A companion thread to the other one. What fears might be unusual for most people, but you have with good reason (whether that be physiological or due to some not so great experience).
For me:
1. Walking anywhere outdoors with the visual scotoma that for most people is associated with migraines....when that hits, I'm left with a huge blind spot and tend to rely on peripheral vision, and every time I have to cross a street I'm left wondering if there's a car in that blind spot (I rely a lot on my sense of hearing them.
You can see what happens during a visual scotoma here (things are much hazier in the center for me...think of those optical illusions with two dots, where you look at one while shifting the distance of the page about until the other one disappears in your peripheral vision: that's the blind spot everyone has, but during the scotoma it happens in that center space:
2. Perfumes and fragranced products of almost any kind. Or rather, the problems that some cause, but it's led to a generalized semi-phobia.
Why? First, up until about four or five years ago, they'd cause severe migraines within seconds (As in, people were lucky I didn't puke on them, the pain was so bad...this coming from a person who didn't realize her foot was fractured in three places because it didn't hurt as bad as my migraines or cramps). Didn't seem to matter what the product was, whether air freshener, perfume, cologne....not sure about whether essential oils would have caused problems in this respect or not since they hadn't caught on in this location yet. Perfumes tended to be the worst, though even the smell of whatever chemical flavoring was used in certain fruit drinks could potentially set me off.
And really, save for food scents and actual flowers, nothing smelled pleasant, it was all either stale alcohol smell or something that combined stale, even semi-rancid onions, something sickly sweet, and insecticide.
The migraine reaction for the most part stopped when I started taking omega supplements, but there seems to be an associated severe mood issues that aren't addressed, meaning I've occasionally been known to fly into a rage over nothing....until I realize there's a smell of perfume in the air.
In the last year, my sense of smell has become weirder, most things I can't smell at all, or being able to smell lasts a split second. However as far as essential oils are concerned, now that I'm not having a severe headache-pain response I have had some luck with finding a few oils that I like and can still smell, others are still gross.
But it's left me with a slight phobia and now whenever I smell perfume in the air or air freshener, or whatever, I tend to inwardly cringe, waiting to see if I'm going to react badly.
On the plus side, it's actually led me to do some interesting reading about the nature of smell and the perfume industry, though.
Rudas Starblaze Admin
Title : the heart of darkness Posts : 6402 Rep Power : 12202 Points : 141 Join date : 2009-09-30 Age : 45 Location : a small deadly space
I'm scared of bees and wasps and so on. Found out that I am pretty much allergic to honey, which makes me think that I might be allergic to bees as well. Seems like I've avoided them for a very good reason all these years!
Don't really have any other fears that make sense to me.
Sitalique Admin
Title : Collector of Flame Posts : 887 Rep Power : 6331 Points : 146 Join date : 2009-10-25 Age : 43 Location : Florida
fear of heights. but not like the normal fear of heights. its more so the fear of what i get the urge to do.
jump and see if you can defy gravity just that once? anytime I'm up high that thought always crosses my mind
for me, semi darkness. where there is just enough light you can make out a shape but not enough to really see. my brain is always working on what could be hiding in those shadows, both mundane and not.
Rudas Starblaze Admin
Title : the heart of darkness Posts : 6402 Rep Power : 12202 Points : 141 Join date : 2009-09-30 Age : 45 Location : a small deadly space
Driving to places I don't know by myself... even if I have directions. It probably has alot to do with being afraid I'll get lost and slow down... I don't like being honked at.
Rudas Starblaze Admin
Title : the heart of darkness Posts : 6402 Rep Power : 12202 Points : 141 Join date : 2009-09-30 Age : 45 Location : a small deadly space