can you hold a candle to mr monk and his phobias?

what phobia do you guys and gals have?

I think we've already had a thread like this, but I'll answer anyway.

WARNING: My phobias are probably not even classifed as phobias. They get stranger and stranger.

1. Blood
2. Tight spaces (claustrophobia)
3. Phones
4. Sharks
5. Being electrocuted
6. Germs (Well, that's understandable.)
7. Falling out of a rollar coaster (yet, I still love to ride rollar coasters. ).
8. Getting my foot chopped off at a Drop Zone ride.
9. Gothic music

!chik!

Didn't realize there was another one sorry

My mega super phobia: Claustrophobia (probaly spelled wrong) Being in a closed space.

others

1. Heights
2. Being shot
3. Swimming (nearly drown when I was kid and almost was taken by the current if not for a friend bringing me back to shore)
4. needles
5. loud noises
6. being closely surrounded by a number of people (yet surprising can handle public speaking if people are away from me.)
and last but not least.
7. germs no where near like monk but, still don't like throwing other people's trash or getting yucky stuff on me.

haha, I have a short list.

1. needles
2. enclosed/small spaces
3. crowds (mostly because of the claustrophobic aspect of it, and also because I HATE being touched, especially by people I don't know)
4. swimming (mostly just in deep water, though)
5. being the center of attention
6. heights, but only when I don't feel safe (I'm okay in rollercoasters and airplanes and stuff)
7. germs... sometimes I wish I had a package of wipes to carry around with me, lol

thankfully, that's pretty much it, though. Monk totally wins when it comes to phobias.

Welcome snarechick09!

I'm afraid of telephones mostly. I was a bit agoraphobic at one time, but not so much these days. And I'm afraid of falling, but not so much of heights, if that makes sense.

I am afraid of going to jail.
stupid, I know, but the idea of lack of freedom and shared cubicles/food/bath/diseases kills me.

...and this fear had grown a lot after I watched The Man That Wasn´t There......

Hugs
Mi

I was diagnosed as OCD many years ago but I don't hold a candle to Mr. Monk (thank goodness!) My biggest phobia is crowds. And it doesn't even really have to be all that crowded for me to freak out. I get really claustrophobic. There are other things I don't like but that is my only true phobia I would say.

My fears don't come anywhere near Monk's fears and phobias. I have fears and phobias of a lot of stuff, in no particular order:

1. Spiders
2. Heights
3. Snakes
4. Germs
5. Small places
6. Drownding
7. Rejection
8. Needles
9. Disorder-even my DVD's are in alphabetical order
10. Dogs

Heights - definately
Blood/Pain
Edges/Ledges
Bugs that hop or fly
...er...
being covered or buried/underground/confined spaces
public speaking

The only phobia I'll admit to is a fear of going to the dentist. As with the best phobias, mine started in childhood. Teeth extractions were done with the aid of gas when I was a child, I remember coming around after an extraction, covered in blood. Yuk. Another bad memory is of the visiting dentist that came to our school which was set aboard a cavavan - no I'm not joking. I remember clambering out of a toilet window in order to avoid that paticular dentist!
The thing is, once such trauma happens to you as a child, you are never able to really eradicate the fear. I went for 11 years before having the courage to approach a dentist again, you can imagine the work that needed doing!

So are mine! And my CD's are in alphabetical order by artist and if I have multiple CD's by the same artist they are then arranged by title. I freak out if my DVD's and CD's get out of order.

When we were kids, my parents didn't have money for novacaine, so we all had our teeth drilled without it (but at least there was money for the dentist). I avoided dentists when I was older, too, and fortunately sort of got over it - I went to one who won a local survey as being the best dentist for kids - I figured if he could handle kids, then he could handle me!

My phobias, but I'm sure I'm leaving some out:
heights
snakes
escalators
crowds
driving on highways
flying
roller coasters
I'd never speak in public, and don't like being the center of attention unless I'm goofing around in a small group - could never walk that wedding aisle, that's for sure!

out of curioustiy and not really even sure what it would be I guess somewhat social awkardness count.

Like I really really would love to be the center of attention, to be the most popular guy there are at least respectable in the popularity department when a big crowd or even a good number size people yet when it comes down to talk I either tense up and say nothing or say a very standard answer even though in mind I have alot more to contribute.

Phobias. Hmm. Um. Okay, here's a few:

Heights
Crowds--this is a biggie
Anything with more legs than I have
Being stranded
Public toilets and public phones--sometimes it's hard to tell which is which
Car trouble--another biggie--panic attacks over this one
Spending money

I don't consider myself to have any real specific phobia like germs, needles, etc., but I do have panic attacks and agoraphobia so I guess anything that can bring on a panic attack would be a phobia. The funny thing is what causes one today won't bother me tomorrow.

I use to have a fear of dentists. It didn't start as a kid and I never had a fear of needles and often declined being numbed up. later in life a routine visit to the dentist turned into a nightmare. A new dentist had been added to the staff and I was turned over to him. What was suppose to be simple surface fillings became a trial and error, drill, fill, (the filling wasn't right), redrill, refill, renumb and start again - it took over 4 hours. After that I started to have anxiety attacks when it came time to go to the dentist.

Today I'm having blood drawn after fasting for 12 hours, I like to watch the needle go in and the blood flow out, I think I enjoy the darker side of life and fear the lighter side.

Maybe I should talk to someone about that.

Heights and escalators - same here, but I'm more afraid of the escalators that go down. I once avoided a paticular tube station in London, because it had several escalators - darn inconvinent these phobias!

You know, no one else has mentioned this, so I have to wonder if it's only me or not... But:

I'm bi-polar. And my phobia's change when I swing from posative to negative.

Normally, I avoid:

Crowds - it's almost like I can feel a mob mentality when I'm in one - like I can tell how all our collective intelligence is dumbing down to the lowest level, in a sea of conflicting emotions. I dont like crowds.

Needles, operations, etc - any time someone is going to hurt me and I have to let them seems incredibly unnatural to me. This is one that changed when I have a bipolar swing. But it changes from not wanting it done to wanting to do it myself, as I cant stand the idea of anyone else 'hurting' me.

Public spaeking isnt a problem if I'm aware it's coming and I practice it. But then when it's over I'm flooded with doubts about how I 'could have' pulled it off - and that can be almost dehibilitating. I call it my reverse stage fright - because it happens after.

I do not like being the center of attention otherwise unless the people are like family, you know?

I cant ride rollercoasters or any 'potentially dangerous' rides. I live right down the road from Gibsonton Florida, the carnival worker capital of the east coast. And so I have seen a lot of machinery being fixed and I've seen the kind of people who fix it. So there is just no convincing me that any carnival or circus ride is safe. And this is like an uber-fear. It turns in to something like vertigo right before the ride starts and I suffer through to the end. Not fun.

Flying doesnt bother me, as I believe it's impossible to make a plane fly let alone do so safely. I actually remember the best moments of flying - when I would look out the window and assure myself "This cant be happening'. I live in that happy little bubble of denile until we land. Unless we hit turrbulance where as I start thinking "See, I knew gravity would catch up with us sooner or later." But it's so out of my hands I just sit back and hum. Dying only bothers me if I think I can prevent it. I think I got that from my step-dad Bob (Different Bob from the neighbor). Bob was in viet nam and never really right again. But he taught me stuff, so I still miss him. Last I heard he was living in Texas with a woman and her two little girls.

Claustrophobia seems to get everyone to some degree, doesnt it? Mostly I feel it when swamped with people, but then again, I'm not one for venturing in to claustrophobic locations either.

Heights are bad too. When I look down from a great height my mind starts drawing all these 'lines of gravity and attraction' in my imagination. And sometimes they threaten to blot out the landscape. Another overwhelming moment. Of course, I dont get that at all if I dont look down - or UNTIL I HAVE TO look down. Climbing down the way you came usually requires looking that way too - and that's just bad mojo.

I have more but these are the more frequent of them - minus of course germs and anything I encounter in public that's even remotely 'sticky', 'wet', or 'slimy'. <shivers>

-M

That's a great way to describe it! I feel the same way when I get into a large crowd. I try to avoid concerts and such unless there is somebody I absolutely must see live. But I freak out everytime I am in that situation.

Not in any particular order:

• spiders
• snakes
• falling but not hights (I love to do indoor rockclimbing)
• blood
• crowds but not public speaking (I love to be on stage, mostly acting.The bigger the audience the more comfortable I am, because there's bound to be somebody who likes you. I good as long as I'm not in the crowd.) I've always been small (5'2") so i'd always get hit and stepped on in crowds. and bumped into by people i don't know.
• Small spaces-clausterphobic (sp)
• germs
• sulphur (mostly b/c I'm allergic)
• BEES!/WASPS!
• train hobos-there was one who was going from small town to small town and using the homeowners' ax to kill them while they slept then just covering them with their blankets. The PD never caught him and his next stop was our town! I live close to the tracks and I have a cleaning job right in front of them.
• smelling- my aunt has really bad B.O. and when she hugs you, you smell like her. It makes you gag! I have a fear of smelling bad like that.

I probably have more, but Monk definitely has way more!

I'm allergic to sulphur too! When I first found out I was allergic I used to have dreams where I would accidentally ingest something with sulphur and then die from it.

How do you guys react to sulphur, and what, if any, foods set you off? I have some kind of problem with onions and garlic -- but the doctor's kind of puzzled. I do know they are both high in sulphur.

I found out I had an allergy to sulphur when my doctor put me on an antibiotic called Bactrum. I had to go to the ER because my air passages swelled to the point where I couldn't breathe. I am okay with most foods, I just have to make sure I don't take any meds that are sulphur based.

Huh..

It sounds like the same reaction my mother had to bactrum. I'm not sure if I've taken any sulphur based meds or not. Something to be careful of, I guess.

They were treating me for really bad asthma - steroid dependent, when I began to notice a correlation with foods. When I stopped onions and garlic, it improved so much I probably only use an inhaler only a few times per year. But it is really hard to go totally onion and garlic free. It's in everything -- almost all prepared food and just about every recipe. I have to make almost everything from salsa to ketchup from scratch. But even smelling it from someone else's food can set me off. And if my husband has garlic for lunch, he gets no kiss from me.

But I apparently have no allergies?? Go figure.

They even checked me out for this rare metabolic deficiency -- I guess it was the source for the vampire legends - it involves an intolerance for garlic and light sensitivity. I didn't have that either, so you're all safe.

That's interesting. Has an allergist actually tested you for allergies? It would seem like you'd have to have some kind of allergy if you have to make your own food. You poor thing!

Well, I've never ingested it (thankfully, my grandmother almost died when she did. She can't even go to Yellowstone National Park! which means I probably can't either) But, my feet were really dry one time and my sister told me to put bag balm on them and wear socks to bed, in the morning they'd be really soft. I did that and like ten seconds later my feet started swelling and turning red with little bumps all over them, they itched and burned. i washed it off imediately and took some benidryl and put some cream on them to stop the reaction. i looked at the canister and it said 3% sulphur. I never touched it again! Then, several years later, in science class, we were doing expiriments with identifying minerals, I accidentally touched the sulphur ( i knew what it was ) and my hand did the same thing only worse! since it was pure sulphur. onions and garlic don't bother me, which is good b/c i love mexican and italian food. (my mom makes the best salsa! my mouth is watering now!)

Really?? *Note to self - don't go to Yellowstone National Park*

They did that blood test -- to check for the presence of allergies in general. Nothing.

Now they did send my daughter to an allergist, even though her blood work-up showed the same thing, and she went through all the tests and found out that she's not allergic to anything either, even thougth she is now living on zyrtec and inhaled steroids. (I think she's got that same onion/garlic thing going on, but doesn't want to admit it. She still eats the processed food and restaurant food.)

I asked him about onions and garlic when I was there, and also about lillies and daffodils (they're all in the allium family, and I can't tolerate any of them -- when they flower, they're a problem to me) And he said that alliums are not considered allergens because their pollen is too big. (Now try telling that to my nasal passages) But it is not just the pollen. I went out and ripped up a huge bed of tiger lillies that the former owner had planted. I wore long sleeves and gloves, but apparently my sleeves lifted up in the process. The place where the sap had touched my arm was all red and itchy, and parts were weepy before the day was over. I think that would be my prick test positive.

And the last time I accidently ingested something with garlic powder, I broke out in hives.

But I think my doctor thought I was just a crazy menopausal hypochondriac. She's since left the practice, and I haven't discussed it with my new one yet. We'll see.

I'm generally very careful, but I've had to leave a full cart in the grocery store when I rounded a corner and found them doing a demo of stir fry. Sent me into a severe asthma attack.

Hang in there BfloGal and get a second opinion if you haven't already! Not all allergies show up I am convinced. I don't test positive for an allergy to grass but if I mow my lawn I break out everytime grass touches my skin. Sounds like an allergy to me!

It's no wonder we are all so phobic - look at what we have to deal with!