Escalator Anxiety

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Is anyone anxious going down an escalator? I okay to go up, I have no problem with a little help of someone going up. But down is to scary for me. The escalator going up still makes me feel so anxious. I cried the last time when my brother tried to get me to go down an escalator. I had a panic attack and let lots of people pass me. I am not afraid of being eatin by the escalator. That's just silly to think. I don't know why I so afraid of them. They said when I was a kid I use to go up and down them with no problem. I don't why I am afraid of them. I know they won't eat me. But they make me so scared.
What I do?

How about taking the stairs? Tell people you try to do that as much as possible because it's good exercise? My husband has an elevator fear and always use the stairs when it's no more than 4 or 5 stories. He's got very sturdy legs.

I am usually okay on small escalators, but the ones in the London underground really freak me out! I think it is (for me at least) a sensory thing. I like to feel secure to the ground, but on an escalator the ground is moving! I don't like all the noise of the escalator, the texture of the steps or even the smell of them (yes I can smell escalators...). To add to this, when there are a lot of people using the escalator I really panic because I don't like feeling trapped in.

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I have HFA, ADHD, OCD & Tourette syndrome. I love animals, especially my bunnies and hamster. I skate in a roller derby team (but I'll try not to bite )

I've never had a problem with escalators that I know of and never thought anyone would be. However this brings to mind a related incident. When I was a baby I went to the bank with my mom and fell down the stairs. After that I would never go into the bank until my mom started working there when I was 13.

When I used them regularly on the London Underground I found it less of a problem if I stood facing behind or to the side then you are not so aware of the vast drop.

Also if there weren't many people in front of me I would walk down while it travelled down, then you are concentrating on not missing a step.

When I was small, my mother told me about some kid who had their shoes untied and got on an escalator and the the laces got caught and the kids foot got all ate up in the thing. I had escalator trauma for years. Now I just do not like them because the movement is weird to me... they just feel wrong. I do not like elevators either, they make my stomach drop. I take the stairs whenever possible.

I don't mind the escalators themselves, but I can't stand strangers standing near me on them. I have a general terror of strangers being close behind me.

My thoughts on escalators:

Escalators are one of thousands of things that stress me out. My brother went on some in a huge bookstore recently and I just stayed on the first floor. I don't like those things.

I had the same problem - especially with down because I'm afraid of heights. When you are moving out into space and down, it is a physically unsettling feeling. I'm able to combat this now by looking at my feet and watching only where my feet are being placed and on the stair steps - not on the distance to the ground.

I can't straighten it out in my head, especially for going down. I can't get my eye moving in time with the escalator stair in order to step onto it, and yes, I can get pretty anxious. Once I'm on, I'm fine though. Generally I take the stairs, or in the absence of stairs, I look for an elevator.

Stepping onto escalators tends to feel somewhat precarious to me, and I usually go for elevators or stairs instead.

I'll use them if I have to, though.

I also have a fear of escalators. I can't go up or down them for the life of me.

It feels weird getting on and off, but it doesn't really bother me. Now...I am terrified of elevators. I refuse to get on them. I take the stairs. Period.