# I've a terrible fear of stairs, escalators etc...



## hazelblue (Jun 6, 2012)

Today I realised for definate: I really fear free standing stairs.

It sounds like a joke but I am scared of stairs that are too 'open plan'.

In class we had a suprise trip to another department. The new building was a four story, modern thing with a large atrium. The atrium was like a big hollow going through the centre of all the floors and the stairs were just to the side. Went up one flight rather uncomfortably. The whole staircase and balconies are secured with bar raillings which makes it worse. It was one of the never ending ascents that has just a small flat bit in the middle (if you know what I mean). Done. 

Then we had to go up another :|. It was painful but I was making small talk at the time so I used that to help ignore my surroundings. We were then talked to by the guide but I was in anxiety hell worrying about what to do if we had to go up more stairs. I couldn't do it and I couldn't go back down by myself. I felt ill and faint by this stage so I planned on using that as an excuse. 

Luckily we stayed on that floor but for the whole hour long tour I was in mental agony worrying about the way back. To make it worse some students started talking about fainting for some reason AND the rooms were extremely warm so I was fidgetting, shuffling and leaning on stuff to stop myself passing out. Furthermore I had little to eat or drink that day.

I saw an elevator and tried to remember the way back to it. Eventually, everyone headed for the stairs and I felt like so much of a freak I forced myself down them, head down, grip like a vice, shaking.

The thing is, I didn't know we were going anywhere like this, and I've never had such a bad reaction so I don't know how this phobia got to me.

Importantly, I have had the same level of fear of escalators for a few years, another type of free standing stair which is usually rather long and also intimidating. I hate them.

The only stairs I feel comfortable with are household ones. Even then, they better not be unusual, steep, without banisters etc.

I don't expect anyone has the same problem but I just gotta vent and ask: Is there a way to treat phobias like this? I wish I wasn't so susceptable to anxiety because I have a long list of phobias and it's really demoralising


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

Ugh, I'm so sorry. I have similar fears that are all part of my acrophobia (fear of heights). Really steep/narrow steps, free-standing stairways, escalators...hate them all. I had to ascend some really narrow steep steps where my mother works a few times...my legs ached for days afterward, that's how tensed up I was!

I do wish I had advice for you. So far all I've done is avoid such things when possible.  Which is not a solution at all, no. It makes it worse for me when I look down through the steps or when other people are near me...so perhaps see if eliminating either of those would help any, at all? A railing helps but I have to cling to it like nobody's business! Oh goodness how it makes me shake to have to do it. I could regale you at length with my various humiliating heights-related experiences. I can't even climb a ladder. :no I climbed one once and had to be carried down, bawling like a baby! :cry

I definitely sympathize, for what little that's worth!


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## hazelblue (Jun 6, 2012)

tehuti88 said:


> all part of my acrophobia (fear of heights). Really steep/narrow steps, free-standing stairways, escalators...hate them all.


Yes, you're speaking my language.

I just feel really trapped using stairs because you can't stop or turn around. I suppose I'm scared of ultimately falling down them but the worst you could really do is break a bone. The free standing ones just give me insane vertigo... I can't seem to focus on anything and I don't know where to look. This adds to disorientation and dizziness which then fuels the fear.

I have a free standing spiral staircase at uni and I hate it. I can never move from the outside so people just have to walk round me. If I stopped trying with it though, I'd be in trouble.

It seems to be a rare thing so it's nice to hear you identify


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## Brasilia (Aug 23, 2012)

I get very dizzy on escalators, I hate using them especially London underground since they're so steep. I remember one time I was walking up stairs at Kew Gardens and I almost passed out because they were spiralling for ages and really steep :eek


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## 84929 (May 10, 2012)

*Acrophobia*

I have acrophobia. But I don't have a fear of stairs, free standing etc.

Which is kind of funny considering I have fallen off stairs when I was in school. You think I be afraid after that. But I'm not. At least not yet.:um

However I have a fear of heights and I am terrified to approach a balcony. I feel if I lean on the balcony the railing will give way and I will fall to my death :afr


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

I only fear the down escalators, and only when I am first getting on them. I fear losing my balance and flying down the stairs. I also don't want to touch those disgusting germ ridden railings that are a part of the escalator.


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## louiselouisa (Jul 12, 2012)

Have you talked about this to someone in real lfe? Do you feel the same way with escalators now? Or has it gotten better?


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## hazelblue (Jun 6, 2012)

louiselouisa said:


> Have you talked about this to someone in real lfe? Do you feel the same way with escalators now? Or has it gotten better?


I told a hypnotherapist but he turned out to be useless so that didn't help. My family knows I'm scared of escalators, simply because I avoid them, but don't believe I'm being serious and tut and scowl at me. I wouldn't tell them about the stairs thing. It hasn't got better, only worse.


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## General Specific (Mar 4, 2008)

How long have you had your fear of escalators? Was there any traumatic event that triggered it, like falling over on the escalator or getting your shoelaces stuck etc..?


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## hazelblue (Jun 6, 2012)

Aces_Shy said:


> How long have you had your fear of escalators? Was there any traumatic event that triggered it, like falling over on the escalator or getting your shoelaces stuck etc..?


 Not really. I don't believe phobias need a traumatic event to start them. I've never been great with them though and I remember as a small child I went up the wrong one alone and started crying. Also my brother once dropped something on a escalator step and my dad screamed at him not to touch it. My parents always make disapproving noises when they see someone playing on an escalator... and have told me stories of how people have died on them...

Not a bit of wonder I have the phobia, actually. :roll


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## hazelblue (Jun 6, 2012)

Brasilia said:


> I get very dizzy on escalators, I hate using them especially London underground since they're so steep. I remember one time I was walking up stairs at Kew Gardens and I almost passed out because they were spiralling for ages and really steep :eek


 I used the tube for a week a few years ago but that was with my family... it was bad then, but I had no other option. I definately couldn't do it now. At one station the escalator wasn't working and I had to climb about a hundred spiral staircase steps.


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## louiselouisa (Jul 12, 2012)

hazelblue said:


> I told a hypnotherapist but he turned out to be useless so that didn't help. My family knows I'm scared of escalators, simply because I avoid them, but don't believe I'm being serious and tut and scowl at me. I wouldn't tell them about the stairs thing. It hasn't got better, only worse.


will they let you visit a therapist? those stairs are rarer, but at least you should be able to use escalators.

or maybe have some exposure.


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## hazelblue (Jun 6, 2012)

louiselouisa said:


> will they let you visit a therapist?


 My family? I'm an adult so it's none of their business and I won't be telling them lol. The doctor refered me to the mental health department a few weeks ago but I've no idea what that consists of... we'll see. Not sure what kind if therapy (if any) will help, but I'll give anything a go.


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