Dentists and their torture tools.

Spiders, snakes, escalators, heights, wasps and hornets, freeways and deep water. Looks like I share many of the same fears as others do.

I can't bear to be physically confined, unable to move. I can't watch scenes of people inching through crevices in a cave. I'd lose my mind in an Iron Maiden.

I credit this to pre-verbal memory of having pyloric surgery as an infant. Back then doctors were wary of anesthesia for infants. I was wrapped tightly in a sheet, strapped down, given a little whiskey on a sugar cube, then cut open and stitched up.

I can do an MRI by closing my eyes before I'm moved into the tube and keeping them closed the entire time until I'm out.

Heights and dentists.

I've become more afraid of heights as an adult. My sense of balance has gotten worse so maybe that is my body's way of protecting me. I used to love roller coasters. I went on one a few years back. My body once again told me those were not ok.

We went to some tide pools in Hawaii a few years back. I've been to the ocean a few times, but I don't think I've ever been past my waist. I got out there and was incredibly creeped out by it. I fell down trying to get back on land. I'm not familiar with ocean life. I was afraid I would get bitten or stung by something. Dh and I had gone on a snorkling tour in the Virgin Islands a few years before that. I hated it. I had thought it was just allergies, but looking back I may just have some sort of irrational fear.

Ditto what schoolhouse said.

Scaffolding and ladders that sway. Heights are fine if what I'm standing on isn't moving. Crackpot dentists are scary. I spent 5 hours getting a tooth capped last year. My regular dentist couldn't get me in. I gave up after a week. Next time I'll wait a year if I have to. :0)

Oh geez, Nicole, ladders! Yes! I'm fine on them, but if I have to dismount onto a roof, or off the roof back to the ladder, I freeze. I have to steel myself for that nanosecond that I'm levitating in thin air, not attached to anything.

*shudder*

Mice. Disgusting filthy little things that are out to get you. I now live in New Mexico where we have actual plague and hanta virus, so I feel justified in my fear now!

I am afraid of heights but I challenge it every year when I go over the Lynn Canyon bridge. I can't exactly look down but I can now glance down in the distance. Yes I used to get nauseous as well.

I get annoyed if these challenges go on and on and on for years and I always try to work on them.

I used to be completely fearful of people and mice but challenged that over a five-year period and by the end I was no longer afraid of mice. Mice should be afraid of me however as I won't hesitate to chase them out if they invade my house. People still make me nervous but I'm working on it.

I'm surprised by all the mice phobias! I think they are so cute.

No more flying for me. I'm hoping to die in my sleep, no drama, no pain. Although I realize statistically that flying is pretty safe, the thought of hitting the ground at hundreds of miles per hour just doesn't appeal. Helping to tip the scale are all the aggravations inherent in modern flying.

I was thinking that phobias are irrational fears. Some of you, above, have listed fears that do not seem to be phobias, such as hornets. Hornets, wasps, yellow jackets are mean, will actually go after you, are not uncommon, and the stings are extremely painful, it is rational to have some fear of such a critter.

No phobias per se but likes and dislikes, and maybe some of you are confusing a mild dislike with a strong phobia/aversion driven by fears. They're different.

I have poor balance and suffer from a form of acute onset dizziness when on a ladder or near an edge with a steep drop off. I avoid them because I get unsteady. There's no fear factor, just the discomfort of unsteadiness.

Flying, completely different story. I'm as comfortable sitting on a plane as sitting in a chair in your living room or mine. I have no problem looking out the window, no problem with turbulence or any of the normal experiences. All are a non-issue for me.

I've flown many hundreds of thousands of miles in my lifetime and continue to fly tens of thousands in most years. I'll never stop flying until the point comes I'm physically unable, travel is and has long been a big part of my life. If I had a problem with flying, I would do everything possible to overcome it because for those who can afford it, travel is such an enriching and pleasurable thing to do. Take this as a push for those missing out, it can be done. Good luck.

I believe the word 'bights' up thread, given the context of the sentence it is in, was a typo for 'heights'.

And height is probably my worst phobia. If I am forced to use a glass elevator, I stand in a corner of it, facing a solid wall, and hold tight to the rail. I once even changed doctors because his office was in a building with an atrium and glass-backed elevators. (Plus I didn't like him very much.) So it's a tribute to my current cardiologist that I keep my appointments with him, as he is in the same building, on an even higher floor. I have a hard time with height of any kind, except commuter planes, oddly enough. I love to have a window seat then!

I'm also pretty claustrophobic, don't know how I'd react if I ever have to have a MRI, or any of those tests that put you through a machine.

And I hate crowds of people! Don't know the word for it, don't know if it's actually a phobia for me or not, but I do not go where there is a crowd!

Insects don't bother me much, but I have a healthy respect for those that might bite or sting. Same with varmints, can't say as I'm afraid of them, but I don't want any mice or whatever running around in my house. Don't want any snakes around, either! Now I know that there are a number of good snakes, that eliminate varmints, but they give me the heeby-jeebies. And with all due respect to Marilyn_c, I don't like possums, either! Especially when they get in my garage and/or laundry room and leave their 'piles' all over! ! !

Rusty

Public speaking. I HATED speech class in college.

Small spaces. We recently went on a 1.5 hour cave tour and it was scary. Being enclosed in a plane is also very uncomfortable to me, but I still fly.

Heights. Hate driving across high bridges and looking down, or looking down from any height, really.

And the weirdest one, dolls. Not cloth dolls, the ones that are sort of life-like. Baby dolls, porcelain, etc. They literally make me nauseous. One of my nightmares would be to have to visit the house of an avid doll collector and be surrounded by them.

I have claustrophobia and can't bear to be in small, narrow places with lots of people. In an ancient castle in Ireland, as bpath describes, we climbed a narrow spiralling staircase that got smaller the higher it progressed. Partway up, I had to turn back and go down. The people behind me were not amused. :-\.

Another time while taking the Metro in Paris, we were waiting in a below ground location for an elevator to take us to a higher level. We were pressed together in a large crowd. Large crowd + underground location = brrr! The elevator door opened and people got on but not enough room for us. We were almost pressed up against the elevator by the crowd behind as we waited for it to return. But would it return? Time to grit the teeth. What a relief when it finally did!

Wildlife - bugs, spiders, snakes, rodents and larger mammals - don't bother me at all except for that startle factor if they slither or dart out in front of you :-) I used to have an unnatural fear of bears such that I had to avoid their enclosures at the zoo but I seem to have outgrown that with age. Still not eager to see one face to face in the wild but as long as I am safely separated from them, seeing one no longer terrifies me.

I can't say that I have any phobias. There are things I don't like but not to the extent that they are crippling. I would rather drive than fly, but I have no problem getting on a plane. I like spiders and snakes, although I have been bitten by both. Snakes, that I was catching when I moved here, and didn't want to leave them behind in case new owners didn't like snakes, and the spider was a pond spider that bit me when I was cleaning a pond. Hurt like a bee sting, but no hard feelings toward her.

Not afraid of bees, wasps or hornets, although we were attacked by killer bees that chased us into the house and from room to room. Stung many, many times. Almost killed my dog, who probably saved us, because half the swarm took off chasing her.

Anyway, I am more likely to have obsessions than phobias.

I was afraid of a lot things when I was young like the dark, spiders and bugs in general, drowning and movie monsters. Now none of that bothers me.

The fear of drowning came from an older bother throwing me from the end of a pier at a big lake at the age of 4 or 5. I was way over my head and didn't know how to swim so panicked. Once I learned how to swim, I wasn't afraid anymore.

I am not wild about spiders or other bugs but they don't scare me. It is more that they creep me out. I usually catch them and release them outside. Centipedes really bring on the 'ick' feeling. I really HATE yellow jackets. All of us, even our dog, has been attacked and bitten many times.

Now I like it completely dark when I am trying to sleep. If there is any light, even a wall outlet nightlight, it bothers me. I watch a lot of horror and fantasy movie & TV shows and none of that scares me. What I see on the news scares me more.

I can think of a lot of bad things I don't want to happen (like a 10 point earthquake), but I don't sit around being afraid.

Ha! I typed this out, then got on a plane

bight = Height! No idea how that happened.

I avoid being in water over my head and going under. The sound of being underwater - glub, glub, glub freaks me out.

Bathing suits

No real phobias, but I have the normal level of atavistic fears like falling from a great height and being entombed. For some reason, I also have difficulty with public speaking if it is necessary to give a prepared speech. I can speak extemporaneously easily.

No true phobias but as a child, I was afraid of water and drowning (thank you, Mother & Daddy!). I finally learned to swim - side stroke, back stroke/finning. I don't like putting my face in the water and will not jump into a pool. Due to this, I had my children taught to swim at a very early age - 4 month old Diaper Gym&Swim class at the local Y. Both ended up swimming competitively so I guess it worked!

I'm a bit of a white-knuckle flyer but I most certainly will fly. It's the take-off that scares me the most. I have always had a fear of falling from a great height - have dreams in which I'm falling.

I don't like spiders, mice/rats, or snakes, but no phobia.

I feel very fortunate that I don't have any major phobias that I can think of. The closest I can think of would be the dread of being around cigarette smoke. I don't even like to watch people smoking on TV.

I have no phobias unless you count merging on freeways.

Blown up balloons scare the hell out of me.

Besides escalator problem, I will not ride in an elevator alone.

liira, you've got me curious, do you mind clarifying your fear of blown up balloons? Is it a fear they might suddenly pop right near you? Or is it a visual thing?

I am terrified of snakes more than anything. I can’t watch them on TV or see a picture. I won’t swim in any water that’s not a swimming pool for fear of a snake or a gator. Heights and claustrophobia are also right up there too

Jakeseacrest, I hate to tell you, snakes get into pools also. My husband has been bitten twice by copperheads in skimmer baskets cleaning the pool. I hate snakes!

I dont like the thought of not being able to physically move or being stuck in a small space. But I wouldn't call it a phobia. I hate mice,spiders and snakes. But I am not too afraid of them to walk up and kill them myself,so not a phobia either. I would certainly rather someone else do it, but if I am by myself, and a snake comes across my path, its bye bye time. One of my beloved dogs was bitten by a snake once. He survived but was in a lot of pain. So now every snake I see has to pay for that ones sin.

Amicus, yes I fear of them popping in my face.

I love all creatures...snakes, mice, spiders, bats and would never think of killing one.

My earliest memory is of a near drowning experience when I was around 2. I described my memory to my mom when I was a preteen and she was shocked that I knew about it, and confirmed when/where it happened.

I've never had a phobia of water though. In fact I love water and always want to be around/in it.

I feel anxious when I'm near an edge but I've always confronted that fear, so I wouldn't call it a phobia.

I used to be scared of spiders, until I encountered scorpions. Spiders don't scare me anymore, but scorpions still make my skin crawl.

I still wouldn't call it a phobia though, as I'm always able to confront and conquer my "fears".

I sincerely hope that those who do suffer from true phobias are either blessed enough to encounter them so infrequently that they can simply be avoided or that they are able to get the appropriate help needed.

No one should live in paralyzing fear.

Someone mentioned crowds. That works for me. I hate them and am scared I'll get lost, and I don't like getting pushed around. I avoid local touristy festivals where there are mass crowds.

My mother instilled some deep seated phobias in most of her children, sad to say. Heights, spiders, dogs, flying. Once I got away from her, I sought professional help for my fear of heights, which was limiting my ability to participate fully in life. I refused to allow a totally irrational fear dictate what I could or couldn't do for one more minute.....I was sick and tired of it, angry at myself for having lived with it for so long.

My university had a great student counseling center and I took advantage of it by finding a great professional to help me. In a matter of three weeks (six sessions), I was running up the big marble stairs at Va. Tech with ease, hiking over steep mountain paths, and participating in life without that fear. My therapist told me it wouldn't any longer than that; I didn't believe him but he was absolutely right.

I was able to take the desensitization exercises taught to me during those few sessions to apply to my other irrational fears and have been able to have a mostly phobia free life.

Professionals say that in most cases, phobias (those painful irrational fears) are the easiest to overcome. I hate to see so many people forced to limit their activities in their daily lives.

Large bodies of water feel overwhelming to me. And empty in grown pools creep me out for some reason.

Since my only real phobia is of heights (and big heights - not climbing on a ladder to prune or clean off the roof), it doesn't impact my life enough to be bothered with. I just avoid cliffs....... :-)

I also am not wild about 'big waters'.....not to be in on a boat or similar but to swim in. I want to know what is down there lurking about beneath me. I'll wade in the ocean but in my view it is too big and too powerful and too mysterious to swim in.

I sure do and its Sssssssssssssssssss. I can't even stand to write the word. I think they are the grossest reptiles in the world. If you gave them legs I might be ok. I don't want to see a photo or a toy, or a worm, NO Thanks, I'm outta here!

Oh, I don't like heights either. I get dizzy on a dock just thinking of falling. Also BIG animals.

I am not comfortable with heights- even sometimes some photos like of the construction workers building a skyscraper? I get hyper just looking at it. Years ago we went to Windows on the World (World Trade Center restaurant on top floor). I was ok, but I couldn't sit NEXT to the window.

My phobia or whatever it is , is driving in heavy traffic or busy highways. I do it , but I freak out and will always accept anyone's offer to drive. I even avoid driving in those situations. I live in suburbia and have for the past almost 40 years so obviously I drive and function.

I have a phobia that is triggered by noisy flying insects. I think it is really based on a fear of stinging insects, but when they are just crawling about I'm fine but when they start flying around it really unnerves me, especially if they make a loud buzzing. In fact many other insects that I rationally know are harmless such as large beetles or cicada bother me as much or more than some insects that sting.

At one point a European Hornet somehow got into my office at work, I stopped mid-sentence when I saw it and fled the room. Several minutes later I returned after my officemates had killed it. They were all huddled around one of the computers as holding the now-dead hornet of a small paper plate, trying to look up what type of insect it was. I went over and was looking over their shoulders with the plate more or less right in front of me, and I was just fine. Until my cell phone in my pocket went Buzzz Buzzz Buzzz, and I let out an involuntary shriek of terror.

Trying to think of anything that might bother me to the point of "fear" but on the whole, the only thing that comes to mind is that at some time after a heart bypass operation, I developed a bit of an aversion to being in small closed spaces (think REALLY small). I believe this came from immediately post surgery (2015) when I had a breathing tube stuffed down my throat and was choking yet couldn't convince the powers in charge to remove it so I could swallow. Finally, a male nurse took pity upon my situation and traded the tube for a breathing canula whereupon the choking problem ceased.

Reading the issues as stated by so many, I guess I've just now realized how fortunate I've been to not have phobias or other issues that prohibited me from doing whatever I wanted which includes standing on the edge of buildings/cliffs/elevators/glass floors or whatever, heights, crawling under/over/and around some rather inhospitable and closed spaces, bugs/bees/small creepy crawly things bother me not in the least although like most people, I rarely "play" with stinging and biting insects. I was always the one who got sent into dark basements, under pier and beam houses, and up to the highest limbs in some half rotten old tree. At present, advancing age along with less agility along with a short list of past injuries generally preclude me from doing many of the more dicey things that I used to do but then... if I need to do them, I will but a bit slower and probably a lot more safely than I used to. To those who have those conditions I've been fortunate to avoid, I do honestly wish you well and assume that due to the perceived age of some if not all posters around these forums, you have still been able to have full and satisfying lives.

On the other hand, I've known more than several people over the years that are absolutely terrified of clowns. Of the couple folks I've actually asked about it, they were so upset by the very mention that they didn't know why they were so scared and refused to even discuss.

Being out of control is all that I fear. I can't help what happens around my son, but it terrifies me to think he might ride with some kid who has been drinking too much, or some crazy person comes into his dorm and shoot everyone... that's as close as I get to a phobia. Unfortunately, I am fearless. I need to be more afraid of stuff. A healthy kind of fear.

I have to admit I don't much care for clowns. They do not terrify me at all but there is just something unpleasant and faintly sinister about them that puts me off. Maybe it is how most are depicted in movies and on TV but nothing about them strikes me as funny or jovial.....just weird and kinda creepy. Inviting one to entertain at kid's birthday party is beyond my understanding :-)

Yes Gardengal ... clowns aren't the least bit funny to me , either !!! I tend to avoid them.

I didn’t realise I had so many things that make uncomfortable until I read this thread! LOL. There are so many posts that I can relate too!

Crowds...not afraid of them but I left the urban areas for a reason.

Bugs especially roaches...freak me out!!! I can’t even stand to look at pictures of them. I’m fortunate to have a husband who understands and is always ready for a bug call.

I’m another when it comes to a room or car with out ventilation...I instantly feel nauseous and have to get air.

I can't say that I have any phobias. I won't go stand at the edge of a cliff but I think that is common sense!

claustrophobia, heights, snakes, dentists and being on water when that's all you can see. I wouldn't want to go on a cruise.

I don't particularly like crowds or lots of traffic anymore. don't think it's a phobia, just that I've had enough of it. I do my best to stay away from it. I moved into the desert far away from the cities for a reason. Sadly they're building up so quickly here now - the last 15 yrs have destroyed the desert, it's dark, it's peace and it's critters.

Bears. I've seldom seen them, although they exist in my part of the world. My fear of them has affected my ability/desire to ever be out in the wild nature that surround us in the PNW. As a child, I had nightmares about bears breaking into our house.We lived in the city, so I have no idea where my imagination arrived at that fear.

Later in life, I would have loved to go out and pick wild blackberries in the summer, but my fear prevented me, as I know they love blackberries.

Once, many years ago, I lived in a very remote area near Mt Baker. I took a couple of my friends' kids out to an area (I think we were fishing, but I don't recall) not far from our small town, onto a very large river bar. Beautiful. One of the boys brought his dog. We were on the river bar, kind of separated, when I looked up and saw a bear with 2 cubs between us and our car. OMG!! I was able to signal the boys to come to me (along with the dog) and pointed out the bears. We waited until the bear mother spotted us and ambled away, but I was petrified about trying to get us safely to our car. I told the boys that we were going to wait a bit, then head to the car. Should the bear come after us, I told the boys that they should let the dog go and, even though it would be hard, we might have to use (sacrifice) the dog to save us from the bear. I remember thinking that I did NOT want to be the adult in charge of our survival. Where were the grown-ups!!!??

So, we made a run for the car, the bear was nowhere to be seen and we all survived, including the dog, lol. But I never ventured out into the remote areas ever again.

Heights for me. Flying in airplanes as well, which always seems funny considering that DH was an aircraft mechanic at one point in his life- hopefully that's not the reason why, though a lot of the mechanics he worked with would also not fly.

I also get panicky feeling when stopped under a freeway overpass. Especially bad when the traffic above is very loud.