<p>I have a problem with heights but only if I am in a “device” of some kind. Like a gondola or a ferris wheel. I’m fine in a building or balcony.</p>
<p>I have panic attacks sometimes when I drive up high in the air in a exposed situation, and I am afraid one day I will pass out and drive off the road and plummet… which makes my panic attacks even worse…:rolleyes:</p>
<p>How ironic that I read this thread as I just emerged from our basement, where we took cover as the tornado sirens blared and the news advised us that there was a confirmed tornado on the ground (with 100mph shears) and then began to mention streets on either side of our subdivision!! :eek: That sure scared me!!</p>
<p>I am afraid of something happening to my DH and I dont know how to access all the accounts. Yes I’ve been given passwords, but the list is probably out of date as is the list of what is where. I told him if he dies before me I’ll kill him.</p>
<p>^^^Yes! lol. I’m sure you’ d be pretty upset for other reasons, too, but I really get this.</p>
<p>I’m terrified of turbulence in airplanes. I always imagine the wings falling off or the plane flipping over.</p>
<p>You guys are making me feel so much better. My DH is one of those happy, completely optimistic people who just doesn’t understand fear, especially irrational fear. When I tell him about another tornado dream, he shakes his head, and says, “honey, seriously…life is too short for this.” Whenever the clouds are ominous, and the tornado sirens start blaring, I begin gathering the flashlights and preparing our one designated safe space (a large closet under the staircase which our builder reinforced) he says, “oh, good grief, it’s fine.” And so far, he’s always been right.</p>
<p>Oh, if I could be so oblivious to risk…</p>
<p>So we have a lot of fear of heights…that I get, especially if on an exposed surface…plenty of snakes and spiders…also understandable…</p>
<p>I even get the fear of authority figures. If I’m driving and a police car pulls in behind me, my heart starts racing, even though I always drive the speed limit. That one also makes my husband crazy.</p>
<p>So far nothing really odd. I watched Dr. Phil once where a woman was afraid of cotton balls. Really, she was terrified. One of his producers came onto the stage with one, and she literally jumped off the stage, running around the room to escape it.</p>
<p>Afraid of heights including ferris wheels, yet have ziplined, and parasailed, and loved them both. Terrified of being a passenger in a car, therefore I will always be the driver, and don’t mind that a bit. Mostly my fears involved not being in control.</p>
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<p>I love speaking in public, IF it’s about a subject I’m either knowledgeable or passionate about! If I ever won an Oscar, I’d be the one they’d have to drown out with music while some tall leggy blonde girl who hands off the statues to the presenters would be grabbing me by the hair to get me off the stage. :D</p>
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<p>Come to think of it, mine do too. I have that same fear of being a car passenger. Even thinking about heights makes me break out in a cold sweat. Flying is a double whammy – height AND loss of control.</p>
<p>Spiders are icky, but unfortunately DH thinks they’re “good” bugs. 
He won’t kill them, but traps them in a glass and puts them outside where I’m convinced they plot how to get back in.</p>
<p>Public speaking, although I have no trouble being in front of a group of schoolchildren. I don’t like ferris wheels but I can ride on them. I think I have a fear of falling and because of it, I don’t like ski lifts, skiing, and roller coasters (although I love flume rides); but again I can do them, I just really don’t like them.</p>
<p>Heights, especially bridges. I got stuck for over an hour on G Washington bridge and that started this fear. Pavlovian response.</p>
<p>Something bad happening to my son. I don’t know if this apprehension will ever go away.</p>
<p>H and S like to watch those shows about how asteroids will hit the earth, or how the sun will explode, “end of the world” type things…thinking about that terrifies me.</p>
<p>Also ventriloquist dolls (any talking doll, really), and the thought of falling through ice and being stuck underneath.</p>
<p>I am nauseously afraid of heights … even if I think about anyone walking anywhere near an edge where they can fall to their death. </p>
<p>This really came to light when we took a vacation out west and I had to drive in a car on the edge of a cliff for miles and miles. My palms were sweaty and I felt like I was in a state of panic. My family didn’t really understand how stressful it was for me, and they thought it was funny, but to me it was terrifying because my mind kept imagining the worst. Two glasses of wine for me that night!</p>
<p>My biggest fear is something terrible happening to my children or husband…particularly if they are traveling
I have a fear that is irrational and that is turning the alarm on or off in our stores. Terrified !
One time I had no choice and nearly ripped my fingernail off as I panicked to do it in time
Also , the usual fear of snakes. There was one in my grill area last year and as I walked outside , it slithered behind our wine fridge. I thought my heart was going to pound right out of my chest
I went straight to the garden center and bought a snake repellant …thankfully, didn’t see it again</p>
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<p>I don’t think that one ever does go away. Every once in a while some drunk idiot calls our number by mistake in the middle of the night. Of course, the first thought is that something has happened to D at college. Takes awhile for the heart rate to back to normal.</p>
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<p>Have you seen or heard about this? My D1 and DH want to do this, but they will never convince me or D2 to go on it.</p>
<p>[Grand</a> Canyon Skywalk | Photos Gallery, Skywalk Pictures](<a href=“http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/about-the-skywalk/photos-gallery/]Grand”>http://www.grandcanyonskywalk.com/about-the-skywalk/photos-gallery/)</p>
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<p>Yep! Me too.</p>
<p>H and the kids realized long ago that if they wanted to go to do things like the GrandCanyon situation, they and I, would enjoy ourselves much more if I were left out of the plans. Yikes! I was the type of “get away from the railing!” Mom who was likely to say that to your kid as well as my own. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>My kids still joke about it, now. “Don’t let mom go to the zoo, she’ll be keeping ALL the kids and some of the dads away from the railing.” laughter ensues, as well as demonstrations, culminating usually in an imitation of me at Niagara falls, which they claim they would have seen better from an airplane.</p>
<p>Ironically…</p>
<ul>
<li>The upcoming empty nest :(</li>
<li>That neither child (esp. youngest) will EVER be a self sufficent adult. I don’t mind if they boomerang back home, but she has to find a way to earn a living someday…</li>
</ul>
<p>I am not afraid of heights per se. I can stand at the top of the Sears (or Willis)Tower and look down and feel nothing. </p>
<p>I am afraid of slipping and falling from a great height. So, although I love Yosemite, I will never climb the cables up to the top of Half Dome. </p>
<p>After living through some terrible wildfires, I no longer like the smell of campfires and I startle awake at the sound of a helicopter flying at night. (Brings to mind the around the clock water dropping helicopters of the fires).</p>
<p>This really came to light when we took a vacation out west and I had to drive in a car on the edge of a cliff for miles and miles. My palms were sweaty and I felt like I was in a state of panic.</p>
<p>I was driving on a marine biology field trip when D2 was in 10th grade, on the highest driveable road in Washington. ( there are marine fossils on the top that the class wanted to see) I had never realized I was so afraid of heights until I became more & more panicky until it was all I could do not to start sobbing. One lane unpaved road, sheer cliff on one side. It seemed like it was taking forever but when I reached a place to pull over I stopped the car & had one of the other chaperones drive, while I finished my ride to the top in another van.
I rode back down in the other car too & was startled that while my climb to the top seemed to take hours, the ride back down took about 8 minutes!</p>
<p>[Slate</a> Peak - Washington](<a href=“Slate Peak - YouTube”>Slate Peak - YouTube)</p>
<p>Its not hereditary. My D loves stuff like this.
<a href=“http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/canopy/costa-rica-canopy.htm[/url]”>http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/canopy/costa-rica-canopy.htm</a>
:eek:</p>
<p>Needles, anyone? I own the dubious distinction of once passing out while getting my blood drawn WHILE I WAS LYING DOWN! I am definitely in the double digits for passing out from inoculations.</p>