It seems that I have always had\u00a0claustrophobia. I can\u2019t remember a time when enclosed places didn\u2019t set off anxiety.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
My Mom would often comment about my inability to allow ANYTHING to touch my throat.\u00a0 Zip up my jacket on a cold Denver morning, just don\u2019t get near my throat.\u00a0 I have since learned this could also be a due to ADHD and aversion to some forms sensory input, like something near my throat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My\u00a0claustrophobia caused me to wake my parents and my sister and maybe even the whole campground one night when I had a nightmare that I was caught inside our wonderful heavy and warm old fashion sleeping bags in our camper (like the one pictured above).\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t, but there after I always got to sleep by the window with it cracked a little so air could hit my face.<\/p>\n
(This was the camper whose lifting gear broke before we were to head to Big Thompson Canyon the weekend of the devastating flood.<\/a> Nylon gears at that time were not as tough as they are now.)<\/p>\n Though I have done work on myself to be able to handle somethings, like sleeping in a 2 man tent, other things no amount of work is going to conquer it.\u00a0 I completely freaked out when I had to have my first MRI, and I tried to go into that teeny weeny coffin sized tunnel.\u00a0 It took me 20 minutes to calm down enough to speak.\u00a0I only do open MRI <\/a>now, and even then only with my eyes closed and constant self talk.\u00a0<\/p>\n Generally I prefer moving air (that\u2019s why there are ceiling fans in my house) and enjoy the \u201cspace\u201d and openness of the out doors.<\/p>\n Until last week there was only one time I ever felt\u00a0claustrophobic outside.\u00a0 It was when we were in Pakistan.\u00a0 I felt it while taking pictures on the roof of my in-laws house thinking about the laws and treatment of women in Pakistan.<\/p>\n