To ask what your phobias are?

[squishymamma]

I have emetophobia - it's the irrational fear of vomit. It's not so severe as others have it, but it means that I get mild panic attacks when others throw up, and even worse when people feel nauseous and might be sick (it's the anticipation that's the worst). As you can imagine with 2 young DC in the middle of tummy bug season I'm quite the nervous wreck atm! Luckily DH takes our DC when they're ill...

My family know about this as I've had it ever since being really young, but I was talking to DM the other day and she mentioned she had a phobia of bees and wasps. I was amazed I didn't know that already, and it got me thinking that maybe more people have phobias than I realise.

So does anyone out there have a phobia they want to share? As serious or as lighthearted as you want (this thread is one of my ways of coping!)

PS yes, I am seeking therapy, no, it's not the same as not liking it when people throw up, and no, it's not different when it's your own DC. Sadly. (all common responses I get when I tell people about this...)

Heights especially things like harbour walls. Small spaces but I can over come this and have managed the MRI machine. Jewellery this is more of a revulsion than a fear but I always check out what I can see before choosing a seat in a cafe

Claustrophobia.
I think that's the one. I fear feeling trapped. I can't go in caves or mines, or dens. Or under beds. I also hate wearing hats, glasses, jewellery, tight sleeves, coats done up. The idea of scarves or necklaces is the worst. I hate feeling trapped. I open doors and windows all the time. I don't like people coming too close to me.
I wouldn't be able to do any sport that requires lots of equipment or any masks or helmets.

Norovirus and snails

Another vote for vomit phobia, if I hear Noro is going round school I go cold with fear and seeing vomit on the pavement ruins my day!

Chalk, can't touch it and definitely can't write with it. Thinking of it going near my fingernails makes me shudder.

Mushrooms or any other fungi. The frilly bits underneath, ugh.

Maggots is a really bad one, I struggled to even type the word. My mum had to remove a maggoty dead bird from my garden and daughter has to put the bin out if I see even one crawling out.

Birds, alive or dead. If a dead bird was in my garden, I'd have to leave the house. Also small dead creatures like mice. I could never have a cat because of this. Luckily DD is very allergic to them, so it's not an issue.

@Claricethecat45

Buttons and even jus the word Loose buttons in a tin...eugh cringe One or two lying around - awful as well Dont mind them sewn onto clothing...its the stray ones that haunt me.....and Tins of them (usually in an old chocolate or biscuit tin) Teeth on edge every time

I'm really surprised to see a few of us with the phobia of 'them' (I can't say the word) 🤮

I've never told anyone and I didn't think anyone else felt the same way and that I was a bit strange 🤣

There's a big difference between a genuine phobia and an irrational fear. Most people don't actually have phobias just irrational fears.

Spiders. Especially the ginormous house spiders. Horrendous things.

Car washes.

Footbridges that you can see through beneath your feet.

I'm not all that keen on hornets either, but that's fairly understandable.

@Babyfeb22

Clowns for me- even kids dressed as clowns are going to come and murder me- so stupid 😂 also the funnier they look the more it freaks me out so IT for example doesn't get to me as much as a 4 year old dressed as a 'cute' clown would!

Same for me, I'm not bothered by IT at all and can happily watch both versions, it's 'cute' clowns that scare me, so sinister

This is partly why I started the thread! I didn't realise quite how many people had emetophobia before I searched for it and found it was one of the most common phobias. It helped me a bit to feel i wasn't alone, because as a PP said it is really irrational to have these phobias but it feels very real, and hearing others share it makes me at least feel less like a crazy person

@MissMaple82 how would you distinguish between them? Just curious - because there are people with varying degrees of severity, so when does it become a phobia? I for example get jelly legs, tight chest, fight or flight response when I think someone might be sick, but I still had children - there are others on the thread who didn't for the reason that they would at some point throw up and need looking after. Would mine just be an irrational fear then? It feels very much like a phobia to me - constantly on my mind, always coming up with ways to avoid situations where I might have to deal with vomit etc...

Mine is common... needle phobia.

Also, small buttons and beads that are loose. Not so much a phobia, but extreme disgust to the point I have been sick.

Toilets with black seats and overhead cisterns. Fight or flight response immediately initiated if I walk into a toilet where they are. They create a sort of primal panic. Worse when they're in a row like public toilets. I've had nightmares all my life about ones with no cubicles between them, just two rows of high cisterns facing each other on a freezing cold and dirty floor. I don't know why but it makes me scared I'm about to be hurt or die or something- I don't know. Awful:

And everyone I ever tell thinks it's funny to bundle me into public or old pub toilets with the high cisterns

Wasps, trypophobia and electric blankets.

@Notdoingthis

Claustrophobia. I think that's the one. I fear feeling trapped. I can't go in caves or mines, or dens. Or under beds. I also hate wearing hats, glasses, jewellery, tight sleeves, coats done up. The idea of scarves or necklaces is the worst. I hate feeling trapped. I open doors and windows all the time. I don't like people coming too close to me. I wouldn't be able to do any sport that requires lots of equipment or any masks or helmets.

That's me to a tee. It's terrifying.

[quote squishymamma]@MissMaple82 how would you distinguish between them? Just curious - because there are people with varying degrees of severity, so when does it become a phobia? I for example get jelly legs, tight chest, fight or flight response when I think someone might be sick, but I still had children - there are others on the thread who didn't for the reason that they would at some point throw up and need looking after. Would mine just be an irrational fear then? It feels very much like a phobia to me - constantly on my mind, always coming up with ways to avoid situations where I might have to deal with vomit etc...[/quote]
Doesn't @MissMaple82 just mean that some of the "phobias" in this thread are aversions/strong dislikes rather than genuine fears? Like I'm not saying it's definitely the case but the individual who is scared of red wine, maybe that's a strong aversion, rather than a 'I'm going to run away from the red wine bottle and devise ways to never see red wine again in my life' phobia.

Yours sounds like true Emetophobia.

Very large objects like ships in dry docks, skyscrapers etc, bonus points if they’re unexpected given the landscape. I have frequent anxiety dreams when I’m tootling along doing something mundane and suddenly they’ll be an impossibly huge structure on the skyline and it’s just horrifyingly panic inducing.

Also whales, it’s probably just the size but I find them absolutely terrifying, adverts featuring them on tv or even just pictures is enough to give me palpitations.

I have severe debilitating molluscophobia, it is really really awful.

Clowns and people with masks. Those people that act like still ,life statues all painted gold or whatever.
We went to a festival on Jersey and there stilt walkers wearing masks and not speaking ,just using hand gestures. I was terrified, We were sat outside a bar at the time and I went and locked myself in the loo until they had gone past.

I share the same phobia as you OP, at times it has taken over my life, I have had several different therapies but am now learning to live with my fears and except them.

@Pidgeonton I'm in this gang too and on a bad day I can't say the word.
The worst are 'wild' ones; unattached ones.
The proper name is koumpounophobia. A bit of a mouthful but much preferable to the actual word.

[quote thistimelastweek]@Pidgeonton I'm in this gang too and on a bad day I can't say the word.
The worst are 'wild' ones; unattached ones.
The proper name is koumpounophobia. A bit of a mouthful but much preferable to the actual word.[/quote]
I have never met anyone with this same phobia. And like yourself and the other poster, it is the 'wild ones' that are the worse.
I can't stand the small pearly ones, or mushroom shape ones where the holes are underneath.

Anything paranormal. Can't watch horror or thriller movies/TV shows and I sleep with the light on if I'm alone. I couldn't stay in hotels/another person's house in case it was haunted for years - I have coping strategies now.

I don't believe in woo but it's a gut-churning, terrifying phobia, can't even type the G word. Never known anyone else with it.

Not sure why, but my darling mum can’t cope with hair grips - she refused to go into my student room because there were some on the floor. She also can’t cope with spent matches. I can’t cope with other people getting close to edge of high places - it makes me feel really sick.