Unusual triggers and phobias

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Facebook suggests possible friends in a little row of profile pictures. I used to delete all the ones that had faces till it just showed profile pics with other images. (eventually I discovered you can switch that feature off)

Health anxiety. I can never tell if something about my body is "normal" or not. And covid-19 is not helping it one bit. Sometimes I cough or sneeze or my nose runs for no obvious reason, and instead of just being mildly annoyed I get mildly anxious.

Emetophobia has also pretty much ruined much of my life. And made my health anxiety even worse.

I can't watch the news. Every day it just gets worse and worse.

I forgot a few triggers:

Getting my hands wet
Gloves, especially plastic medical ones (I squirm and claw)
Feet claustrophobia (socks, shoes, blankets, any type of restriction)
Quiet background noises (radio, television, people fidgeting)

some brasshole and his maga GF in the wal marché saw me with my n95 mask on and smarted off to me. it took all my restraint to avoid smashing him to the ground with cans of food in my cart.

Has anyone ever had a "mysterious" emotional trigger and they don't know why?

This might sound weird but I just prepared and ate a chicken enchilada. I don't know what happened. Somehow I had an emotional flashback which made me so upset I was almost in tears and I couldn't finish eating it. I don't know what the memory is that was triggered. I have no specific memory of anything related to the smell or taste or sight of my food, but I definitely had an emotional flashback to something related, which was very upsetting then and now. I could "feel" the memory of the first trigger incident but I don't remember any details at all. I had a borderline panic attack somehow related to ... my enchilada? ( )

I've had this before. I'll be perfectly fine and see a random model of car, or hear a particular benign sound, and somehow my body remembers a previous encounter with that trigger even though my conscious mind has no recollection. The emotional trigger is genuine but totally unexpected, and I can't figure out the connections.

Is this really weird, or normal within the scope of CPTSD or other emotional disorders?

I would guess it's a part of severe CPTSD.
I wish I could help you more. I used to have much more such moments before my therapy - three years of slowly disassembling the elaborate mental construction I created to contain the pressure of unprocessed emotions. Then processing those emotions as they emerged - first dreams and old childhood memories, because I couldn't contact anything closer. Currently, I get my emotions with average 2 days delay. That's progress, isn't it?

Relatively recently, I discovered my trauma I wasn't aware of: swimming classes for children. I went there as a parent and I realized why between ages 8-14 (but not earlier) I couldn't breathe when over waist-high in water. At 14, I managed to disconnect the trauma from water enough to learn swimming - but this February, heat, noise, chlorine smell, fluorescent light and a coach yelling at scared children made me realize what really happened to me when I was in second grade.

Yes, it is progress! That's also a brilliant insight. I have a time-lapse delay as well, which is very confusing when trying to process my triggers.



I remember when you were enduring this in February. I assume you got reprieve because of the virus. I'm glad you've had time to process the memories cognitively whilst being apart from the pool itself.

Thanks for your answer. I still feel depressed and triggered by my enchilada, no matter how ridiculous that sounds! There's definitely an embedded memory but I have no idea what it is. Likewise the other day I had a split-second flashback of a situation when I was about 13 years old. I can't put it in context of where I was or what was happening. That's troubling me a lot too, because it seemed very unsettling.

I hope you are feeling better from your bronchitis, and doing well!

Thanks, my bronchitis is gone, some slight irritation in my throat is all it left.

That’s excellent!

I’m glad you’re feeling much better.

The odds are that you didn’t have COVID.

Whatever it was, it kept me for three weeks, but my body apparently defeated it.
How are you?

I’m doing all right. Fully recovered, fortunately.

Wind or air conditioning blowing on my face. I need it to come from behind me or I feel attacked by the air

I have been paranoid about my health during this COVID time especially. I have been googling symptoms and trying to find answers on the internet even though I am sure it's all in my head. But I still feel wrong, like something's not right with me physically. How would I even try to see a doctor about that? "Hi, I'm paranoid. Can you run every test on me just to be safe?"

^^^welcome to WP, Clique

Yes, in my part of the world, a person can make an appt with their doctor to get medical facts (and assurance). Does your doctor know you have ASD? Mine would if they hadn't recently instituted an office policy that conflicts with my desire to have my annual appt on my birthday. I think I'll contact them as it's really bothering me. Thanks for the nudge!

- If someone I have feelings for talks about their past love life. It drives me literally insane and gives me huge anxiety.

- If someone talks about autism. It causes me anxiety and/or anger.