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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What is your most irrational fear?

183 replies

Frosty66612 · 12/05/2018 09:23

And could you deal with it if you absolutely had to? Mine is spiders and I have had full blown panic attacks over them before. There was a huge wolf spider in my living room earlier and I had to deal with it as my young niece was terrified and crying. Psyching myself up to put a bowl over it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Haha reading that back sounds barmy but it’s amazing how much a true phobia can affect you. My OH’s is heights and he said if it was a life or death situation and he had to jump out of a plane or do a bungee jump he’d rather just die

OP posts:
huha · 13/05/2018 03:07

Vomiting. Myself and anyone else. It basically tries to rule my life and I constantly battle to try not to let it. It sucks.

user1867895 · 13/05/2018 03:10

Too many!!
scared of house going on fire.
scared of dying.
scared of kids and loved ones dying.
scared of terrorist attacks.
scared of invaders breaking in and stealing kids.
(yes, I have anxiety 'sigh').

Mouikey · 13/05/2018 07:47

Great white sharks in swimming pools (and anywhere water based - except baths as that would be ridiculous!!!)

Yolky eggs - it started as a dislike but is now a phobia. I cook boiled eggs for 30 minutes to avoid. Some one popping one in front of me or seeing them on adverts unexpectedly is terrorising!

TerfsUp · 13/05/2018 08:14

stripy heathens

I love this description of wasps. So true and so funny.

TerfsUp · 13/05/2018 08:17

Those three-winged white metal modern windmill thingies. They look like something out of War of the Worlds. Every time I pass by them on the train I expect them to uproot themselves and shoot laser beams at me.

ThereIsAlwaysDrama · 13/05/2018 08:22

The dark. I don't know why but I always have been since a child. Whenever I'm in the dark I get this overwhelming feeling that something is about to 'get me'.

I can't sleep without the duvet covering my entire body. Even if that means sweating all night. I can't let any part of my body hand over the edge! Obviously there's monsters waiting to grab me underneath my bed. I also can't have my feet near the underneath of the bed. So I can't sit on the edge of the bed and regularly jump in so the monster doesn't get the chance to grab my feet.

I'm 26 Blush

crispysausagerolls · 13/05/2018 09:28

SLUGS!!!!!!

Original poster
Frosty66612 · 13/05/2018 09:31

@crispy my long haired cat once came inside from the garden with a big slug attached to his coat. I was not amused!

OP posts:
crispysausagerolls · 13/05/2018 09:38

frosty

That is the stuff of my nightmares. At our old place, our garden was overrun with them (despite my best efforts) and my dog used to bring them inside. Cue me hiding in my bedroom until a friend or DH came home. Truly pathetic but I just can't face them 🙈

Member984815 · 13/05/2018 10:29

I'm terrified of edges like cliffs and piers with no barriers , I always feel like if I go to the edge I will jump . Can't stand the kids walking near the edge side I know it's insane but I can't deal with it at all

Itsseweasy · 13/05/2018 11:01

My family catching norovirus. We had it twice this past winter, and honestly, as someone who has been through some pretty awful medical things including internal bleeding, I’d say it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever had!
I live in fear of it returning now, and internally panic for 48 hours after every couple of days my son is in nursery.

Itsseweasy · 13/05/2018 11:03

Oh also the London Underground. I have an irrational fear that an unseen force will move me away from the safety of the wall and onto the rail tracks. Or someone will bump me on to them.

BlueJava · 13/05/2018 11:06

Multi storey car parks! I am ok driving in and can walk/run outside. But then I sometimes can't get back in.

Sometimes I shop at Waitrose as they do carry to car service and I actually use this to get an escort to my car. I once took a taxi from the train station entrance to my car in the multi-storey as I couldn't make it inside the car park, the guy was very nice about it. My OH has driven 7 miles each way from our house to the station multi storey (I commute into London) just to get my car out! Blight of my life.

TSSDNCOP · 13/05/2018 11:55

Spiders; even pictures and fake ones. Actual ones send me into orbit and cannot live.

The dentist.

OopsPardonMrsArden · 13/05/2018 12:00

That if I leave a hand or foot dangling outside the bed some crocodile-like thing will suddenly appear from under the bed and BITE IT OFF

Olddear · 13/05/2018 12:15

Cats. I'm absolutely petrified of them.

Mollie85 · 13/05/2018 12:41

I dont know if this is the same thing but when I am doing something normal, my brain then takes me to a place of complete catastrophe...
It’s like impending doom, constantly.

E.g. I was holding my newborn niece in the conservatory. Lovely. Suddenly my brain reminded me I was wearing flip flops, on a tiled floor, with a cat at my feet.
I’d gone from newborn cuddles to tripping over a cat and smashing my niece through the conservatory window within the space of ten seconds. I had to give her to my sister and sit on the sofa holding her.

I do it almost daily. First time I was a passenger on a motorway (I live in the Channel Islands) there was a massive long lorry next to us.

My brain took me to the lorry sliding across from the back end, clipping the car and us rolling over down the hill and the car blowing up with us all trapped inside.

At work, if my manager goes in for a meeting with the director, I immediately think they are meeting about me and I’m getting sacked...

It’s tiring. And relentless.
Yes. I am being treated for anxiety. Confused

Buy yy to spiders too... I don’t trust creatures with that many eyes... Grin

angryburd · 13/05/2018 12:58

I live on the top floor and quite like to open the windows and look out them for a bit of fresh air, especially at night time.

Without fail I'll start to worry that I'm somehow going to fall out (despite only my head being outside) and have to close the window...

crispysausagerolls · 13/05/2018 15:08

Mollie85

I'm sorry but your post made me chuckle as I do exactly the same thing! I assumed this was quite normal 🙈😂

VilootShesCute · 13/05/2018 20:52

Loonoon, that is just awful and I am so sorry you feel that way. I too suffer from this. Tiring is not the word. It's debilitating. Sending hugs.

Huha...ditto. I have emetophobia and can't even cope with the mere thought of my children or I getting that. Sob.

Bostin · 13/05/2018 20:53

The dark.

Lex234 · 13/05/2018 20:58

Moths. Anything that crumbles to dust when squished is a messenger of the dark side. And they KNOW when you're frightened of them and PURPOSEFULLY fly at you just for shits and giggles.

Irrational fear you say...Grin In all seriousness, I do show myself up with moths, I am even getting sweaty palms thinking about them. Horrid things.

Hugsythespacecowboy · 13/05/2018 20:59

Not having my feet on the ground/not feeling grounded which shows itself when I am faced with heights or water. I can't swim in water deeper than I can stand.

Hugsythespacecowboy · 13/05/2018 21:01

Also at night when I turn the lights off downstairs and walk up the stairs I always get freaked out someone is behind me and run up the stairs looking behind. I'm 29 man. 29.

Hugsythespacecowboy · 13/05/2018 21:03

@Mollie85 I'm exactly the same and as I was reading it I thought I hope you are being treated for anxiety (until I read that bit obvs) so I'm glad you are. It's hard. One of my irrational anxiety fears I fixated on was being crashed into whilst waiting at a bus stop, for years and years. I've moved past fixations now as I've got better but I still do the situational thing.