Arachnophobia - anyone have it?

[happy-chick]

I know alot of people are scared of spiders and its only recently that ive realised that my fear has taken over my life and i think i may have arachnophobia...

* i cant bear to hear the word spider and even writing it makes me feel sick and anxious.

* if i see one i scream, cry, panic then run and have a panic attack. Sounds so pathetic i know! Takes of ages to calm down and often cant sleep after seeing one in the house.

* pictures of them have the same effect.

* often when i close my eyes in bed i see them & have nightmares about them.

* i wont have our bedroom windows open incase they come in, no matter how hot it is.

thats just a little snippet of how it effects my life. Its been a gradual thing over a few years, ive never liked them but i didnt used to have this total irrational fear of them. I kinda know what its stemed from i think, i have night terrors and see giant sp in them so doesnt help that total fear from the night terrors is associated with spiders.

Anyone got experience? Thinking of trying hypnotism and gunna see doctor. Thanks for reading xx

 

[happy-chick]

Sorry for bad spelling etc im on my mobile! X

 

[budge]

 

[happy-chick]

Had a feelin ppl wud take the piss hope sum1 out there understands!

 

[LilysMummy]

I dont haave it but I know people who have and honestly go to your doctors and tell them your having panic attacks and how you cant be dealing with this whilst tryin to bring up a little buba and hopefully they will get the ball rolling.

Its not silly SOOO many people are the sae

 

[budge]

my friends scared stiff of spiders, wasps, bees the lot.
i can't be doing with it. She screams the place down if a wasp comes near her and i find myself feeling embarrassed for her and have to explain to my kids that wasps are ok - they won;t kill you.
Now another friend of mine is alergic to bee's and i fully understand her 'phobia' of bee's. If they sting her she could die.

 

[fran_23]

I'm allergic to wasp stings too but have an epi pen..they scare me but i have got better about not running and screaming now! lol
also don;t like spiders but i'm not aracnophobic i just get scared of the fat chunky ones..i dont mind small ones or the ones with the long skinny legs! i can sympathise though happy_chick as i would really freak if it was one like the picture in the other spider post! i would actually cry!!

 

[budge]

oh my riend has an epi pen. Shes not only allergic to bees but peanuts too. She has to really watch what shes eating poor thing.
I remeber walking up the school hill with her and i saw a bee on her shoulder as she has a vest top on.
I had to breakthe news to her and she nealy fainted.
I got the bee off her thoughand she was ok. bless her she lives in fear of her life most of the time. She is allergic to egg shells too and grass.

 

[fran_23]

poor cow- thats horrible!

 

[budge]

i know. we have loads of laughs though about it.

I made a chicken in black bean sauce and cashew nuts once for her and then when she sat down to eat i rememebered she was allergic so she had to sit and watch us eat it
we egged and floured her at school for her irthday too and she blew up like the elephant man and scared us half to death silly cow - god knows what went wrong with her. But i do love her to bits

 

[fran_23]

i know. we have loads of laughs though about it.

I made a chicken in black bean sauce and cashew nuts once for her and then when she sat down to eat i rememebered she was allergic so she had to sit and watch us eat it
we egged and floured her at school for her irthday too and she blew up like the elephant man and scared us half to death silly cow - god knows what went wrong with her. But i do love her to bits

although thats shocking and cruel it made me laugh..just the vision of elephant man oh and having to sit watching you eat..couldn't you have rustled her up a sarnie??

 

[budge]

well we didn't know she was allergic to eggs whe nwe pelted her with flour and eggs.
No i didn't make her anything special . Its so easy to forget her allergy to nuts. EVERY birthday i get her chocolates and she can't eat them coz theres nuts in them. Its amazing what does have nuts in. its crazy.

 

[happy-chick]

Budge unless you've had a phobia i guess u cant understand how it makes a person feel, i know spiders cant kill, hurt or harm me but the second i see one i go into total panic mode and cant think rationally at all! I wish it was simple to overcome but ive tried on my own and have improved a little but its still ruling my life.

even if u dont understand i cud do with support

 

[1sttimemum]

~i dont have any advice on the situation, i also hate to see one of the things (i wont write it ) if i see one in the house, i trap ot under a glass till my OH comes home and gets rid of it!!

I hope something works for you hunni.

 

[daftscotslass]

I used to be absolutely dreadful when it came to spiders but recently have got much better. I used to cry whenever there was one on a wall or on the floor but wasn't bothered about them in the garden. I can catch small ones now but the big ones still give me the creeps - I have to get OH to catch them and I can't be in the same room.

I know exactly what it stems back to as well. When I was at brownies about the age of 8 we used to go to this hostel for camp -there were about 6 beds in each room. There were vents in the wall (I assume from an old chimney) and every night about 10pm the biggest spiders I'd ever seen in my life used to come out of them. We always ended up 2 to a bed at the other side of the room!

It's not nice hun but if your phobia is severe I would maybe try and get a referral from your GP for hypnotherapy or some sort of behavioural therapy. If you don't want to do that I know that Edinburgh Zoo does a "face your phobia" workshop - if there's some sort of animal place near you perhaps they do the same?

 

[lisa&alex]

why budge.. she is obviously looking for help..

jo.. a lot of people suffor with genuine fears.. its an uncontrolled irrational fear. when you are ready to confront it.. and see a spider you have to think allong the lines of.. this is not going to hurt me.. yes i can still not like them but i have to think rationally about this. there is no way it can harm me.. i will just call sam to get it out.. and if sam isnt there hoover it up. or leave the room untill he is there.

i feel simular about massive spiders... they freak me out how quick they can run. you can never catch the sods.. we have tried with trainors newspapers and they some how magic themselves out from under the paper lol..so get some crawling insect spray...

i hate moths.... moths are my thing.. i dunno why but i squeel and shout alex get it out.. just have the thing of them flying into my face.. freaks me out..i went through the screaming and crying and not being able to sleep with them int he room but then one night i was on my own with a massive one in the room.. and freaked out. i thought i either have to sleep with it in the room or kill it.. so i went down stairs and got fly spray.. and thought this aint gonna fking work.. but i wil try..so.. fly spray and newspaper in hand i went up and sprayed it to death and darted out the room..it didnt kill it but it did make it fly about for a bit and fall on the floor.. long enough for me to swat it with the newspaper.. then i realised i can actually do this lol.. sooo.. always have flying insect spray in the cupboard.. and be prepared..

hope u are able to some how get over it confrontation is the only way.. and as i said you dont have to love them you can still not like them.. but in a controlled way xxx

 

[Squiglet]

I have a huge phobia to cockroaches... Its gotten really, really bad... but I don't know why... Its gotten that bad that the other day there was a cockroach crossing the street when I was driving, and I actually slammed on the breaks and screamed.. I mean COME ON!!!! What the hell is that about... looking at it logically, once I'd gathered my thoughts I realised how stupid it was and drove on... but at the time, my primal nature kicked in and all I did was freeze.. Usually if there is a cockroach in room, DH has to go in there and get rid of it.. (but he can't stamp on it because of my phobia and I know that if its female, she'll have eggs in her, he'll get them on his shoe and then trudge cockroach eggs around the house and we will have an infestation!!!!).... once DH has extradited the cockroach, he has to bleach the area down, and then I will refuse to go in the room for a few days, then I will go in the room but avoid the area where the cockroach as been for several months... Yer... I said it was bad.

I don't understand my fear but it is pointless... and I am seriously considering getting some psychotherapy for it, because its so irrational...

I'm fine with spiders but anything that is remotely cockroach like makes me squirm... even seeing the word written down makes my skin crawl. OH thinks I'm crazy.. and doesn't understand how it encompasses my life, but he doesn't have a phobia so its difficult for someone to understand how a logical, intelligent person can be so completely ruled by a fear.... the other day hes said, "You get panicky about the windows being open and the cockroaches flying in but you are ok going out in the street!" to which I admitted that going out in the street, especially in flying cockroach season, is very difficult for me... I am constantly on the look out for them... I also won't go near bins, because there are loads of them there...

I know its totally irrational and stupid... all phobias are really... but its just so powerful... I just can't get away from it.

 

[LisaJ1986]

I'm terrified of spiders! My OH pretends to have one in his hands, even though i know there isn't, and i'll burst into tears and shut myself in another room til he leaves me alone! He follows me round with them in glasses when i've made him catch them. Again, burst into tears and lock myself away. He reckons i have a 6th sense to them as it can be pitch black and know one is walking across the floor/wall.
Yet my OH is terrible with wasps and bees and if one comes into the house he'll shut me in a room with them til i get rid of it. Baring in mind i'm scared too. When i was working at the post office a nest was in the roof, but it wasn't noticed until we killed the 10th wasp and them one went down my shirt and stung me.

 

[dannii87]

Me!!! Terribly!

I've been sleeping on the sofa since I was 15 weeks pg because of 2 reasons... 1. It's more comfy than my bed lol and 2. because I have the loft door in my ceiling in my room and I've seen 2 spiders come out of it since we moved here so I don't like going in my room.

Yesterday I was sunbathing in the garden and I saw a spider on the sunbed so I jumped up and got the hose and hosed the sunbed down completely but couldn't find the guts to lay back on it so I had to explain to my Mum why it was upside down in the garden soaking wet lol!

Also, I won't sleep with the window open incase they come in while I'm asleep. If there has been a spider spotting in a room, I won't go in there for days and then when I do I'll be looking out for it.

I'm scared of anything with wings, more than 4 legs or that can run faster than me!! lol!

xx

 

[happy-chick]

Its so reassuring to know that im not alone, thanks girls

im gunna beat this i think ill make a doctors appointment and see what he can suggest. Will keep you updated! Xx