Anyone else have an extreme phobia of... heights?

[AimeeM]

I was terrified of them as a child. Thought I outgrew it. Until, over the holidays, we drove to visit family in the Philly area. We are in the south. The trip included many, many bridges. Long bridges. All of a sudden I had palms dripping in sweat, my head was spinning, my eyes blurring, my arms shakey, I felt so nauseated that I had to pull over to get sick. I've noticed a similar reaction to the overpasses when I visit my mother in Atlanta, but not this bad. I can only assume because, this trip, the bridges were over large bodies of water (and I've always had an issue with large bodies of water).

I have to get over this. We're going back to Philly this late spring or early summer. My husband and some of his family want to plan a family trip to Italy later in the summer - that would necessitate flying I suppose. I can't imagine flying at this point.

 

With an exclusively breastfeeding infant I don't have the time for counseling and this seems so SILLY. This is completely irrational... and I'm a very rational person. I smoked a cigarette when I got home. *cringe*

[freeindeed]

I have a fear of heights, but flying doesn't bother me. Hopefully it will be the same for you.

[AimeeM]

I have a fear of heights, but flying doesn't bother me. Hopefully it will be the same for you.

 

I've flown before, but it was pre children. I was... medicated :p

[Parrothead]

Yup, my fear of bridges is equal to my fear of heights.

 

The story goes that dad and I were in an accident on a bridge and the guard rail didn't quite hold. We didn't go over, but it seems to have scarred me subconsciously. I was too little to remember the accident at all.

[Heidi]

Yes, I hate bridges. I can't look around at the scene. I keep both hands on the wheel, drive slow, keep my eyes on the road, and start singing because it calms me. I'm from the South as well. Our drive through "scenic" Colorado was pure torture this summer. Thankfully my husband drove while I closed my eyes the entire time.

[justamouse]

Me.

 

I'm ok with a bridge like the GW or the TapanZee. THe Golden Gate? Nope. Those ones in Japan that look like dental floss? NO.

 

I'm ok in helicopters and planes.

[Parrothead]

Me.

 

I'm ok with a bridge like the GW or the TapanZee. THe Golden Gate? Nope. Those ones in Japan that look like dental floss? NO.

 

I'm ok in helicopters and planes.

I have to drive over the GW myself. I can't let dh do it. He is so nonchalant about driving in general it scares me. No way I'll let him drive me over that one.

[Remudamom]

I'm afraid of heights, but driving across a bridge doesn't bother me. Neither do roller coasters, airplanes. But leaning over a balcony will do me in. Movies with mountain climbers can make me ill. Ladders bother me. It's weird.

[Giraffe]

Overpasses do me in. We have some doozies in Dallas that can make me nauseous. I also don't particularly like mountain roads (especially without guard rails) or balconies. I am fine flying, in helicopters, glass elevators. I think my fear is of falling, being pushed, or just plain swerving off the road and down the mountain.

 

I don't know what you can do. I have DH drive if I know the route is going to be difficult. I'm grateful I'm ok with flying.

[elegantlion]

We lived in a city with shipping lane for 5 years. I drove over the two very tall and scary bridges once, when we moved there and I had to follow dh in the moving van. I never could work up the nerve to do it again. I would physically shake and get ill just thinking about it. Thankfully I could manuever around without going over them.

 

I audibly gasped when we went to Coronado island once. At least dh knew otherwise I'd have made him wreck with my shriek.

 

I hate bridges, I hate them. I also have bad motion sickness, but I love to fly. It's a totally different feeling. We've flown to Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Miami. I have to take Dramamine, but I always get a window seat to look out. We even took a hot air balloon ride and I loved it.

 

I don't know why it's different, but it just is. I used to get shaky looking at houses. We loved to look at model homes and homes with a catwalk would freak me out. A few years ago we looked at an old home. The stairs were steep with no railing, but I was determined to go upstairs. I did and then I couldn't get back down without dh's help. We didn't buy that house.

[Jeannie in NJ]

I actually love heights and love bridges. What I can't stand are tunnels that are under water. I keep thinking that the tunnel is going to collapse from all the pressure of the water.

 

I also hate enclosed elevators but love glass ones, the highter the better. I get panic feelings in large crushing crowds of people so hate Christmas shopping. When I take my dd to large concerts, we have to wait till most of the people have left the arena before I can stand to leave.

[Tammyla]

:grouphug: Flying doesn't bother me, but extreem heights do.

[Elizabeth in MN]

It's not the height that scares me, it's the impact after the fall that scares me. I also don't get on airplanes anymore. The only way to deal with phobias, IMO, is therapy and maybe some medication.

[speedmom4]

I am terrified of heights. Last year my dh, boys, and I went to Colorado. We rode up a mountain in a gondola. I thought I was going to die. I actually cried most of the way. My boys thought I was insane. We are going skiing in less than two weeks and I am already worried about the ski lift. I hope I can do it.

 

People really downplay my fear of heights. They think I should just get over it. Umm, hello, if it were that easy I would have done that a long time ago!!! I guess I just enjoy being terrified and humiliated all at the same time!

 

Elise in NC

[Laura Cook]

I am afraid of heights. So afraid that even seeing something from high up on tv will set it off. The palms of my hands and the soles of my feet start to get this weird tingly feeling in them. It's like if I slipped I know I wouldn't be able to grab on to anything fast enough to catch myself. *shudder* I don't think I've ever been over a bridge tall enough to set it off. Airplanes strangely enough don't bother me, I love landing and taking off, I think its a rush!

[Paula in PA]

My dd is extremely afraid of heights. She hates bridges, refuses to fly, and doesn't even like going up and down stairs. She was actually fine when she was young, but after being patched for amblyopia, she regained her depth perception and discovered her fear of heights. Her father is also afraid, but not nearly as bad. It's makes life interesting, since I don't have a fear of heights. Water, on the other hand........

[lailasmum]

I have a fear of heights but It only developed since I had kids and took my dd on a couple of flights as a toddler. The planes felt so shonky it felt really reckless. I hate high bridges, multistorey carparks, ladders etc. I also can't watch people on TV in helecopters or on rickety bridges it totally freaks me out. I am not sure If I could fly at the moment, Maybe. I did a hot air balloon flight about 8 years ago and that was ok but my fear has got worse since then but I haven't attempted to fly for about 7 years.

[Heather in Neverland]

I am definitely afraid of bridges (I would never drive over one myself... my dh always drives when we have to go to the mainland) but not heights in general and definitely not flying. Weird, I know.

 

My dh has a horrible fear of heights but is not at all afraid of flying. I don't think the two are necessarily related.

[TravelingChris]

I used to be very afraid of bridges-never had an actually incident on one but had nightmares as a child and teenager of going on a bridge that you can't see the other side of the bridge and at the top, realizing it wasn't there. I really had to get over it since depending on where I was living, I needed to go on bridges like that. I still don't like them- ones like the one from Delaware to NJ is very bad for me. Then, of course, it didn't help to see the coverage of the bridge collapses everywhere either )SF Bay area with the earthquake, Minneapolis, etc).

 

I didn't use to have such a fear of tall buildings= I went on the WOrld Trade Center when I was a teen and also on the Empire State Building a few times. As I have gotten older, that has gotten worse. I only got to the first level or second level of the Eiffel Tower- refused to go further and my family went without me to the top level. Then when we were in TOronto a year and a half ago, I sat and read while the rest of them went up the CN tower. Oh, and I have zero problem with high mountains and overlooks- love them. I think it is the elevators that scare me= not the height. I don't like the feeling of fast elevators. I don't do roller coasters anymore either.

[jenL]

I am afraid of heights, but I can drive over bridges as long as I am in a middle lane. We had to drive over a bridge regularly when I lived in NH because a river ran through my town and the town all my extended family lived in. Although it wasn't GW bridge high, there was only a guard rail if you were to crash. The worst was being stuck on traffic on it... oh my... I used to have to self-talk/pray the entire time. I think that conditioned me to bridges though.

 

Now, if we are driving on open ridges or high overpasses, I have to hold the handle of the door and look in the opposite direction or close my eyes. We travel to Colorado regularly, and I cannot drive on some of the roads. Hiking is often a problem if there are open ridges. I struggled at the top of the Seattle Space Needle, needing to stay close to the inner wall. I think it's not the height so much as my complete fear of falling.

 

I actually love flying. So, I think it's open heights where I don't have a way to rescue myself. I'm not sure. Ironically, I used to ski a lot when I was younger and I can still do chairlifts (we did one this summer at an amusement park). I don't know what you would call me. :tongue_smilie:

[bzymom]

Heights make me ill with anxiety. Even being in a skyscraper above a certain point I am certain I will fall through a window. (Pretty unlikely since I don't get within 30 feet of the windows, but still happens!) Driving over bridges I am okay, winding overpasses can be a problem, though. I cannot do any rides, even though I was able to do them when I was younger without trouble. Open staircases are one of my worst hurdles.

 

But I can fly! I don't know why, but it really does not bother me to sit in a plane. I am definitely more anxious in any smaller planes, but I can do it easier than I could climb the steps to a water slide.

 

I hope you find some methods to overcome this difficulty in your life so you have the opportunity to travel and enjoy!

[Lady Florida.]

I'm terrified of heights. No roller coasters or ferris wheels for me. I hate driving, or even riding, over bridges and high overpasses. When we used to go to Tennessee regularly and visit the Cumberland Gap National Park, I couldn't deal with going near the overlook. I even get nervous for other people. Oh, and I won't go out on a balcony higher than the 2nd story.

 

With all that said, I can fly. I don't like it, but am not terrified like I am with open heights. It's something do with being closed in feeling "safer", I suppose.

[Trez]

I am also afraid of heights but I find it is primarily if it is in "open air". I have no problem with airplanes and actually like to look out the window. I went up the Eiffel tower last summer (had to do it - once in a lifetime thing) and I was okay on the level that had partial walls with glass windows. On the same trip, we tried to walk on the partial wall that surrounds York and it was not good. The kids still tease me about walking like I was about to fall over. I am not very comfortable on bridges but I've only ever really been driven across one (Canada to US). I don't think I would ever do the drive myself.

[readinmom]

Right here! My hands even get sweaty if the movie or tv has extreme heights in it. It was never a problem until we went to Yosemite and we stopped on the road to look at a view. It was all over after that.

[MrsMommy]

I'm terrified of heights. Especially bridges. Especially over large bodies of water. And at night, when you know the water is there, but can't really see it? Serious panic attacks...it completely baffles DH, who has no issues with any of those things.

 

I'm another one that looks straight ahead at the road and sings if I have to drive over a bridge myself. But there are certain bridges that I will just not drive over. And there are others (Mackinac Bridge, I'm looking at you), that I'm pretty sure I couldn't even be in the car for. Even if I could close my eyes, and had had proper "liquid courage" beforehand.

 

I don't like flying...it's been 15 years or so since I've been on a plane. It doesn't trigger my fear of heights, though...I just don't enjoy it.

[CanaryMelody]

I'm terrified of heights, too. No roller coasters, ferris wheels, balconies, etc. for me. I can fly (but I won't because of all of the security procedures these days). I'm ok with some bridges, but not overpasses or any narrow bridges. The bridge in San Antonio at I75 and 410 scare the bejeebies out of me! It feels like you are climbing right into the sky and then a freefall down to merge with the 410 traffic. And if traffic got backed up on that thing, I would be terrified, gripping the steering wheel. :scared: :svengo:

 

The thing day-to-day that gets me are stairs. So many of the houses for rent around here are 2 stories with basements. UGH! Going up and down stairs make me nervous. I blame my fear from the moment I fell down stairs at 4yo and broke my arm. Ever since then I have had this irrational fear.