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Avatar universal

does anyone else have a super fear of storms?

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?
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154765 tn?1237247944
bip
I have fear when I get thunderstorms let me tell you I get scared. What I do is grab a blanket wrap it around me sit on the couch and I feel better it's sounds a little weird but I feel secured.
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Avatar universal
Hello,
I had this problem when I was younger, around 10-12 years old.  My biggest fear was a tornado.  I knew nothing about how weather worked at that time.  My fears were fueled by the unknown, that any low hanging dark cloud would spawn a twister.  

The way I got around that was to learn how weather works and when it really was time to be scared.  I'd suggest that as a way to try and ease the fear of storms.

Storms are natural and occur all over the Earth all day long.  There should always be a healthy fear of storms because lightning is the most dangerous part of the average storm.  Use common sense in that case, stay indoors, away from trees and windows, off the phone.  Don't be the tallest object in a field.  All that stuff we learned in elementary school.  Being inside a vehicle is sometimes regarded as the safest place to be regarding lightning because of the rubber tires.

At any rate, learn about the weather and how it works.  That way you can be the one telling fellow family members/co-workers/etc when it's time to get to safety :)  I enjoy thunderstorms now because I've learned to find the beauty in them. I respect them.  I also know when it's time to take cover which I've only had to do once in 20 years.

The media gravitating to terrible weather stories certainly doesn't help matters...

I also understand your fear and that it's easier to say it than do it.  That's my advice because it really worked for me.  www.nws.noaa.gov is a great site to keep up to date tabs on weather in whatever area you might be in too (if you're in the US that is).  Best of luck to you! :D
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Avatar universal
I am deathly afraid of storms So bad that I leave my house everytime it rains. I even start to freak out when there is a wind advisory. I dont know how to calm myself. I get so nervous I almost make myself sick. I havent found any wasy to clam this anxiety except to go to a house where i feel safe. Its crazy if you find any way to make yourself get over this I would love to hear it. Do people make fun at you?
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Avatar universal
i used to have this problem when i was younger like 7--13y/o  my mom worked a lot so i was always home alone. i was more scared of the lightning. when it would storm i would pack up my important toys and get ready to run for the hill. only problem was i didn't have anywhere to run. so i ended up hiding under the covers. Somehow i got over this fear and now i love it when it storms i find it actually more theripudic if anything
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213375 tn?1202403800
I fear storms too!  We live in a mobile home in FLORIDA, lightning capital of the US!  And the hurricanes...OMG!  We get particularly nasty weather this time of year during the transistion from winter to spring that brings tornados.  I have had "mini" panic attacks several times this year alone over storms, and when hurricanes hit Florida I am in a constant state of anxiety/panic.  You're not alone.

Cori
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Avatar universal
Well I too am afraid of storms. I live in FL and although we dont get too many tornadoes we do get bad thunderstorms though. I have severe weather alerts for both mine and my daughter's cell phones and when it storms I keep my phone next to my bed or in most cases I am up pacing watching weather channel and weatherbug on computer. My husband says stop watching weather all the time but then how will we know what it is doing? I have panic attacks. It has gotten worse since I went through Hurricane Charley, all I can hear is the sound of that wind and debris hitting my house. I am on medication for depression/anxiety and my dr seems to think it will help to relax me alittle when storm season comes in the summer! I feel like it does take over my life. I for once want to not be afraid. My kids aren't but I am, go figure.One time, 2 months,our meteorologist said we had some rain bands coming in from the gulf with some embedded thunderstorms, of course at night. So come 12am like he said I waited and paced and waited, could not sleep. I sat up allllllll night waiting on that and NOTHING NOTHING came. I was so freakin pissed  but the anticipation of it made me wait, but nothing, so the next day my husband said why are you so tired? I told him what happened. He thinks I am quite retarded but oh well. I like knowing that there are other people out there just like me!!!!
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Avatar universal
Yes  I get anxious about a lot of things (and I'm the one watching the Weather Channel for storms and tornadoes every moment possible in Michigan). But after suffering 2 cardiac events in 5 years the last one last month and being diagnosed with stress induced cardiomyopathy which means ANXIETY CAN KILL all I can do is relax and go with the flow. Our society (media) is full of so many negative things I need to relax and just take everything a day, an hour, a minute, a second at a time. And let my Higher Power help me! Hope this helps!
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366811 tn?1217422672
'Tis the season. When I was in a panic self-help group, there was one person there who had the "storm" thing and if the weather even looked like it was going to get nasty, she was in the middle of the room, behind the sofa. No kidding. Odd as it may sound at first, this helped everyone -even her.

How so? Well, while everyone HAD panic, no one other than she had it about the weather. Someone had it about driving west (but not east) believe it or not. And someone else had it about a particular bridge (and that guy was a delivery driver). My deal was about receiving communion in church, and someone else had...

...you get my drift. Everyone had SOMEthing.  So, what did we do? What we did was to hold her and kiss her and let her know we would lay down our lives to take that first hit of lightning. And so, we gathered around her to protect her. And we also learned that panic IS as panic DOES. We all got better, eventually.

The teaching point here is that, while someone else's panic trigger may make no sense at all to you, in your experience, yours doesnt really fit, either, with theirs. BUT, as every true devotee of the panic arts knows, it doesn't matter: panic IS as panic DOES. That said, you DO get a tiny bit of helpful data. Should it really matter that you drive east, instead of west? Yes and no. Westbound may have more intinsic danger, such as falling rocks or cliffs. But east may be smooth sailing. And that bridge may be basically the same as any other bridge -except for the chunks of concrete falling away from the sides. And communion? But you have SINNED! And are not worthy.

The list goes on.

But, what you get out of this is the realization that the thing that freaks someone ELSE -does not freak you. And the thing that freaks YOU does not bother them. So, obviously, it is something IN YOU that makes the difference.

It is not about the weather, April. It is about YOU. Start with that -and work forward. One day, one great day, we'll walk in an April shower together. Until then, you can bet I'll cover your back. Just make sure you cover mine.
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Avatar universal
I understand where you are coming from.I am very afraid of bad weather.I go to my sisters during the storms.We live in a mobile home.My kids are grown and moved away and my husband drives cross country and thinks I am crazy..he has even threatened to divorce me on several occasions.I can't help how I feel.The only place I know to go is my sisters.When bad weather approaches I get sick and my chest starts hurting.If anyone has any sugggestions please feel free to share them.
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510814 tn?1213264975
Hi! I am in the same boat as you. 3 weeks ago, I started to panic and didn't know what was happening to me. I was driving at the same time when it was pouring down with rain. I started feeling tingles in my hands and legs and pulled over and had someone call an ambulance for me. I thought I was dying. The ER told me it was a panic attack. I had felt good for the last couple weeks until Mother's Day and it was raining again....boom, another attack. Weather and driving never bothered me before and now I am scared of both. Not to mension...I am in fear of another attack. I have been on Buspar for 3 weeks. It doesn't work for about a month from what I have been told and yesterday, my Doctor prescribed me Xanax on top of the Buspar for immediate relief of an attack. It seems to work for me...but I still get anxious and jittery sometimes. Please contact me if you would like to talk. You are so not alone!
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Avatar universal
im 15 year old girl and im sufering from pannic attacks also, i cry all the time cuz im so scared, when thunder storms happen my pulse reaches 130 sumtimes or more, body goes numb , i cant breathe and it gets bad,  the weather network is on all the time.! my mom gets very mad at me when its on,. my biiigesttt fear is TORNANDOES im tarrified, i live in canada it can get pretty bad sumtimes, there was a warning earlier today thats why i was on the internet looking to stop my worrying all the time, i just finished my panic attack about and hour and half ago, im trying to find sumone that can help me (please dont mind my righting im just so shakey and my spellings really bad but i dont feal like checking it because im just so sick and tired of my panicing so w.e)befor i go to school everyday i check the winds, and if there to high i dont go to school, im failing in school, my friends call me all the time , i dont go out beacuse i dont want a tornando to pop up, so im losing all my friends, i havent gone a full day of school for three months , becuz i get so anxiouse from the weather, (even when it not soposed to be stormy im scared) my life is being controled, i have been like this for about 1 year, i time i was at school i had my first panic attack i didnt know what happend, i went to the office i said i could breath they started freaking so that mad it worse they called an ambulance they called my mom, i thought i was having a heart attack, i had numb hands tingly and also my pulse was about 130, after that day i was having panic attacks about heartattacks , that controled me all last year , now sice last summer i have worried about storms. , iv tried everything, i know everthing about tornandoes how they form ect. i do alot of reasearch,
all i do everyday is sit in the basment with  the blinds open so i can so wut it look like outside and have the weather network on, and my laptop on my lap searching about tornadoes, its achualy so annoying my mom always says your wasting you life, but it true, and i dont know wut to do,PLEASEE HELP ME! =(
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Avatar universal
I am new to this site but i was looking around and well yea i am really scared of storms also i live in ohio and if there is a tornado warning for like someone in indiana i get all freaked out thinking that the storm is going to hit me. I ALWAYS have been scared of storms but it has got sooo much worse since my some was born he is now 9 months old and i am so scared that something is going to happen. My boyfriend make fun of me bcc when i know there are going to be storm coming i will watch the weather channel all day and be on the weather.com watch to see where the warnings and watches are and when they are going to be here with me. I really need some help I have thought about going to a doctor to see what they can do about it maybe some kinda meds. i dont kno im not crazy just scared really badd of all kids of storms. Just the biggest thing is Tornados though.. Well Thank you for taking your time to read my reply!!
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537497 tn?1292553056
I use to be affraid of storms really bad, but one day out if no where I decided to watch one, and even though i was affraid, at the same time it was amazing. i thought about how storms where something man did not make and that facinated me.. the more i watched the better i got, and i started to realize i was not in control of what happened with the storm.. think about this the next time it storms..
What use to scare me was not the wind or the rain or even the thunder.. it was the way the clouds looked.. what scares you about storms??
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547573 tn?1234655710
Although I'm not bothered by storms, I have enough other phobias to make up for it. People popularly refer it as astrapophobia, keraunophobia, tonitrophobia, astraphobia, brontophobia and ceraunophobia. Not dealing with it is not the answer. Treatments for many types of phobias are readily available. I suggest you see a mental health provider as soon as possible.  Treatments may include psychotherapy and/or medication.
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Avatar universal
I'm not as young as those who gave their age & I've NEVER been in a tornado or hurricane or the like but am terrified too. I know where I'd go if I did die but the FEAR or PHOBIA is real and I get tired of people looking at me & teasing me about it and sometimes getting angry about it--like judging me "Don't you trust your husband to keep you safe" Get real. He can't stop a tornado--he'd sleep through it. I leave at the sight of one coming at night also to a friend's basement in town.
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Avatar universal
I cant believe there are this many people who are just as scared as me. I am 33 years old and cannot remember ever not being afraid of storms. I start to panic and "watch' DAYS in advance. I too use NOAA.GOV for info, i have a storm cellar, a weather radio, etc and still nothing eases the fear. what if i dont make it to the storm cellar, what if i cant get all the kids out there (i have 3). what if it comes in the middle of the night. I have went so far as to make my kids stay the night in the storm cellar and it is damp and not comfortable then i feel bad because one gets sick. ive tried watching one, etc. nothing helps
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Avatar universal
hi everyone my name is michelle and it is so much relief to know there are others out ther that are scared of storms. i have panic attacks it has got so bad sometimes i get sick to my stomach and throw up. Everyone makes fun off you b/c the dont understand i get this all the time but what they dont know is the only make it worse b/c now your not only dealing with the storm your dealing with feeling like your stupid b/c people make funn of you. i have been trying to find a way to ease it and still have yet to do so. I feel like it controls my life alot b/c i will not work anywhere out side of my city b/c i am scared to drive if it storms. i went to a therapoist and she told me to ust breathing excerise but i still freak out. so If anyone does find something let me know. but it is so great to hear i am not alone. thanks michelle from indiana
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Avatar universal
Hey, I know exactly how all of you feel, I have been terrified of storms since I was 12 years old, because a tornado touched down 1 mile away from my house and sucked a woman out of her home and ripped her in half. I was watching out the window and it was pitch black outside cuz the spider vein lightning made the security light go out, the lightning was pretty much constant, and then we heard a weird roaring sound. So we looked closer and could slowly see the tornado touch down with every flash. It was so freakin scary. So now I'm 19 and I live in Arkansas(tornado valley) and I'm calm when it's just a normal thunderstorm, but as soon as I'm under a tornado watch or a severe thunderstorm warning I start to freak out cuz severe thunderstorms can produce tornadoes out of nowhere, even before the warning is issued. I know what it's supposed to look like before it comes down, and I know what a hook echo looks like on the weather radar, and what it looks like when there r going to be straight line winds of 50mph or more. Yea I watch the weather channel that much, I watch it when there is a storm like 3 states over cuz i know that in a few days it will be in my state and i wanna see what it's capable of. When the storm is severe or is going to become severe, I don't eat, sleep, rest, or change the channel from weather, I also will have weather.com on that TruPoint thing so I can see what it's doing at my house. I'm constantly looking out the window or out the door, or calling my mom to see what KISR93 (radio station) is saying cuz my radio won't pick up that channel in my house. I have a 1 year old son, and it scares me to death to think that I might fall asleep or miss a tornado warning and not be able to get to my son in time and then go to look for him after the tornado disipates and not be able to find him or even worse find him dead..I don't know where to take cover, I have no interior room and my apartment has 1 floor. If a tornado did come my house would be beat to death with grave stones cuz I live directly in front of (about 15 feet away) a really big cemetery. The only way I would feel safe is if I had a storm cellar that I could sleep in then I wouldn't be scared....only if there were no spiders in it though , but that's a WHOLE other story..lol  So do ya'll think I need to get help or is all that normal cuz my husband thinks I'm stupid, today my city was under a tornado watch and  there was hard rain, pea size hail, and 80 MPH winds, and I was scared to death it looked like a tornado was coming (it was dark) cuz the trees were all bent over, so i look to the tv to see if there is a tornado warning and what do you know the satelite signal was out, and my husband was taking a shower like nothing was happening. I was holding my son and trying to drag everything out of the closet I planned to get into, and it was full..I guarantee you I cleaned it out in like 30 seconds. I was shaking all over, couldn't hardly breath, sweating really bad, and my heart was racing. That was pure terror I was feeling...A million thoughts raced through my mind like I could already see the news coverage of my apartment saying that they found two dead bodies in the rubble, and they found the baby about 1 mile away ALIVE...with no parents..all alone...and hungry, and he wants his mommy to hold him and tell him it's ok..but mommy is dead! Ok I have to stop now cuz I've started to cry, So yea I guess i just made ur fears a little worse, but if ya'll know someone that can tell me if I'm crazy or not plz! let me know..If you've made it this far--Thanks for reading all of this :)
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Avatar universal
iam 33yrs old and i have had a fear of storms for a long time i can't sleep i make myself sick when there is one coming or suppose to be one . my hubby gets so mad at me but i really cant help it some time i fell like my chest is going to explode i am so scared if anyone has any advice please let me know something i really would appriciate the help as far as i can remember i have never been in a tornado but for some reason i am so scared that i litrally get sick i have tried to not pay attention to the storms but i cant help it everyone around me makes fun of me and says that i should just sit back and watch them there is nothing going to happen but i cant.so as i said if any advice i would really appriciate
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Avatar universal
I've been afraid of storms for about 40 years now.  I wish it would go away but it's still somewhere inside of me and I can't seem to find the button to get rid of my fear.  My main fear is of tornadoes.  If I was sure, absolutely sure a storm wouldn't conatain a tornado, I 'might' be able to get through one without so much concern, but it's always in the back of my mind that if I relax, it could happen.  I always run to a very small basment that isn't even all the way underground, but it's all I have to go into since I live in a house trailer.  I feel so bad sometimes, really, all the time when others around me just stay inside and go on with life like it's a nice, sunny day while I'm down in the damp, dark of my halfway underground area.  Sometimes I stay there all night long and half the next day until they storms have passed and then I feel terrible, achy and very tired.  I take Xanax when I know a storm is coming and sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't.  I usually go there before the storm even hits so that I won't have to run outside to where my basment area is located.  I don't want to run outside durring lightning.  People think I'm crazy and tell me to face my fears and get over it, but I've tried and it hasn't worked, just makes me more tense and feeling like I'm going to throw up.  I hate feeling like this and it ruins my springs and summers when I'm spending so much time down there instead of enjoying life like the rest of my family.
  I don't have an answer, just wanted you to know you're not alone.  God Bless and help us all, please!
Ama
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Avatar universal
First of all i am glad to hear all your stories. I feel the same as all of you. I am 30 years old and only been scared of storm for about 3 years. it's weird but i know when it started. 3 years ago i was at work and right at the end of the day a storm was forming and it had some weird colors and it came fast. my brothers and i started running for a trailor that was near by nothing stronger then a mobile home type. i remember haveing the door open and looking out and the door got ripped from my hands, it did not get ripped off but i could not hold it a my hat just got sucked off of my head. The point is at that point i realized how strong a storm was and that i could not control it. about 8 years before that a small tornado touched down at the end of my street and damaged a from houses, nobody was hurt. But that never messed with me i was fine. I just wish 3 years ago that there was a building close that was stronger and i never opened that door and maybe i would still be normal. trust me my wife looks at me like i am a sissy and it *****. i do not want to feel like this anymore. I pack up my family everytime there is a chance for strong storms, and as many of you feel, that is like everyday when you are like this. I HATE weather.com but i have to look at it, i can not stop. Unlike alot of you insead of looking out the windows i close the blinds and try not to look because if i do not see it, it won't bother me until i hear the thunder and then it's time to start freakin out. I wish i liked beer more and i would just get drunk and pass out and that should help but now i have a 4 month old girl and i have to protect her and the wife. the wife is one of those who love to have the windows open the hear the storm and it make me sick she could do that. I can tell it is affecting her and that bothers me, i never wanted her it know that i was afraid of storm and she didn't until last year and i could not take it anymore. The good thing is a basement does make me feel so much better. I look at it this way if i am in a basement and a tornado gets me then there is nothing i could do and God wants me. Wow i have been typing way to much and sorry for that i could easily go on but thanks for reading.
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Avatar universal
I completely understand.  I am 18 and ever since I can remember, I have had an overwhelming fear of storms.  I love calm rainy days (I live in Arizona so those are welcomed), but the minute the wind picks up and I hear thunder, my heart pounds faster and I have trouble breathing.  For a while I thought my fears had started to subside, but we had a rather bad monsoon season this year and they are right back to what they used to be.  On a number of occasions, I have ended up sleeping on bathroom floors with about 20 blankets over me, terrified out of my mind.  Luckily I live in a place where there are only storms for about a month or two out of the year, but I prepare for monsoon season and the terror that will ensue.  
       Now I don't know if something happened in your childhood, but I have been racking my brain to figure out where my fear originated.  The sad thing is, I realized my biggest fear came from the movies Twister and Wizard of Oz.  I saw them both when I was about four, and ever since, I have hated storms.  It is truly embarrasing to have such a great and semi-irrational fear with so little cause.  With that in mind, I have been trying to separate fiction from reality.  It is true that storms are dangerous, and I believe it is the size of them that makes us afraid of them, the fact that it is not something we can do anything about.  However, if we take precautions, there is little chance of any harm actually coming to us.      
      Now, trust me, right now I can rationalize with myself, but about two hours ago I was, again, on the floor, like a five year old, terrified out of my mind.  But I do believe it is a work in progress, and while the progress may be slow and the outcome unknown, I do believe we can learn to ease our fears so that we can at least function.  Good luck, and remember, there are obviously a bunch of us that understand what you're going through.
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Avatar universal
i have been afraid of storms for about 2 years now. its been sorta like a rollercosater. some days im fine with them. then somedays if people that didnt know what was wrong would have thought i was absoulutley crazy.im on zoloft and thats helped. i guess i should mention why im afraid of storms bcuz we know why.
My First Fear was of my mother dying.
it had nithing to do with storms.but then one day i didnt feel good before school so i decided to stay home with my father.it was like the perfect weather in the morning!!!!!! sunny, not a cloud in the sky!!!!
then at like 1 or 2 it got really dark by my backyard.  it was the darkest ive ever seen so you would imagine how i felt!
my daddy was working outside and i asked him why it was so dark and before he could answer, there was i huge out of nowhere downpour!!!
we went inside in the basement/living room and turned on the weather. the sirens were going off everywhere. and the phones didnt work here so i had to call my mom on my cell cuz i was fareaking out!!!!!!!
of course it died down and it was fine! ever since i got over my fear of my mommy dying but not of storms.  but can someone help me deal with this!
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Avatar universal
Don't move to San Fran.  It's always raining.  My dog freaks when it is about to storm.
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