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Mr. Luddite[_4_]

On 9/19/2017 1:14 AM, wrote:
On Mon, 18 Sep 2017 19:47:25 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 9/18/2017 3:14 PM, John H wrote:
On Mon, 18 Sep 2017 14:29:22 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

John H Wrote in message:

To get on the house roof I don't need a ladder. Can climb out a
bedroom window and then have access to entire roof with a step stool.

I don't do house roofs either. If I get four feet from the edge, severe
vertigo sets in. :-)

I'll bet it's not vertigo. Most likely it's illyngophobia. I'll let you look it up. I realized I
sufferred from same when I took a motorcycle ride in the French Alps when I was about 63. It also
kicks in in places like the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, anywhere there is a drop...including the high
part of my roof. I'm OK if I get on my butt and inch my way to the edge.

Sounds like what I experience. One of the Florida houses had a two
story high main living room with an overhead fan mounted from the
ceiling. The blades where dirty and I borrowed my neighbor's super high
step ladder figuring I'd climb up an clean them. When I got to where I
could reach the fan blades an overwhelming feeling of dizziness and
nauseousness overcame me and I had to clutch the ladder and close my
eyes otherwise I felt I would pass out and fall. It has happened on
ladders of lesser height as well, even last year when cleaning the
gutters and I was only 3/4 of the way up on a 12 foot stepladder.

It's weird because I've flown small airplanes and even a helicopter with
a big, 360 degree view bubble for a windshield. Never bothers me, even
practicing stalls and having the airplane start to fall out of the sky.
But a 12 foot ladder? No freakin' way.

I don't seem to have the problem. I can just forget I am 15 feet in
the air and do my job. I am pretty careful setting up my ladder and I
usually have a bail out plan (something I can grab, a soft place to
land or something) The trick ends up turning a fall into a jump if you
know you are going down and hope for the best.

I doubt all the preparedness in the world would prevent the feeling I
get on a ladder or on a roof, especially near the edge. I've been told
it's really an anxiety attack. I've tried the mind over matter thing,
willing myself not to freak out but when it hits all you can do is wrap
your arms around the ladder and close your eyes until it passes.