re: Developing a Phobia Late in Life - Is this Normal??

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Okay - that pretty much sums up my experience. I panic. The Africatown bridge in Mobile is a no go. I can't do it. Especially going east to west where the approach to the bridge is almost a left hand turn. It's not just bridges. I have a friend who has a 37th floor apt - at one time I would sit on the ledge and smoke - now I can't even walk out onto the terrace. I get legit dizzy and start to sweat.

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Bridges like you described with a turn are horrible. It feels like you’re going up a roller coaster & you can’t get off.

I developed a fear of heights around that time, too. Some friends wanted to go to the top of the Capitol in BR & I was like

Besides being medicated (which helped most), flooding/exposure therapy is supposed to help. I ended up doing my own version of that when I was forced to cross the bridge on a daily basis for months. It was after I’d gotten off of Lexapro. The more times I crossed without a panic attack, the more confident I became & stopped worrying.

It sounds so trivial, but it’s worth talking to your doctor about it. It can seriously interfere with your quality of life when you’re avoiding going places out of fear of encountering a bridge.