[skeletal.butterfly]

To put it bluntly.

I was in the Aspergers/Autism board and I picked up this topic about some Autistics/Aspies not being able to put their face under water and I just had this thought of my own experiences. Wondering if anyone else has had issues or not with water?

This is really interesting. I've always liked to swim but going in the water has been like dragging a dog in the shower...I like the idea of water being soft, pouring, clear, clean etc but just having it touch me bothers me (be it showers, pools, jacuzzis, spray guns, etc...etc....) and I don't understand people who really think bobbing in the ocean with salt in their mouth, nose, ears, and water dripping down their faces is considered fun. Sure the idea is a fantasy but the reality is just not right. Can't get out that sand, it goes everywhere and it bothers me for weeks and I still get annoyed at the thought because sand is intrusive. It goes where you don't want it to, the creases and the folds, and it makes me feel vulnerable. The salt is even worse, I don't like that feeling in my nose or my eyes only because it's also interruptive of my normal feeling (which is almost a blank because I don't feel anything in my eyes but the occasional eyelash)

If I do get my head under water, I HAVE to come up in a specific way otherwise I have to do it again and again until it feels right. But at the same time, I can't dive, or face downwards, and I feel really as if I'm totally discombobulated if my face is in the water. I feel frustrated and pissed off because putting my face underwater makes me feel imbalanced. When my face is not in the water, I feel balanced. But once it goes in, that's when I start putting everything in perspective (my hair floating all over the place, in my face, on my neck) and those different sensations are what bother me most, they're out of place.

Breaststrokes are okay, but again, the whole water concept is an acquired taste. If I hadn't been pushed into it, I probably would be sitting on the deck eating ice cream. I'd prefer not to ruin that peace. Water, though as harmless and good as it is, I can only drink. Even a shower causes me to bristle. I hate that change in environment. (I do take frequent showers though because it bothers me to feel unclean)

Even at the age of 23, when my husband urges me to just "put your head under the water, it feels SOOO great" I'm grumbling and mumbling to myself.

Once I do go under, I have to hold my nose, even though I KNOW how to keep water out, it's just that I cannot enjoy the water. I come back up only if my hair (which is medium length) is completely stroked back behind me as I come up (like those portrayals of women coming out of the water with perfect hair?) except if it doesn't, I do it again, and again until when I run my hand there myy hair is silky and straight. Even coming out of the shower I do this...it has to be that way or else I just getting really messed up about it and regret even going in the pool, jacuzzi, or shower. Haha.

But other than that, I do understand the whole mentality of water as a cleaning agent, or entertainment (swimming for example). But it's really amazing that when I swim or even in the shower I keep my face out of the water. If it does go on it, I have to spend minutes looking like a crazy wiping the water off my face (don't like it).

This is probably really normal.

[inspaces]

Hi,

I do not have the problems you describe. I am a huge fan of swimming. In my triathlons, it is by far my best event. I come from a family of swimmers. Had an Aunt who made it as far as Olympic trials and my grandma holds world records in swimming races in like the 85-95 age categories (ya, 85-95!) She began pool competition swimming in her 70's after a hugely successful career in coaching swimteams. She never told me when she was in her early 30's how she did marathon distance swimming in open water - found all kind of news articles about her (this was 2 years after she passed away).

It is interesting to hear you fears and rules about water. But I get a feeling that you wish you could like water, you know breaststroke, so you have been around swimming, so I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

I guess I swim about 3 miles/week in the pool at our gym and also I'll open water swim in the summer (with a wetsuit). Swimming freestyle, i love the feel of the water swooshing past my body, especially after a flip-turn as I rush into the wake of the water I just came from. It's calming and the water feels like silk on my skin after about 100yards or so warmup.

I wear a cap and goggles - have you tried that? keeps the hair from being all floaty and bothersome. btw, if not wearing a cap, i too will always come up with my head back - smoothed back hair as exiting is lovely and sexy goggles keeps the water out of my eyes and you can see so much better underwater.

Never hold your breath under water - the moment you go face down, blow bubbles from mouth and nose. And you may find it easier in prone position to get over your fear about water in your nose. bobbing straight down is an open invitation for water in the nose, which i hate too. Try practicing by holding the side of the pool, kicking your feet and just put your face in the water to practice blowing bubbles. The most common mistake of swimmers is not blowing bubbles. blow all the air out, turn head to side so your ear is in the water, take breath, face back in. Basic 101 swimming crawl stroke lesson. wear cap and goggles.

fwiw, i'm not a huge fan of ocean swimming. love the beach, love the water to cool off, but that's about it - well until i do a triathlon that involves an ocean anyway

go for it!!
Inspaces

PS i love how you have a swimming thread and there's a swimming pool ad at the bottom of the page I've also seen triathlon ads too lol

[lysergia]

dunno what else to say about it but i'm the same. i won't swim ever again unless i've been shipwrecked. if i don't have to get my face anywhere near water, i'm a happy lysergia (hah i wish that's all it took hehe).

my fears are that i will not be able to resurface and i will drown, even in a few inches of water. i don't even like someone splashing my face by accident. i feel horribly anxious when that happens.

for me it may be a trauma reaction, i don't know. i can't remember if i liked water before that happened, as i was kinda young. i should ask my mother if she remembers that.

i'm sure there are many successful treatments/therapies for this fear - i've never really worked on it.

[skeletal.butterfly]

Inspaces----->> Thanks for the information, that's sweet. I'm actually really great at swimming (and I was pretty good too in Highschool). But it all started going bad in my late teens. I'm the kind of swimmer that holds my breathe all the way across a large pool (smaller than the olympic size but still impossible for most people to do). It was easy for me. But I just started to dislike the water. It's sort of paranoia mixed with some dimension of other disorderly behavior? The fact is that when any water gets near me, I feel like I just had a spoonful of caster oil? It's rather like something I have to do i.e. shower, but the whole time I'm totally not enjoying myself, irritated, and in a bitchy mood because of the water.

Your description and history is amazing. I wish I had a grandmother like that haha! But really, I know what you mean, it does give me a soft sensation on my arms and legs...but I just don't like it, and the ocean is even worse....I only imagine all kinds of octopii or shark just lurking in the dark and I can'thelp it. It makes me want to run run run.

I do blow out...the problem is that putting my face in water is disconcerting. It's like I have to detach myself from any feeling at all to be able to do it. Like a robot.

Lysergia---->>splashing and or getting any liquid on my face gets me angry. I feel bad, people do it out of fun but I don't like it at all.

[inspaces]

Butterfly...

by the way, can you do that stroke?

that's one of my grandma's records... 100 fly !

swimming across the pool holding your breath causes hypoxia which could contribute to water phobias.. but you probably already know this

I did a 1.2 mile open water swim in august. About 2/3 into it I was doing great and then I started thinking about what if some big fish swam right past me - like a sturgeon or something big and long... I really had to talk myself away from that thought thread or i would have made a beeline for one of the kayaks that lined the course. Instead I got myself to catch up to a group of swimmers so I wasn't alone -figuring we as humans are far biggger and scarier to any fish

Being that you were a great swimmer in highschool, I hope you can find a way back. I too was a competitive swimmer from like age 6 - 18. Never a record breaker but still good. Then didn't do any kind of swimming except recreational (meaning floating around with a drink in my hand). I just got back to swimming a few years ago and i'm now 41. It's like riding a bike, you don't forget - just needed some updating on stroke form. It is now one of my very best stress relievers and as added bonus I'm always one of the fastest on triathlons for that portion.

best of luck

[skeletal.butterfly]

Well, my breast stroke and the backstroke are my favorite and I do really well in them.

I am so guilty of holding my breathe...I do it all the time.

THe last time I was taken snorkeling by my husband and he took me in the middle of the ocean after paying so much money to rent materials and packed lunch etc...and I freaked out in the water...I started hyperventilating really quickly and uhm I almost drowned him (poor thing) I felt so bad about it afterwards but that's just me.

Then we spent the whole afternoon HOLDING HANDS while snorkeling. I guess I thought a Shark would take pity on us if we were holding hands?

Pool water and showers just get me irritable really. But the whole thing centers around maybe the fact that I've gotten scared of ocean water and associate it with all water except the drinking kind?