Mild Claustrophobia

[Gwen]

My friend would like to go spelunking with us next weekend, but she has mild claustrophobia. I would love to hear any suggestions from anyone on how they managed their mild claustrophobia and spelunking.

 

[CozInCowtown]

Whoopee Cushin!

 

[dinosaur]

That's a thought, CozIn. You have to do something to keep the friend occupied with things other than close quarters. I've been through some pretty tight spots and, trust me, you don't want somebody freaking out in front of you.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

I dealt with my mild claustrophobia while caving by stopping. I found that I was getting tighter and tighter everytime I had to squeeze thru a narrow passage (there is a story in that but to long to type out). In short, it was getting to not be fun any more, so I decided to do something that was.

 

[oldsarge]

After a bad reaction to some medication, I developed claustrophobia which lasted several years. I am a welder for a containment rental company. I have to go inside tight places and weld. At the high point on my claustrophobia I noticed that if I focused on the small things I was working on, I could control my problem better. If I were to look around inside on of these tanks, it would bring on an attack. All I needed to do was cocentrate on what I was doing and not stop to look around, this helped me considerably. I know this may not help much since the whole reason for going inside the caves is to look around and enjoy the experience. My point is that maybe by keeping your friend engaged in conversation more and try to keer her from taking in too much and becoming overwhelmed. As of now my claustrophobia is practical non-existent. I very seldom have any attacks and if I do have one, they are very managable.