Posted: 3/26/2005 9:27:13 PM EDT
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OK here is the thing I grew up 5 miles from lake Michigan...Grew up Swimming in big lakes My grandparents live on a lake...grew up swimming in little lake Lake right down the road from me....Grew up swimming in nearby lakes Swam in lakes in montana and in the ocean...swsm in farther away water Me and friends use to break holes in the ice and do polar bear swims.... Anyway point is I grew up swimming like a fish.... But lately I have been having this very strange fear of lakes and pools and streams and Big puddles....I am not scared of sinks or bathtubs or toilet water...I am not scared of rain.. But just thinking of Lakes and such makes me shutter and get anxious and very uneasy. It is not interfering with daily life as I dont have to do anything around lakes and such Anyway what do you think it is from...I was told that when I was an infant I almost drown another time before I could swim over my head I remember almost drowning...Do you think that could be the problem?? It has not really affected me untill about 2 years ago.  would that be normal..or am I losing it
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Interesting case of hydrophobia and not the viral kind (rabies, incorrectly named because of neurological complications with swalloing, causing the victim inability to swallow). Something has triggered remembrance of the infant incident. Is it a problem with "denzins of the deep"? or are you afraid of all depths? Any recent trauma? Witnessing of a drowning? There are many reasons for re-emergence of a trauma. My advice is to use support in the form of a USCG approved PFD when swimming once the warter warms up to tolerable temperatures. |
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I dunno. As I get older, there are a lot of thing sI used to do that I look at differently now, like frog gigging, drinking, driving really fast, wading around in snaky ponds in search of bass, tromping through the woods in the summer in waist-deep weeds, and so on. As I get older, I tend towards safer hobbies....like skydiving. |
| I'm afraid of swimming in lakes because I think the fishes or snapping turtles will bite my toes. NO, I'm not kidding, and yes, I know it's a stupid fear. Have you ever seen a 2 foot snapping turlte in the lake you used to swim in? Seen ducks and geese dragged under? |
Okay, when you are getting older as someone already pointed out. Everyone looks at things different when they get older. Maybe you always had this fear and could deal with it earlier as you were probably with other kids all the time and felt safe in numbers. I was freaked out as a kid by my dad who put me in a sleeping bag and drug me around the house  , it's funny now but I have been clostraphobic ever since and when tightly confined remember that incident. I've learned to get over it but in the USAF I was always fine in the tightest areas because I was with buddies. Good luck 
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