Anybody else have Acrophobia

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anybody else have Acrophobia

Posted: 1/10/2002 4:35:45 PM EDT

I have never had a problem with heights until recently.
In my younger days I worked on construction projects up to 15 stories and as a kid I was always in the trees or climbing something.

Now I get the willys looking over the second floor balcony in the building I work in.

No problem in a plane but otherwise I get ill just thinking about falling, this sucks.
[:(]

Posted: 1/10/2002 4:42:59 PM EDT

[#1]

Only once while diving in black water.

Posted: 1/10/2002 5:33:51 PM EDT

[#2]

Every time I start a job up high i'm a little hesitant.By the end of the day ill be runin around like a squirrel.I fell thru a roof up to my armpits.thew multiple emboli into my right lung.Vena cava was half full of clots.I once fell 13 feet and not a scratch.

Posted: 1/10/2002 5:35:41 PM EDT

[#3]

I had a fear of heights as a kid. A friend took me rock climbing. I can't say you ever really get over it. But I climb almost every season for the last 15 years. Attack your fears head on...

Posted: 1/10/2002 5:42:25 PM EDT

[#4]

vertigo is different from acrophobia (fear of heights)

Vertigo is not knowing which direction you're heading in a yaw-pitch-axis environment. Being dizzy and disoriented. Acrophobia is being scared out of your mind you're going to fall from a height.

Posted: 1/10/2002 5:46:44 PM EDT

[#5]

How old are you?

I used to be the same way, feerless.

One time after a bad storm there were some busted branches in the big oak in my back yard.

I put the ladder up and tied the chain saw to a rope and started up. After I left the ladder and got close to the broken branches I roped in and pulled up the chain saw.

I fired it up and I got scared as hell. I was only 40 feet up but I started thinking that his might not only hurt, but I might die.

Never bothered me before.

Now I don't even sleep on the couch. I sleep on the floor.

Posted: 1/10/2002 5:48:40 PM EDT

[#6]

I like to put it into perspective.Its not the falling that bothers me,its the hittin the ground part im not crazy about.

Posted: 1/10/2002 11:49:08 PM EDT

[#7]

Yeah, I get it a bit. The height isn't a problem, but looking straight down makes me feel a bit dizzy.

Sucks too, because logically you know that if you're on a balcony and there it a railing, you won't fall over. Other parts of your mind tend to disagree with you though.

Posted: 1/11/2002 1:00:07 AM EDT

[#8]

[url]http://content.health.msn.com/content/asset/adam_disease_vertigo-associated_disorders[/url]

Posted: 1/11/2002 7:03:08 AM EDT

[#9]

I see two concepts here:

Acrophobia: Fear of heights. I don't have it at all.

Vertigo: I had Acute Vertigo for three days once. Dizzy. No sense of balance whatsoever. Threw up repeatedly. Even after I got better, I still had slight disorientation when I turned my head to the right...(For 2-3 weeks afterward).

From what I understand. There is no cure. It typically is when concretions form in the middle ear. There are exercises to do to help, but like Chicken Pox, just ride it out.

(I also had Chicken Pox in 1998 when I was 28...boy that was fun....geez).

Posted: 1/11/2002 7:09:15 AM EDT

[#10]

I'm not afraid of heights. If I'm someplace I know I can't fall from, I'm fine.

But, I'm very afraid of falling. If I'm in a position in which it's possible to fall, then I'm scared shitless. You shoulda seen the time I walked out on a 15m narrow-as-hell dive platform.

Posted: 1/12/2002 4:54:06 AM EDT

[#11]

Thanks for the info,

I did some research and I think I do have Acrophobia.

I wonder why being on a plane is no problem?

Posted: 1/12/2002 5:39:02 AM EDT

[#12]

Fear of heights is normal. You fall, you die. Being afraid of something that can potentially kill you is completely normal.

I have acrophobia, but I'm only really afraid of heights if there is no railing and if people are around me. I'm more arfaid of being pushed over the side of something than I am of just falling. I also have no fear of flying.

Posted: 1/12/2002 5:45:47 AM EDT

[#13]

I hear you Redmanfms,
It just never bothered me before.

Posted: 1/12/2002 6:51:13 AM EDT

[#14]

I get a little queasy when a roller coaster is almost at the first peak or if I am on the edge of a structure looking down at the ground. But I have overcome it to the extent that I deer hunt from treestands 20'+, have jumped of quarry tops into water, and have skydived 4 times. I guess you could call me a mild acrophobic.

Posted: 1/12/2002 6:56:20 AM EDT

[#15]

Certain kinds of behavior therapy are very effective for basic or simple phobias like that. Usually, it's a fixable problem. Imagine, you don't have to live with it!

Here is a brief description of the problems and treatments (from a quick Google search) -

[url]http://www.lij.edu/education_and_research/about-series/stress.html[/url]

Check this link out for more info and referrals in your area-

[url]http://www.aabt.org/[/url]

Posted: 1/12/2002 6:57:21 AM EDT

[#16]

I only have a slight acrophobia myself - get that strange feeling in the doodads when looking down from high places. (Ironically, the last place I did that was at the WTC a few years ago.)

Nowadays, I have more problems with arachnoagorophobia - the nagging fear of falling spiders. Ick!

Posted: 1/12/2002 6:58:27 AM EDT

[#17]

I am not freaky about it and I tried to get over it by skydiving - it doesnt work and many of the people I skydive with are also affraid of heights. Wierd but true but you are so high when you get out of the plane that heights arent really an issue (13500 ft)

Ropes

Posted: 1/12/2002 8:48:32 AM EDT

[#18]

Hights don't really bother me at all as long as I have something between me and death or imense pain! ie: wearing a parachute, tied into the mountain/helo/building [:)]

Posted: 1/12/2002 9:00:09 AM EDT

[#19]

Acrophobia? No, I haven't been scared of the Acropolis, since the Turks blew it up.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anybody else have Acrophobia

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