an odd phobia

[SilverBullet]

So, when I was younger on the 4th of July I would always go and watch the fireworks. I realized something strange, that if I didn't grab hold of something I would get a almost nauseous feeling thinking I could float up into the vast infinite space of the universe above me. I remember that's when it started, one 4th of July.

My solution was to not get below the fireworks but instead be far enough away to watch them at a less steep angle. Well the ridiculous fear has pretty much dissipated until recently. It seems I get a almost sick feeling again if I look straight up or at too steep an angle as if gravity may stop and I would fall up into the universe unless I grab something and hold on.

I was just curious if anyone else ever felt like this and if so, did it stop over time/get better? is there a mental conditioning or something for this ridiculousness?

[LJay]

It doesn't sound ridiculous at all. What may be happening is a loss of balance. Do you get the same sensation if you are on your back looking up? You could talk to a doctor about vertigo and what may be triggering it.

[East]

I have a similar sensation when there is no horizon...like if I am driving over a really high overpass with nothing for my eyes to focus on..I feel like I am being pulled into the space....

I hate it....

This guy explained it to me once...it is a depth perception problem...something to do with the eye. I get it when I am shopping too...or looking at something. I have to concentrate to see what is in front of me because my eye is drawn to the biggest thing on the horizon.....

So my question...is it only at 4th of July?..or do you have any kind of similar sensations at other times?

Maybe talk to an Optomologist?

[SilverBullet]

Get it baaad if I lay down and look up :p

Well the strange thing is it just started re occuring while walking on a hiking trail next to the port here yesterday, hundreds of acres of marsh surrounding a narrow but 6 mile long raised land where train tracks were a long time ago. It was strange I felt like I needed to grab hold of a tree :p maybe its due to change in environment? :?

[Lexington]

Not this specific thing, but presumably related.

The first time I felt it, I was seven or eight years old, on a field trip to the San Francisco Opera House. We were taken up to the balcony, then were told to walk down the aisle and take seats in the first two rows. For whatever reason, I was first in line, and thus the first to start down the steps.

...and my brain nearly short-circuited. The steps felt incredibly steep, and I felt like I was being pulled downward. I felt as though any second, I would start running down the steps uncontrollably (like you would down a really steep hill) and go barreling over the railing into the seats below. I had to keep a hand on the seat backs on the aisle, and VERY carefully step my way down. A few of my fellow students asked me what was wrong, but I couldn't verbalize it. I just said I felt "dizzy", which they at least accepted.

I can still get this feeling, but it has to be in a very specific set of circumstances.

* I have to be walking down the steps, with seats on either side.

* The area has to be poorly lit. In a well-lit room, or in the sun, I won't feel it.

* The steps have to end at some sort of railing, which is elevated. If the steps end, say, near the front of a stage or something, I won't feel it.

So a very specific set of circumstances. I've felt it coming down the elevated bleachers in a poorly-lit gym, and in the balcony of concert halls. Maybe seven times ever.

I'm assuming it's related to what you feel, OP. The set-up invites my eyes to misread visual cues, and make my brain decide "I'm being drawn down into this pit" instead of "I'm going down well-organized steps to a pre-determined location."

Lex

[Sheppy]

Shove a clown in front of me and watch how quick the blood drains from my face....

But what you have sounds a bit like vertigo? If you look anywhere but upwards, you generally have the horizon as a pint of reference, but looking straight up, that's gone.

Ever get those dreams where you are falling, but wake up before you hit the ground? That, or needles...eurgghhh!