does anyone else have a super fear of storms?

[aprilr]

i am 21 and recently have been dealing with horrible anxiety and panic and stress and when it storms i freak and dont know how to deal it could just start sprinkling and i freak and i live where it storms all the time i just wanna know if anyone else has this problem and how the heck do you deal with it?

[whatnothing123]

I am almost 17 years old and I'm going to be a senior this year. For most of my high school experience I have been terrified of thunderstorms and tornados. If you even just mention a storm, my whole day is ruined and I'm not one for crying but I will break down into tears when there is a storm on the way. This fear kind of runs in my family but not as bad as me. I always thought it was just me but I am happy to find so many other people with the problem. I hope someone can give us a solution that will help :D

[cpols982]

From reading this post, I'm glad to find out I'm not alone!

I never had the real fear of thunderstorms until a year ago, I used to love traveling, going places, etc. Now, I'm fearful of going anywhere, worrying a storm might come. It's not just the storm, it's what the storm can do, damaging winds, hail, tornadoes, etc. If there's a cloud in the sky, I'm checking the weather, I watch the weather on a daily basis. It's become my obsession.

I just don't know how to overcome the anxiety or fear of it, since it's already in my mind, and cannot erase it. I've tried anxiety medications, but that doesn't help me. I read on other places on how to overcome it, they said to figure out what caused it to overcome it, but honestly I do not know what caused it. Possibly from reading the news, of storm damages, and killer tornadoes, and living right in the middle of tornado alley!

I've never experienced a tornado, or anything destructive, but just winds greater than 80mph, and seen trees down in my neighborhood and windows broken out from a few severe storms. But, luckily, nothing has happened to our home. I do not have a basement or storm cellar either, which is part of the problem.

I just wish there was a way to overcome these fears. I fear that our fear will effect our children and others around us, we're going to make them just as fearful as we are too. We do not need to live in fear.

-Longing for winter to come.

[okie_grl74447]

As I read through the comments from all of you who also have a fear of storms, I couldn't help but identify.  I am in my fifties and most of my life I have feared something--the dark, strangers, cancer, dying, and now it's storms.  I know the problem; it has to do with a feeling of control, or lack of it.  I like to be in control of my life and the lives of my loved one (even my cats) and anything that threatens this makes me fearful.  Like many of you, I had a trigger.  

A couple of summers back, we had the remnants of a hurricane come through Oklahoma and it caused severe flooding.  When water came into my home and I couldn't do one thing about it, I became more fearful of the weather.  Now it's the possible thunderstorm and high winds at night when I'm asleep; I won't sleep in our bedroom on nights when bad weather is supposed to move through because I fear the huge sycamore tree in our back yard will blow over onto our house and our bedroom in on that side of the house.  The prospect of a tornado puts me into panic mode so I'm calling the city storm shelter to make sure it's going to be open later when we're supposed to get storms that are tornadic.  Again, it all goes back to this is bigger than I am and I can't control it.  therefore, I become fearful of it.

This makes me sad because I used to like the rain, the lightening, the thunder.  Now it just turns my gut to water when we get storms.  I want to be able to just be logical about all this, but I think if we're under a tornado watch, that it is going to happen in our town.  I don't even think about the probabilities of that happening.  In my mind, it's going to happen.

[codenamebrandie]

I too am afraid of storms. That is why I am here right now. I live in Western North Carolina of all places...and it seems that no matter how many times we have had severe storms..with no tornado during that tornado watch, I still freak out days before. It all started when I was 10, and at first the weather man came to my fifth grade class room and told us about tornados during tornado week...then I traveled to Texas as an already scared little girl, and there were 2 tornados to touch down, and 13 funnels. One of the tornados went across the road in front of me, and flipped some cars. I am now soon to be 24 years old...and everytime a storm comes I have a very severe attack. What makes it worse is when no one tries to understand. For instance, my dad will say "you can't get scared everytime a little rain comes" knowing that there are predictions for severe storms for the next night. My mom will say "why do you flip out days before, it may not even get here". I eventually took it upon myself to go to the doctor. I don't have insurence or anything like that cause I work part time, so the doctor is all I can afford. I would love to be able to go to a theropist because maybe that would help me overcome this fear that I ALMOST overcame! But just this year, after 3 years of inactivity, it came back. So, about the doctor. I went and she gave me klonopin to take as needed. Guess what, my mom flips out saying that it is too addictive and only take half. The first times I took half that was 2 weeks ago. Tonight I found out that there was going to be severe storms tomarrow night and it is making me so scared. It is already 2am and I have to get up at 5:15 for work. My body starts getting these cold rushes and I start to get scared. And I went to wake my mom up and ask her if I could please take something so I can calm down and she yelled at me for being upset, saying that I am overreacting. So, I have went straight in my room and I took a whole pill. She doesn't know. And I would like for her to know incase something happens...but if she is just going to make my anxiety worse...then here I am sitting in my bed by myself trying to overcome this stupid fear! I don't know what I have to do. I worry that the pill won't even work, cause the halfs that I took the past two times didn't phase me. Im scared and I want to lay down and not wake up. And tomarrow when the storms come in, my mom and dad will be asleep cause they are not scared, and they have to work in the morning, so I feel like I better stay awake and protect them. But if this doesn't end up calming me down tonight I am going to take a benedryl on top of it tomarrow night. Whether my mom wants me to or not, cause I shouldn't have to be in this much anxiety. I just want it to go away. I just want to be normal again. I pray and pray and pray, but sometimes I don't think I deserve to not have this fear because I am not going to Church and praying regularly, and sometimes I don't even thank God for my day. But sometimes I just want him to hold me when I am scared cause I know he is the only one who can protect me and not get mad at me for feeling like this. Please pray for me if you are a believer. Ill do the same for you.

[angelkitty123]

I am so glad there are other people around who are scared of storms. I'm 14 and I've only just developed this fear over storms. It could even be some cloud, no rain, no nothing and I would just freak out. My house echoes as well, so at anytime there is thunder I nearly have a heart attack.

[stormfreak09]

I am 13 and I have been absolutely terrifyed of storms since last year. I have only been through a tornado once in my life. And I was only like 7 years old. I dont know wat to do. I have gotten to the point of where i don't even want to go to school when it is cloudy. But the funny thing is that im not half as scared when Im at home. Its just at school. I think that it is the comfort of being with my family that makes me feel safer. I am making everyone in my family worry about me. I cry everynight not wantiing to go to school. It has gotten out of hand. It seems like no one understands my feelings about the storm. But all the stories i have read on here sound simular to mine. There aren't very many storms where I live here in Kentucky. I am taking anxiety medicine but i dont think it is strong enough to help my problem. It is serious and everyone thinks its just a joke. I dont just worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, but even 8 months from now in the spring when the storms are more likely. I dont know what to do about this and i dont want to hurt my parents any longer about this issue that seems so small to everyone else, but huge to me. It has effected everthing in my life. I cheered and flipped all the time and now i dont hardly do it anymore. I never want to go anywhere without my mom or dad anymore. The weird thing is, i dont know what made me start being scared. I just wanted to tell my story and tell everyone that YOU ARE NOT ALONE! And its good to know that im not the only one. I feel all of your alls pain.