Does anyone else have irrational fears?

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I don't blame you for that...that one looks pretty rickety and unsafe for a person to use.

I mainly meant what someone else was saying in this thread about old medical equipment freaking them out. Actually using it would be scary too though for various reasons.

Popping balloons can have me in tears, even as writing this my hands are sweaty...
And even small groups of ants will have me crossing the road to avoid them.

I'm pretty needle-phobic. I used to be awful about getting shots or getting my blood drawn. I'm better now, so long as I can close my eyes before I see the needle. I still have to look away if someone in a TV show or movie gets a shot. If I accidentally see it my skin starts to crawl. Ugh.

I also have a lot of anxiety about being in crowded places, like malls or grocery stores, or cafeterias. I go grocery shopping every week, but sometimes I get too stressed and have to leave before I get everything on my grocery list, and I try to avoid going during the busiest times of the day. I don't know if it is quite bad enough to qualify as agoraphobia, though.

I'm pyrophobic. I hate holding/striking matches and being near Bunsen burners. I also hate touching anything hot.

I don't think it's an aspie thing. It may be common in aspies but I wouldn't call it an aspie thing.

I have an irrational fear of basement centipedes. I'm practically always thinking about them when I'm in my basement. I never have my feet on the ground without having thoroughly looked around (not even on the staircase going downstairs) I know there harmless, but they creep me out.

Not me. Lepidopterophobia is perfectly rational. So is my conviction that every bridge, tunnel or cliff is going to collapse on me, every passing car is going to hit me, and every cop is going to shoot me though I'm doing nothing illegal.

100% rational.

Thank you for putting that image into my mind. Although I'm not fearful of that, any sand / skin sensation drives me nuts. The only thing worse than sand / skin, is sand, skin and sun lotion. I may have to play some samples of nails scraped across a blackboard to make this thought go away.

My main phobias are wasps/bees, confrontation, heights and overtaking. I also recently started developing a swallowing problem, this with some CBT is lessening. Confrontation, heights and overtaking generate a panic response, I'm actually getting over the wasps/bees one as I age. I realise now that leaping out the window screaming isn't an appropriate reaction at 33.

Heights is an odd one, I don't fear heights, I can and do put myself into positions where I face the fear regularly, but there's only so much looking over the edge I can do. I get the same dizzy reaction looking up as down.

Jason.

I have this fear also and find that it just gets stronger the older I get. I have always been afraid of heights where falling was a strong possibility (such as a high ladder where a slip of the foot could cause a fall and many people do hurt themselves falling from ladders). In recent years I also added the same fear that you have of falling even when there is a barrier. I used to enjoy balconies and sight-seeing ledges but don't anymore. Over time, I pay more attention to the visual cues and am unable to over-ride them with the rational thought that I would have to climb over the barrier and couldn't fall by accident.

Would frequent standing by a high but safe place de-sensitize us to this fear? It might. Frequent exposure might get us so used to the visual cues that they stop triggering the fear. My husband has suggested this but I'm too scared to put it into practice.

Sorry Jason... It is a nasty picture and I do agree that sun lotion would make it even worse as the sand would be glued to the feet so much longer...

little black sheep, who is dreaming about a beach covered in moss instead of sand...

Ohh, I see; sorry.

Old, antiquated medical equipment freaks me out, too...Once I went with my grandparents (I was about 10) and aunt to this small village near this lighthouse overlooking part of Lake Superior on a cliff. It was one of those things where no one actually lives in the villages anymore, but you can take tours thru them and there are actors dressed up as folks from the time period there to tell you stories and stuff.

We went into the cabin where the village doctor used to do his thing, and the medical tools the guy playing the village doctor held up and showed us were so terrifying that I had to remind myself that doctors use far, far better equipment these days as I stood there and listened.

The guy acting as the doctor was also having way too much fun with his role and was even addressing the tourists with questions like, "How's everyone feeling today? Any indigestion, whooping cough, gangrene, etc...that I can fix for ya?" which made it all the more disconcerting...well, it was for me, anyway, since I had difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality during much of my childhood.

My family is planning a trip to visit relatives in Dallas next week despite the major West Nile Virus outbreak happening there.

...fun

Here are all my other fears:

* silent films (slowly getting over it but when my dad first showed me Metropolis, I spent a year unable to sleep without the portable TV on).
* fear of a nuclear holocaust happening in the middle of the night while I sleep (my fault mostly since I like watching films like Threads)
* fear of getting into car accident (just the fear of having to face the other driver)
* fear of getting pulled over by the cops
* fear of sudden death
* fear of not so sudden death
* fear of a shooting spree at my workplace
* fear of sudden heart attack or stroke
* fear of undiscovered tumor
* fear of appendicitis
* fear of plane crashes
* fear of falling off a high building and fear of watching someone fall off a high building (when I see someone near the edge, especially a kid, I freak the hell out)
* fear of people talking to me about something I'm looking at or doing
* fear of accidentally shoplifting an item (like Marge did in that Simpsons episode)

There's more that I'm not thinking of...I'm certain of it

Wow, I'm terrified of that too! I've never heard anyone else mention it before. I'm also afraid that people will think I'm a shoplifter because I look so nervous when I'm shopping.

Hmm....interesting that no one mentioned public speaking, which terrifies me -- to the point that I took a zero grade on a speech I was supposed to give in a college course because I was too scared to get up and do it. But I guess that one doesn't count. Pretty much everybody hates that.

Let's see...irrational fears...

THE DARK -- Number #1 in my book. Have always been scared of the dark, and have no idea why. I'm 52 and sleep with a nightlight. Really.

CLIMBING LADDERS -- I can only get to the third step. Any farther up and my legs start shaking, my heart starts racing, and I have to step down.

CLOWNS -- not a terrifying fear, but I don't like clowns AT ALL. I don't like the white face, the silence, or the creepy way they get in your face and stare at you.

True story: When I was a child, I was PETRIFIED of the mime Marcel Marceaux. I know that sounds silly -- scared of a mime. Sad, but true. And I'm not talking just frightened. I'm talking screaming in terror whenever he was on TV (used to be on the old Red Skelton Show a lot) as if I was watching my mother being eaten by rabid wolves. I remember one time in particular when my mother was trying to get me to watch him to show me there was nothing to be afraird of. I was screaming and holding on to the edge of my mattress, not letting go even when I was pulling it off the bed. Even now, typing the man's name and imagining his face still weirds me out. When he died, I had to endure news features about him with full-color photos of that white-faced freak.

VENTRILOQUIST'S DUMMIES -- not when they're on stage "performing". Just when they are sitting there quiet and alone. I read about a dummies museum that has rooms full of those things sitting in classrooms and whatever. All I could think of was observing that creepy tableau and seeing one of them turn its head to look at me. I guess I've seen too many movies with killer dummies.

SOCIALIZING -- I'm sure this is AS-related, so I don't know if it qualifies as "irrational" on this board. I'm scared of parties, and also scared of dating. I can count the number of dates I've been on in my life. It's not that I don't get asked -- I've had a few steady boyfriends -- it's just that I'm so uncomfortable with not knowing what to expect on a date (AS again) and that I'm going to make a jackass of myself that I automatically say no.

BEING THE CENTER OF ATTENTION -- I HATE being the center of attention! People think I'm funny and that I should do stand-up. Nope -- don't want people looking at me. I sing well enough to do it professionally. Nope -- not that either, for the same reason. I avoid dressing in any way that would draw attention to myself just to keep people from going "Oh, you look so nice today." I just want to sink into the floor when that happens. I just want to scream "Stop looking at me!"

I have been diagnosed with Panic Disorder, and I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, so thinking about getting sick can set me off with a panic attack. Right now the conditions that most affect me are any type of chest, stomach or upper back pain, all of which can signify a heart attack. any kind of sensation that seems like choking or asphyxiation, and flesh-eating bacteria. Oh...and right now, because I live in Texas and the mosquitoes are SO bad, West Nile Virus.

yes to the person who said popping balloons! I totally forgot about popping balloons! I've always feared this too. I think part of it stems from the fact that it's so unpredictable when it happens and incredibly loud on top of that. And the pain if you've ever had a balloon go rips on you.

You know, I used to have a fear of this, too, only not from having watched that Simpson's episode...I used to think I was the only one afraid of that happening!