so generally. A true phobia is a serious and damaging mental state.

Getting pregnant

I have 1 child already and I do not want anymore 10000% but I am too young to get my tubes tied.