I have an awful phobia of spiders. I can’t explain it- I know they’re small, harmless and great insects for catching flies etc- but I absolutely despise them. They way they run makes me feel physically sick to my stomach. I’ve desensitised myself over time and got to the point where I can tolerate them being on the wall/ceiling/floor as long as I am well away from them but still in the same room. It doesn’t sound it but that’s a big improvement- previously I couldn’t be in the house if I knew there was one in there. I saw one in my room and slept at my boyfriends house for 2 weeks until he found it and removed it. So being able to tolerate them was a big step up.
but today I woke up, went downstairs for breakfast and I felt a weird sensation on my neck. I thought it was a wispy hair so I sort of brushed it and it went away. Then I felt it again followed by a really sharp pain so I went to the mirror and there was a giant spider (not being dramatic, it was one of those big house spiders) crawling up my neck and onto my chin. I swear my soul left my body and as you can imagine I screamed the house down and just about started convulsing and the spider fell off me and ran away.
even after it was off me I was hysterical and my boyfriend basically had to calm me down. I’ve never felt so upset in all my life. I worked myself into such a state and had to take my inhaler. I immediately scrubbed my skin with everything I could find under the kitchen sink and I still feel so dirty and horrible. Never mind the fact it nipped me which bloody hurt too. But the idea a spider was crawling on my skin and I had no idea, and that moment of seeing it on me in the mirror was completely utterly traumatising and I honestly feel so horrendous now. I don’t want to think about it but I can’t get it out of my mind,
I know nobody can help specifically but I just wondered if anyone had any advice about how to feel better about it. I know it sounds dramatic to say I feel traumatised but I do, it was absolutely awful