Guys

It seems you want to argue about an irrelevant issue. The title is Claustrophia cure, not a question of whether the incidence increases with age. As noted earlier BOTH of you would be better getting appropriate treatment rather than complaining on a gun forum.

Copy that just saw your post. I am out of here.

I have always reacted badly to heights. While in the Army I volunteered for parachute training, thought that would overcome that little problem. 121 parachute jumps later, no change in my aversion to heights. Tall buildings are bad. Cliffs are bad. Ladders truly suck, especially when going more than two stories up.

Airplanes, no problem. Helicopters are pure adrenaline pumpers for me, love the sensations of flight.

Closed MRI machines and CT scans are a challenge. Like others have posted, a light cloth covering over the eyes, relax, deep breathing, listen to the nice elevator music, it's all over in a few minutes.

I'm over 70 now also. Maybe I'll make it to the finish line with clean underwear.

Yeah I can't go up a ladder but I have no problem in a plane. I choose the window seat and look out the entire time if I can.

I will admit as I get older I tend to think about bad things that can happen flying and turbulence freaks me out a bit more. But it's not just looking down. Somehow in an aircraft I feel secure and that makes all difference with heights.

Same here. Flying doesn't bother me at all, whether it's a 747 or a little private plane. Turbulence isn't a problem, I might get a little airsick but I don't freak out any. Ladders and roofs on the other hand, get a big NOPE from me. Years ago I went up on the roof of the building we were working in with some coworkers to watch an airshow going across the street. When I got a little too close to the edge I got dizzy and queasy to the point that I had to go back inside.

Claustrophobia is also a problem for me (not in a small plane though, go figure). Nightmares usually involve being stuck in a narrow tunnel or something. I have two good size dogs that like to sleep with me. Closely. Now and then I wake up in the middle of the night in a mild panic because I literally can't move because the boys have the covers down so tight on both sides. I have to make them get down off the bed. They don't understand why suddenly I'm shouting at them to get down.

So I’m the youngster replying here.

No known cure that I’m aware of. I have tried to cure myself by getting to the edge of the roof, multiple times, doesn’t help at all.

When I was in my 20’s and 30’s I had no issues with heights or claustrophobia. I’m now pushing 48.

So heights, I used to walk walls when framing houses, sometimes on the second story. Never an issue. Now, my nuts tingle and I almost feel sick when I stand on the edge of a roof. I have noticed that if I feel safe, there is no fear. Edge of a roof with a handrail, etc, no problem. Climb a ladder two stories, no issues if I know it’s very secure.

Claustrophobia, never was an issue. There have been a couple places I have been recently where I had the trapped feeling. One was crawling in an attic where there was zero room above me, and I was on my belly. I about stroked out. The other was in this little closet trying to fish wires and my arm was kind of stuck. Totally freaked out.

These are all situations that I didn’t worry about when I was younger.

When we get older, we are wiser and realize we are not invincible. I think that has a lot to do with it. We are closer to death and at some level, that’s scary. Heights and claustrophobic places just exacerbate that feeling.

And I don’t care what zsMichael says, there is enough of a sampling of people here that have the same change as they age. I asked my wife who is afraid of everything, and she said the older she gets, the worse it gets.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
When we get older, we are wiser and realize we are not invincible. I think that has a lot to do with it. We are closer to death and at some level, that’s scary. Heights and claustrophobic places just exacerbate that feeling.

Being older myself, I have noticed the phenomenon of getting phobias as we get older, but it has only hit a handful of older people I know and not the others.

I'm not sure why that is true, but it is.

I got stuck in a courthouse elevator between floors by myself...my super powers kicked in and I forced/sled open the door between floors...YES that bad..

Flew on planes for years and years. Fifteen years ago I had to fly out from east coast to California, got on board and panicked. Told the attendants and they placed me at the forward bulkhead. Added tree that trip I was going to see my father for the last time, he was on his death bead. Benadryl, an antihistamine helped. Haven't flown since. I now take the stairs.

The funny thing is that heights don't bother me. I have climbed the Brooklyn Bridge twice and teh Manhattan bridge twice, on the job to photograph. Go figure.