What scares you?

[Crazy4Sephora1]

With Halloween almost here, what scares you? Or do you have a phobia? Have you done or attempted anything to overcome your fear?

I have bathmophobia (fear of stairs). I have no problem at the bottom but looking down from the top is another story. Also related is escalaphobia (fear of escalators) which is even worse because it's moving stairs. I don't know where this fear came from but I read that if you have some weird fear (my mom is terrified of being buried alive), it's because that's how you died in a past life.

[Ispend2much6]

@WinglessOne  Your dentist story cracked me up!  Strangely, I'm okay at the dentist office, but have anxiety at every. single. other. doctor's office.  Doesn't matter how long I've known them, or how kind they are, it just is and I can't fix it.  It makes me process conversations slowly, react slowly...sometimes I think I just stare as if time is suspended.  I hope no notes of this are made on my medical files. lol

I totally agree with you about wasps!  We live in a country area with woods and a river nearby.  I have seen bugs here that I have never seen before, and many of them are HUGE.  One year, when my kids were little, we had what we call fake wasps.  They're not wasps, but they look like it, except they are a pretty blue/green/black color.  They literally covered the yard; we couldn't walk anywhere without running into them.  So, we stayed inside for the few days they were there.

Wasps spook me also, so much that I react irrationally when they're around.  One landed on my hand when I was trimming my rose bushes one spring, and without thinking I used my pruning shears to flick it off of my wrist and cut an artery in the process.  I think the EMT's had a tough time believing that story.

We also had seen a lot of yellow jackets flying around on the other side of our property a few years ago, near the pine needle mulch beneath the trees that lined that side of our yard.  My husband pulled back some of the needles (after dousing them with gasoline,) and I kid you not- one catacomb-like, horizontal yellow jacket nest extended down half the length of our yard under the needles.  Our yard is about one acre.  I can only imagine how many wasps lived there.

[WinglessOne]

@Ispend2much6  I’m okay at doctors’ offices unless 1) they bring out a hypodermic needle or 2) I’m already in anxiety mode about all the things that could possibly be wrong with me. I spent months with hip pain so bad, I couldn’t even lie in bed without staying in one specific position with a pillow propped in a very specific way under that leg. Getting out of bed to do anything took 30-45 painful minutes of inching along the mattress. But I didn’t see a doctor about it because omg what if it’s not as simple as a pulled muscle or tendon, what if my hip’s totally out of joint, or what if it’s broken, or what if it’s bone cancer?! I really am my own worst enemy. 

But I understand the slow brain processing at doctors’ offices. I’m like that when the needle(s) come out. Well, when I’m not trying to bolt for the door. 😄 Anyway, that might actually be a good thing to note in your files: some doctors will pick up on mental disorders and recommend therapists or treatments, or a psychiatrist for diagnosis, and that’s not a bad thing. Especially if it’s something that interferes with your life. I mean, everyone gets some level of anxiety over lots of things, that’s normal. But a true anxiety disorder can be dangerous if not cared for. Eh, if nothing else, a good doc should take your anxiety into consideration during appointments. (I say this knowing how terrible dentists are about it.) 

I think I know the wasp lookalike bugs you’re talking about. I forget what they’re called, but I’ve seen them here before. Luckily they don’t sting, they're just a big nuisance. I’m kinda surprised the real wasp that landed on your hand didn’t sting you out of spite. (One stung my arm after landing on me, even though I did absolutely nothing but look at it in horror and wonder if I could detach my arm like some lizards can detach their tails.) But yikes about the cut artery! 😬 You might be an anonymous legend among EMTs now. 

Also, totally not gonna have a nightmare about a giant yellow jacket nest tonight, nope, not me... 🤣😱 

[Ispend2much6]

@WinglessOne. All true. I made it sound worse than it is. I'm just not as chatty as I normally am (which is probably good for the doctor!)  I think it started when I literally nearly died during an outpatient laparoscopy. Someone left an instrument resting inside me carelessly and it cut a main artery but didn't know until I was in recovery. They had to grab a dr to open me back up because I was bleeding to death. I could feel it happen too. The medical people were all yelling at me to hang in there as I went under anaesthesia for the repair, not knowing if I would wake up. I was in my 20's.

I hope you never have that hip pain again. Sounds like sciatica which is horrible pain.

Sorry for the nightmare fodder!

[Mellmars1185]

@Ispend2much6 That is really scary! I have heard about these things happening.

[Ispend2much6]

@Mellmars1185. It really was. 

[Skunk12puzzola]

@Mellmars1185 @Ispend2much6 It's a true SHAME....those things should NEVER happen....people go to hospitals for heal their health, not for compromise it 🤬😤

[Ispend2much6]

@Skunk12puzzola. Carelessness can cause lots of problems.

[Skunk12puzzola]

@Ispend2much6 I will never understand why people choose to do this job, when they don't want to be or like to be emphatic and professional 🤷‍♀️ I remember so many arguments about this topic with coworkers.

[Ispend2much6]

@Skunk12puzzola. They probably choose it for the money and job security if not for true desire to help.

[Skunk12puzzola]

@Ispend2much6 It's unfair for: 1 - people that truly like the job. I saw so many unqualified people getting the job before me, which was annoying, because I think I was there with nicer intentions, rather than them and 2 - for the people that have health issues because they are treated like....very badly, and it's not fair 😤😢 (I had a dear friend that was in hospital and I was volunteering there, she was treated so badly, and I started so many arguments with the nurses, but they always won over me, it was sad 🤬).

[Ispend2much6]

@Skunk12puzzola  Very true.  You're a very good friend. 💕

[Skunk12puzzola]

@Ispend2much6 So sorry to hear that!! 😢

[Ispend2much6]

@Skunk12puzzola. Thank you so much ! It ended well. Met my husband that fall. Maybe I would not have settled down enough to. have been ready for him had I not had that accident. It teally helped me mature and have a better focus.

How long were you a nurse?

[Skunk12puzzola]

@Ispend2much6 I worked for 4 months in general surgery, then something happened in my family, and since then, I'm home. I worked in hospital in 2014/2015....

[WinglessOne]

@Ispend2much6  I'm so glad that very big mistake was caught in time to save you! I should've listed surgery (though I've had a few) as a fear because that's one of several things I worry will happen to me: someone will leave a tool or gauze or whatever inside me. 

I never found out what that hip pain was. I think I fell asleep in an awkward position and, when I woke up and tried to get out of bed, I moved my right leg in such a way to cause a pull and/or misalignment or something. It acts up once in a while if I don't exercise frequently enough. Getting back into running actually helped my hip. Still, I should have a doc look at it sometimes. 

[Skunk12puzzola]

@WinglessOne I don't have issues with needles, but I can faint if I see blood (and I worked as a nurse a few years ago) 🤣, so you can imagine the shame of my "fear" in the hospital....everyone was making fun of me haha. I don't like the dentist either, I can clean my teeth on my own, ok? 🤣...also, your biggie one is sweet to me, because it means that you are very sensitive and you care for others wellbeing, which is nice 😘

[WinglessOne]

@Skunk12puzzola  Heh, I know another former nurse who can't stand the sight of blood. He used to tell himself "it's fruit punch, its just fruit punch" to stop himself from fainting. 😂 Some of his coworkers teased him about patient X needing a fruit punch draw, or patient Y's wound fruitpunching. 

I used to give my cat subcutaneous fluids several times a week. It was very difficult at first because of my hypodermic needle fear, but also because I didn't want to hurt my cat. She was surprisingly very tolerant of it at home, though: never fought me, always stayed still while I stuck her, even purred most of the time. I still got a little numb in the knees each time though. Those needles aren't tiny! 

And aw, thanks for the kind words! I'm very empathetic/empathic (whichever term you prefer) and can't help but feel what others feel. In many ways, that's a good thing. But when my anxiety disorder kicks in, all my worries feed off my empathy. I really should have a rescue med for anxiety, but I'm too stubborn to agree to fill a prescription. 🤦‍♀️ 

[Skunk12puzzola]

@WinglessOne They used to make fun of me when I was doing internship 😂. It happens even when I'm home and someone get hurt, don't know why...I start to see all black, my blood pressure drops, and I hear a zzzzzzz in my ears haha, like an airplane sound. I notice that if I take deep breaths and have time to prepare myself to see blood, it gets easier. I'm sorry to hear that your anxiety is that bad, must be hard to have to deal with it all the time....😓

The dentist is an annoying one for sure, a few years ago I got a wisdom tooth take out in a bad way (they messed up with my jawline) and from that moment, I hate dentists and I always fear that something can go wrong, even if it's just a cleaning procedure 🦷.

[WinglessOne]

@Skunk12puzzola  It doesn't help that dentists and hygienists aim all those scary looking tools at your mouth. I always wonder if dentists realize how terrifying they look to patients. But yeah, a botched procedure can definitely keep folks away indefinitely. One of my wisdom teeth broke during removal and the dentist accidentally left a bit of tooth in my gums. Didn't know until it started poking through the inner side of my gums and kept scraping my tongue. So I had to go back just to have that bit dug out. 

I've always said that if dentists in the US were grouped under the same medical umbrella as MDs, then maybe dentistry would be more advanced or safer (with better oversight) than it is now. We have a big problem in the US with dentists performing unneeded procedures on patients to make more money—thanks to our stupid for-profit healthcare system. I'm sure some medical doctors are also guilty of this, but not to the extent that dentists are. And sure, "not ALL dentists," yeah I know, but it's a serious issue. Yet another reason to mistrust dentistry in general. 

[Skunk12puzzola]

@WinglessOne Here in Italy we have free medical service, free surgeries etc BUT we have stupid people even here 😠 when I was working in hospital (general surgery department) I heard a lot of issues with procedures, I always felt sorry for the patients in there 😓

[Mellmars1185]

I recently watched a show about 'Invaders'. I am now really scared of bed bugs. They can be so devastating to a household. I recently stayed at a hotel and I was checking the sheets and as soon as i got home threw everything in the laundry. I never had this fear until I watched the show.