<p>The Touch Tunnel at Liberty Science in NJ . I crawled into this completely dark space and backed out involuntarily !</p>
<p>Needles- the event of my annual flu shot is like preparing for major surgery. Also, I was so annoying to the staff last year when I had to have a series of epidural steroid injections that I wasn’t sure they would let me come back after the first one. It was just about painless and took seconds!</p>
<p>Birds…it all goes back to my childhood when my GM’s parakeet, which was trained to land on your finger, would only land on my head. Quite traumatizing when you’re 4 years old.</p>
<p>Although I’m not sure why…I am terrified of anesthesia (being put to “sleep”) and not waking up. I’ve had an endoscopy and colonoscopy in the last few weeks and I was so scared…the doc told me my BP spiked…and they were concerned. I hope to not have to go through anymore of that anytime soon!!</p>
<p>Scared of snakes (almost bit by rattlesnake at age 7 and Dad played joke on me by putting snakeskin in mom’s stationery drawer. I wasn’t tall enough to see into the drawer but I opened it and reached in to get paper out and got the snakeskin!!) :eek:</p>
<p>Scared of driving over bridges and if traffic is stopped on the bridge…woo…major anxiety.</p>
<p>Slightly neurotic here. </p>
<p>Heights, sharks (only when in the ocean - I keep my back to the shore), Alzheimer’s, rodents, snakes. Don’t I sound like someone who would be fun to have on a camping trip??</p>
<p>Bridges. This started several years ago. I was never crazy about them, but one day I had a full blown panic attack. I have tried to drive over several suspension bridges with someone in the car to help me - but I really do panic. </p>
<p>Add to my list tornadoes since D is living in Mississippi. </p>
<p>Worries exclusive to her - car crashes, getting abducted. </p>
<p>And I wonder why I have a glass of wine every night!!!</p>
<p>Jerusalem Crickets.</p>
<p>Just typing this and thinking of them gives me goose flesh. Shortly are DH and I were married and moved into our first home, he came up from the garage loudly and proudly stating - OMG, I just found the coolest bug (that statement in itself is an oxymoron). Here comes the love of my life, holding between his thumb and forefinger one large (dead) Jerusalem Cricket specimen. I let out a scream which probably shattered the neighbors crystal, jumped up onto the kitchen counter and continued shrieking - get it out of here!</p>
<p>Somewhat surprised by my reaction this lovely man proceeded to ‘get it out of here’ by putting it on the front deck railing…to be admired by all who enter I suppose. I had to explain to him that until this thing was moved to the next zip code I would be unable to leave the house through the front door. </p>
<p>Luckily DH is a fast learner. He did not tell me about the California Wolf spider he discovered until he’d taken it to a better place.</p>
<p>fauxmaven–had to do the Touch Tunnel more times than i would have liked. It didn’t scare me, but I had to talk my young-at-the-time daughter through, as she came close to a panic attack.</p>
<p>I seem to have developed a fear of heights as I’ve gotten older. I climbed all over the cliffs on Aran Island when i was young, but had a much harder time getting any where near when I went back a couple years ago.</p>
<p>And I"ve definitely had some panicky drives on roads with cliffs on the side, somehow sure that the car woud just get pulled over that way by accident.</p>
<p>I have a fear of mentioning my worst fears (like that will make them come true) so I won’t.</p>
<p>^^^^How are Jerusalem crickets different from “regular” crickets? Are they really big?</p>
<p>Fire.</p>
<p>Also, being trapped anywhere with no way to get out. When guests come to our house, I park my car in the street because I can’t tolerate having someone parked behind me in our driveway. And whenever there’s a snowstorm, I can’t really relax until the roads are plowed.</p>
<p>Can I just say all of the above?</p>
<p>We have a boat, and we’re on a river, off a bay, off the ocean. I pretty much won’t go water skiing because I’m afraid to be in the water alone while waiting to get up. If it’s hot and we’re going swimming I make hubby jump in first, and when I get in I keep my feet up at the surface. (In my defense two 8 ft bull sharks were caught in a nearby river last year)</p>
<p>I also have a major fear of either my kids dying or my husband. I made my husband promise that I would go first. I’ve had a lot of people in my life die starting at a very young age - my best friend from grammar school died in high school, my maid of honor died right before my wedding, all grandparents, all of dh’s grandparents, and my dad died in an accident. Most before their time and unexpected and I decided I don’t want to go through that anymore. It’s made me very reluctant to make good friends and I get overly attached to people.</p>
<p>Spiders - big or small, inside or out. I’m so afraid I can’t even get near enough to kill one, unless it’s tiny and I’m wearing shoes. I keep spider spray everywhere. I don’t mind snakes or any other kind of bug. There was an incident when I was young that must have scarred me for life. I still have horrible spider nightmares a few times a year.</p>
<p>I’m not really claustrophobic, as elevators and small spaces don’t bother me as long as I can stand up or stretch my legs, but I cannot be in a position where I feel constricted. I’m fine on a plane in an aisle seat. This didn’t appear until the youngest was 3 and I was in a play area with him and unexpectedly panicked in a tube crawl thing. My H had to come pull me out backwards.</p>
<p>Being in a vehicle during a heavy rain, especially at night on a highway. Doesn’t matter if I’m driving or riding, it freaks me out.</p>
<p>Not really a fear, but I do worry about something happening to the boys or my H.</p>
<p>The only thing I’m truly afraid of is not being able to breathe. So although I’ve tried snorkeling, I can’t manage it for more than a few minutes, because only being able to breathe through my mouth makes me…not exactly panic (because I know I’m right under the surface), but very uncomfortable. I like to swim, but scuba diving is not in my future. :)</p>
<p>I once had a mild anxiety attack driving over a bridge. I have no idea what triggered it, other than perhaps crazy menopausal hormones. It hasn’t happened since. I’m not happy if I have to do highway driving in an area I’m not familiar with - I try to take alternate routes whenever possible.</p>
<p>I have a fear of going to the dentist! I have to get a crown taken off next week! :(</p>
<p>Palmetto bugs. <a href=“http://www.floridiannature.com/palmetto_bug.jpg[/url]”>http://www.floridiannature.com/palmetto_bug.jpg</a>
They’re bad enough skittering across the floor but they can FLY, too! </p>
![http://www.floridiannature.com/palmetto_bug.jpg[/url]](http://www.floridiannature.com/palmetto_bug.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Oh, god - once I woke up in the middle of the night to find one in my bed. :eek: Thought I was going to have a stroke. I need to move out of south Florida.</p>
<p>When we were little my sister and I had this really cool creepy crawler plastic roach that we loved to hide in the bed.</p>
<p>We were traveling in Portugal when S was 5 and the Lisbon Zoo allowed people to be so close to the animals that an elephant was able to grab my son with its trunk! I was able to pull him back, but talk about scary!</p>
<p>I’m afraid of crack heads and gang members. Many of us in my small college town will never get over the needless abduction and murder of the student body president, a beautiful, intelligent, young women. Two gang members were caught and they will spend their lives incarcerated but there are others out there like them and more being bred every day.</p>
<p>^^^Yes, Eve Carson’s death was such a tragic event. So completely senseless.</p>
<p>Well, the one thing I am not afraid of is speaking in public. </p>
<p>It’s good to know that I’m not the only mother that worries about her kids, or who has kids that know that it’s best for mom not to be around when they are doing adventurous things, like climbing Half Dome at Yosemite, etc. My DS still likes to scare me by pretending to stand on the edge of a cliff and wobble a bit. I get palpitations just at the thought of them going near the edge!</p>
<p>Over the years, though, I am working hard on losing my fear of my death or my family’s death. I think it really gets in the way of being able to really enjoy life.</p>
<p>EXTREME fear of heights. I’ve been the driver on the Road to Hana and Going to the Sun Road and was unable to even peek at the beautiful views for fear of driving off.</p>
<p>A major highlight of my life was my hour-plus ride in a hot air balloon. The fear of heights is absent when you’re not anchored to something, I guess.</p>
<p>I’m terrified of lightning. Deep-down terrified.</p>
<p>Three other big fears are of my house catching fire while we are asleep (experienced major daytime housefire as a child), breast cancer, and being alone and poor when I’m old.</p>