Comments on: Fear of Thunder and Lightning Phobia – Astraphobia

By: kwame

kwame

It does not have to overcome the phobia.

By: Sue

Sue

It makes me feel a lot better to know I am not alone in this! Ever since I was a little kid and got locked out of the house during a thunderstorm, I have had a severe fear of storms – both the thunder and the lightning. The thunder because it is usually followed by lightning. I have been known to leave work early (using my vacation time) to avoid going home during a predicted storm. When I am home during a storm, I turn the TV off. I feel bad for my poor cat. She hides under the bed during storms. I hope I didn’t cause this.

By: michael malone

michael malone

In reply to Rayla T.. Hello I am 13 years old and have a little astraphobia. Is it ok if I quote you in my article/interview that I am writing?

By: Louise Cave

Louise Cave

Hello. I am almost 40 years of age and from England. I have been phobic of loud sudden noises since I was a baby. Even some baby toys that make a squeak apparently I’d scream till I was blue. My parents just probably thought it was a phase but ended up making me feel bad like I’d ruined some special occasions (anything that had fireworks involved or balloons or if there was thunder) and totally controlling my pattern of life. They kept taking me to things in the hopes that I’d grow out of it. Screaming each time and running away EVERY single time. Then I’d get the “oh you’ve ruined this for us all” so double negative as I felt awful for me having to be taken home meaning someone missed out on whatever the occasion. Only upon reflection as in the moment I just feel like I’m going to die, nothing else matters I just bolt to safety. I unfortunately didn’t get the help that may have saved me. I have tried CBT, Exposure Therapy AND Hypnotherapy to no avail. I control my behaviour all year round to avoid things. I have legitimately took solace and hid in cupboards underneath stairs with headphones on when it’s storming or when idiots decide that fireworks are not just for the main celebration or occasions. It ruins EVERY New Year’s Eve, I get really agoraphobic by the time October is here (England) because that’s when the fireworks start and literally don’t quiet down until well after the New year has set in. Then I contend with spring/summer with thunderstorms. I have massive panic attacks, I’ve passed out a few times before from shaking so badly I feel like I have a gun on my head and chest each time a firework explodes or a clap of thunder happens. It’s so embarrassing because even though my nearest and dearest know, they don’t and won’t ever know how to handle the episodes. Some I’ve caught laughing behind my back which hurts but I feel like I am going to die. It stops me from even just a short walk to the shops in winter and even won’t go out for a cigarette. If someone stood outside my front door with a cheque for £10000000000000000 with my name written on it, I don’t think I could even muster the power to take one step outside. I am having palpitations just thinking about it. I get really annoyed by people saying trite things such as “fireworks/ thunder won’t hurt you” or “I’m not a fan of the sound of fireworks/thunder either” etc. I don’t just have a slight aversion. It’s not a quick jump out of my skin moment and then I’m okay. I literally melt down and I’ve dropped food and passed out because I’m so scared. I try and be in the most central part of a house. In one place I lived there was a shared bathroom as it has no windows (ideal because if I see a lighting strike or a firework exploding I anticipate the bang afterwards). I literally only came out to let my house mates shower and bathe, I set up camp in there. I tried to expose myself to fireworks once in my teenager years and went trick or treating with mates. Some older school kids were walking around and targeting younger kids by throwing ignited fireworks at them. This reinforced my phobia even more. I would have a world record for how fast I ran home. I dropped all of my treats and ran like a bomb had gone off. I was ridiculed. I have many other instances where I’ve been exposed to exploding sounds and each time it’s just set my phobias even deeper. I also on an empathic level despise seeing how traumatised domestic pets are affected and wild animals (horses that have tried to bolt when in a wired fence area), dogs that are usually happy go lucky, wonderful, playful spirits go to shaking, quaking, won’t eat, won’t drink, don’t want to be outside or out from under chairs or enclosed areas. Barking out of distress, hair loss messes. In addition anyone who may suffer from PTSD in a veteran sense the sheer anxiety and stress that this can cause someone who suffers. The human race is a disgrace to allow this totally unnecessary damage to be reinforced and repeated on a yearly basis (just fireworks related). Sorry for the rant there lol. I wish you all peaceful times. It’s interesting reading of other’s experiences and seeing what part of the globe you are all from. It’s nice to know that there are people that truly understand what you feel. Be strong and kind to yourself. Do what makes you feel comfortable don’t care what anyone thinks or says to you. It’s not hurting them or any other thing around them. This is your phobia and you need support not negative behaviors or mocking. I understand you. Peace.

By: aqua

aqua

I’ve always been afraid of thunderstorms, yet I find myself fascinated by them. I enjoy watching severe storms on the tube and I’ve spent many hours watching Weather Network. However, when faced with a storm in real life, I panic.

By: Ruben

Ruben

As a child, lightning didn’t phase me at all, I would stand by the window watching it. As an adult, I had too many close calls. Lightning struck my work van. Lightning struck a river half a kilometer of where we were swimming. Lightning struck my backyard only meters from the house where I was sleeping with the window open. The last, only recently, lightning struck a metallic outside staircase while we were on it. Luckily the stairs themselves were properly isolated. So yeah, now I check all the boxes for astraphobia.

By: p

In reply to Linda. Hi Linda, I sound just like your daughter lol. I have severe astraphobia and all I do is check the weather. In my opinion, no matter how annoying we get, just try to remain calm because if someone else is stressed it ™ll make us worse. Another thing is we need help realizing we ™ve been in bad storms before and we ™ll be fine in this one. Monitoring the storm is just a way for us to make sure we are safe and know what ™s going on. Sorry this reply is late, I hope your daughter is okay!

By: p.

In reply to Gens. Finally someone my age with the same fear. I get storms at my house all the time and it just hurts because my family doesn ™t understand that I can ™t calm down. Never in my life have I met someone who has this too. I've always just been the crazy paranoid person.

By: Tori

Tori

I have astraphobia for two reasons. I once had a panic attack in public because there was a Storm happening. The thing is I was with some schoolmates of mine and they saw me have this. My second reason is when i was coming home during a Storm, lightning striked right by us. I was crying and everything. I’m kinda getting over it, but if I’m getting scared I play music and that helps a lot.

By: Moe

Moe

I am 22, not scared of anything, but thunder or lightning I’m scared of. I need to get rid of this phobia.