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Original poster

Phobias - what are your unusual ones?

84 replies

1Pinkfluffyelephant · 18/09/2020 14:11

I have never met anyone that has the same phobia as me and wondered if anyone else has any has the same or any other strange ones?
I’m terrified of any public toilet that you have to go through a door to get to (not the big bright open ones you get in large shopping centres) with grills in the ceilings and pipe work exposed or those ones with the cistern up high with the long chain. Things like drains in swimming pools and the grids that have the wave machines behind them at the deep end.
Not sure if these things are linked in anyway and no idea what made the phobia happen either.
What are yours?

OP posts:
JeffVaderneedsatray · 18/09/2020 22:49

Mine is not knowing the time. I have to have access to some form of time keeping device. It is worse at night - I don't bring my mobile into the bedroom but I have to have a clock with either a glowing dial or a back light so that I can always see the time. If no clock is available I have to have my phone.

I have no idea why but unless I can see the time I feel very anxious and often can't sleep.

SD1978 · 18/09/2020 22:50

Nail clippings, and milk. Can have milk in coffee, it the thought of drinking 'straight' milk makes me nauseous

DramaAlpaca · 18/09/2020 22:50

Seaweed. I can't go in the sea if it's there. The feeling of it wrapping round my ankles

GwenCooper81 · 18/09/2020 22:55

@whitewineandmagnums

Houses with more than one set of staircases. Major fear.
Never ever heard anyone else with that phobia. I used to have nightmares about my Aunties house with two staircases. There was always a hidden door or room involved. It makes me feel sick to think of it. Nice to know I'm not alone!
KatDubs261 · 18/09/2020 22:56

I am scared of street cleaners.

WinterAndRoughWeather · 18/09/2020 22:57

Pregnancy. I think it’s called tocophobia. The idea of being pregnant terrifies me, and I’m quite uncomfortable around pregnant women too.

ShivD · 18/09/2020 22:58

People on stilts- horrendous

And hardware in a DIY shop, all the metal and brass is horrible.

ChocAuVin · 18/09/2020 23:00

Cotton wool (just no)
This is utterly bizarre, but... touching or carrying hot savoury food with my fingers / hands, particularly if wrapped, à la fish and chips...

Octopiggy · 18/09/2020 23:01

I’ve known two people who were scared of buttons.

Malin52 · 18/09/2020 23:03

I have an exciting combination of thalassophobia, submechanophobia and megalophobia.

Basically a photo of a submerged plane is my idea of hell.

onetwothreeadventure · 18/09/2020 23:06

Other people puking in an enclosed space - like if I was on an airplane and someone was puking near me. I read a thread recently where someone puked an entire flight and I was sweating with fear at the thought.

NickMarlow · 18/09/2020 23:06

Polystyrene. Ugh. I can just about touch it if it doesnt make a noise, but I cant cope with it squeaking, even if someone else is holding it.

FrangipaniBlue · 18/09/2020 23:10

Fireworks.

Genuine full on cold sweats, heart racing fear.

For years I wouldn't leave the house on bonfire night and would sit wearing headphones, even as a child.

I've gotten better, but I still don't like them.

BigFuzzyBear · 18/09/2020 23:10

I have pretty severe emetophobia. If I see or smell vomit, or am aware someone feels sick, I have a panic attack - I was always a bit squeamish about vomit and got very upset if myself or my mum had a stomach bug, but when I was at school there was a boy in my class who used to vomit in class fairly frequently and I think that was a huge contributing factor. I have to sit at the end of rows in plays/performances - in case I start to feel sick I need a quick exit.

I’ve had it since I was a child but only become aware of it as a diagnosable phobia in the last few years.

ShivD · 18/09/2020 23:18

@Malin52 I’ve never thought of it before but just reading your phobia as made me hot and panicky. Is it a ‘thing’? I’m shocked at how horrible it’s made me feel.

RaraRachael · 18/09/2020 23:31

Ths sparky smell emitted from dodgems - Something happened when I was in a dodgem car when I was little and I've been terrified of them ever since.

Cockadoodledooo · 18/09/2020 23:36

Ds2 was proper hysterically terrified of buttons when he was small. Took ages to work out what was upsetting him because it started way before he could talk. He still won't wear anything with them through choice (but consents to school shirts) and is now OK with other people having them (although he still backs away on occasions) - he's 11 next month.

notangelinajolie · 18/09/2020 23:42

Slugs. Public toilets. Stairs.
I have bad toilet dreams all the time. No slug dreams thank God but they are seriously top of my phobia list. And fear of anyone (not just me) falling down stairs is with me daily. I think I need to move to a bungalow.

BigGlasses · 18/09/2020 23:57

Spiral staircases. I was sort of okay with them, but hen went up the sagre de familia in Barcelona and hated it. Panicked so much half way up and it was a one way system and couldn’t go down. Am now petrified of them. I get weirded out going round oin a constant direction, and am petrified on the inside and falling. Consequently I avoid at all costs and sweat if I get anywhere near them. Don’t actually think I could go up one now

BigFuzzyBear · 19/09/2020 00:01

Also not a fan of large clock faces. Like Big Ben close up gives me the creeps

worcestersauce29 · 19/09/2020 00:43

wind turbines, panic attack inducing

Peasbewithyou · 19/09/2020 01:00

@Malin52 @ShivD I have similar. I wouldn’t say it was a phobia but it makes me feel really panicked and anxious seeing large man made bodies of water. So, for example, thinking about the fuel rod cooling tanks in a nuclear power station (of which there was a photo in my GCSE Physics textbook 20 years ago) is horrible.

I also don’t like the grids in swimming pools, especially when there is a wave machine. That’s quite scary.

Oh and I can’t touch sponge. Like the stuff balls might be made of rather than cake. Even the thought makes me feel a bit queasy, hot and literally get goosebumps.

I’m also properly scared of dogs but that one is less weird.

Malin52 · 19/09/2020 01:49

@ShivD yes it's a thing. Try googling those words then run screaming from the room. Horrible. Thalassosubmechanophobia. Euurgh.

Malin52 · 19/09/2020 01:51

I live near quite a few beaches and spend a lot of time swimming or kakaking. I once swam out to a buoy and could see the rope going down into the depths and I panicked and swam at full tilt back to shore as it freaked me out so much.

ShivD · 19/09/2020 07:11

I can’t google it, too scared.

I don’t like water I can’t see the bottom of either.

What I was a child the local leisure centre had a pool that was at the bottom of a slide but was also used for scuba diving so very deep when a grille as a floor that could be lowered. I loved the slide but nearly had a heart attack trying to get out of the pool at the end as the grille floor freaked me out so much.