I Seem to Have an Aversion to Holes
By celticeagle
@celticeagle (172115)
Boise, Idaho
March 5, 2025 3:37pm CST
About six months ago I was scrolling through some ads on my phone to get to a certain article and saw this weird ad. It was for something you put on your feet at night and a bunch of worms(toxins in the form of worms I guess) come out your feet by morning. Gross, yeah but the picture did a number on me. It was the bottom of a foot with a lot of holes, perhaps where the worms come out-- I don't know. But, I was nauseated by the picture. Each time it came up I would freak and feel. I told my grandson and he said something about 'holes' and didn't finish. So months go by and I saw a picture of a pair of sandals that had mess holes on the top of the foot. I got this same feeling again.
So, today I talked to my grandson again. He told me the name of the phobia. It is trypophobia and it is an aversion to tightly packed pattern of holes. I think that is rather weird and so I did some research.
There is no cure since it is a phobia and no known cause, it just develops in the cognitive mind. They suggest talk therapy or exposure therapy. I am going with the latter. I try to look at pictures of clusters of holes each day. The thing that bugs me the most is that at night when I lay down and am trying to think of pleasant things to lull me off to sleep I get pictures of these clusters of holes instead and I really have to fight to get them out of my mind.
I also found that about 17% percent of children and adults have this disorder which comes out to about one in six have some degree of trypophobia.
It is really making me nauseated and adds to the anxiety factor of my life. I don't like it! I think I will back away from exposure therapy for a while.
9 people like this
6 responses
@wolfgirl569 (112414)
• Marion, Ohio
7h
Talking might help more at first. I had never heard of it.
3 people like this
@celticeagle (172115)
• Boise, Idaho
7h
I had never known of it's existence until my grandson told me about it.
2 people like this
@Fleura (31130)
• United Kingdom
7h
I totally agree with @lilacskies, the idea that so-called 'toxins' can be drawn out of your feet in the form of worms sounds like utter rubbish, a total load of baloney. Your kidneys and liver are perfectly capable of all the detoxifying that is required.
As for trypophobia though, I have heard of this and a friend says she has it. She doesn't like to look at a sponge, for example, or certain types of seedheads. It is very strange.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (172115)
• Boise, Idaho
7h
The toxins coming out are shaped like worms. Dried flower centers get me. I can't think about it. I get very nauseated.
2 people like this
@sallypup (63128)
• Centralia, Washington
3h
Holes. I come of understand. When my hubby and I were just starting out as a couple the apartment we had was quite old. There was a Murphy bed- you know, you are supposed to daily slide the bed back into the cavern and nightly take it out. I was young and did not want all that exercise so I used the cavern as a storage closet. BUT there still was a cavern behind my head at night. I got spooked by that more than once.
@JudyEv (347485)
• Rockingham, Australia
1h
I've never heard of this. It's quite amazing how these things happen.
@manasamanu (3807)
• Bangalore, India
51m
Take things easy, one step at a time. Exposure therapy is kind of stressful, but gives results faster. The more you look into it the more you keep thinking about it, its that you feed your mind with these things. So, when your mind is empty these unwanted thoughts pop out. Better to read something or listen to soothing music while sleeping 
