Koutoumouphobia. Does anyone else have it?

[TheyRepulseMe]

Phobia of buttons.

I can barely type the word.

It's not that I'm scared of them. They just physically repulse me. Make me feel sick.

I hate them I hate them.

Me! Also hate typing or saying the word so I'm not going to! Strange how it's always more of a disgusting than a fear. If I have to touch one I have to wash my hands afterwards and I can still sort of "feel" it afterwards. It's more like a form of OCD than an actual phobia.
Also agree with the PP who doesn't like eating whilst being able to see them.
Clear ones are the worst for me, I also hate loose ones.
I am just about OK with metal ones on jeans, and can sometimes cope with fabric covered ones!
I have tried to cure myself and bought a couple of shirt dresses that I like, I can just about manage to wear them but I don't think it's really helped and they mainly stay in the wardrobe!

Buying duvet covers is a nightmare as it rarely says on the packet what sort of fastening they have, and 99% these days it will be those little plastic bastards. I can just about cope by doing them up so they point inwards but I still find myself trying not to get my feet too near the end of the bed!

I've had this as long as I can remember, and pretty sure I have posted about it on here before under another name.

I have always disliked them intensely. No idea why. The closest I can get is that I remember being 4 and looking at a boy's sweaty, dirty neck in my class - and, of course, there were buttons in that area too.

That must be so restricting with clothes. How do you cope?

DN has trypophobia, which I sort of get. She can't even tolerate the name being said.

Years ago, there's was a magazine ad for Patrick Cox shoes. It was a model with a flower, chrysanthemum I think, superimposed on her leg or arse cheek. When I saw it the first time, it literally turned my stomach. It was an unexpected reaction, but I've never forgotten the skin crawling effect it had. I've looked for the ad over the years, to see if it'd have the same effect, but can't find it.

I don't have a phobia of buttons but I have a phobia of facial hair on men. I'm not scared of it, but it freaks me out. I can't bear for it to touch my skin and neither can I touch it!! It's weird, I've never met anyone with it!! And yes, my husband is clean shaven!!

My daughter has this! Makes school uniforms challenging! People have actually been pretty supportive though.

Oh wow, never heard of this but holes repulse me, more like clusters of holes. So foam in a smoothie when it gets holey would make me gag. Holes in man made things are ok, its just organic materials.

Me too! I thought I was just weird. A boyfriend once put his finger in my belly button and I shot in the air and squealed like it was an electric shock. It makes me feel nauseous just relating that, actually.

I don't know. I've got a totally irrational fear of clowns. No reason. Nothing has caused it. It just is. 🤷‍♀️

Best to just get on with life. 👍

I don't absolutely hate them, but I definitely dislike them. I prefer not to use the word and try not to think about them. I looked at a nice jumper in the shops this morning and immediately rejected it when I saw it had a (pointless) row of them on one shoulder.

Oh I have found my tribe! I can cope with shirt buttons, but nothing bigger, and certainly no dresses which button down the front. Have been like this since I was at least two. Cardigans are also the work of the devil. I also hate open staircases.

Me. I have it. Never knew its name. Avoid saying it, looking at or typing the word. Need to wash hands after contact. They’re all as bad as each other. Also loathe the word ‘cardigan’. Assume it’s associated! Urghhhhhhhh

I’m gagging just thinking of small mushrooms clumped together. Oh dear god, I need to get off this thread.

P.S. I have no idea when my dislike started. My grandma had a big tin of buttons she'd collected over the years and she used to give them to me and my brothers to play with. We made pictures and rows and collections etc with them and nobody choked or had a bad experience. However, the thought of putting my fingers in that tin now fills me with disgust.

I have this too. The word makes me shudder. I always imagine the plastic touching my face or mouth and it makes me feel sick. I’m the same about earrings and have never had a piercing. I hate ‘accessory’ b-words eg oversized ones or decorative ones on clothes.

I had a college tutor 20 years ago who was afraid of buttons. I'm not sure if it was the same nauseous reaction though. Whereas I am afraid of marshmallows in the same way that they give me shivers and make me wanna vomit. You have my sympathy.

Reading this thread has made me realise that my dislike is much stronger than I thought and that I actively avoid those things and try not to think about them. The idea of one that's fallen off a shirt rattling around in a drawer makes me feel sick. And those tops Per Una used to do with random mismatched ones were hideous.

Balloons for me. The blow up rubber ones

Don't really get trypophobia, but I hate images of bacteria all magnified and multiplying and moving about. Urgghh.

My DS had an intense fear of buttons as a younger child. He would scream at the sight of them, wouldn't wear clothes with them on, and wouldn't go near me/DH if we had clothes with them on. When he started primary school I had to ask the teachers if we could cut the buttons from the polo shirts because he wouldn't wear them otherwise. He has learned to deal with it, although when I asked him about it a few months ago (he is 16 now) he admitted that he still doesn't like them - particularly when they're big. He tolerates them on school shirts and then avoids them on everything else.

I wouldn’t say I have a phobia, but I feel nauseous if I see a loose button. They’re absolutely fine on clothing, but if they’re on their own I feel sick. It’s so weird 😂

I’m the same with coins. I hate coins. They make me feel sick also. If I’m eating and I can see a coin or a button (or keys) I have to move them out of sight before I eat.

I’ve always had an inkling I could be autistic, so maybe that’s it.

is this a neurodivergent thing?

Yes I have this, I can just about tolerate them on clothes but loose ones are repulsive.

I also have a phobia of coins. Ever since childhood I have hated touching and handling them. Seeing loose change lying around in someone’s house makes me feel 🤢. 5p’s and pennies are the worst. I rejoice the fact that most places accept cards now.

I detest them, horrible, slimy things. I avoid them like the plague. All my clothes are pull on/over or zip up.

Yes I knew someone with a phobia like this. Sadly, his surname was Button too.

OP. I know EXACTLY what you mean about not being able to type/see the sequence of letters! Mine is more common, but just as disabling...suffice to say its a bad time of year for me, and I have to take the vines/stalks off tomatoes without looking.
Sympathies.