Are you claustophobic?

[PerkyForHerky]

 

[Funky Bunch]

I am now

 

[naturalmwa]

Darwin at work.

 

[Jackie Treehorn]

Yes. Yes, I am.

There is a good sized tunnel around Wild Iowa outside of Monticello and I wouldn't enter the first section. No thanks.

 

[Hawk in SEC Country]

Only if my arms are pinned against me........

 

[WARHAWK]

Yes and I had an MRI years ago and it was the longest 30 Minutes of my life! I am not sure how I survived. Getting freaked out just thinking of it.

 

[SSG T]

In my old unit, referenced in another thread, we had to do confined space training. It's been about 6-7 years now, so I may be slightly off, but IIRC, we were certified down to 18 inches with SCBA. That's really, really tight, especially when pushing your SCBA tank in front of you. It was fun training though.

Oh, and no, I'm not claustrophobic.

 

[SSG T]

BTW, this is what an 18 inch opening looks like.

I think this is a 24 inch opening.

I can see how neither would be fun if you don't like confined space.

 

[plmac9]

No way no how would do that. Very much so. I get a little crazy when I get those CT scans and they slide you in the tube. and that is open on both ends.

 

[SSG T]

No way no how would do that. Very much so. I get a little crazy when I get those CT scans and they slide you in the tube. and that is open on both ends.

One of our requirements was pulling someone out of those. So you are not only with dealing with the confined space and your own equipment, you're also dealing with the injured/stuck person and gear. Plus, if you are using a mechanical retrieval system, a winch of some sort, you have that stuff too. And you pretty much have to push everything in front of you in the really small spaces because there's no way to get it around your body 30 feet into an 18" pipe. The bigger openings, 24-30 inch, aren't too bad, you can pull smaller stuff with your leg/foot and pull it around your body.

Either way, moving 10-20 yards through them is really slow going. In 18" pipes, you're moving inches per minute. It might take 30 minutes to move 30 feet.

 

[ICWestfan]

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I was the war prisoner who couldn't escape from the Nazi camp because the tunnel was worse than staying behind. Fortunately for me, my buddies knocked me unconscious, tied a rope around my feet and dragged me out. That's why I'm alive to tell this story.

Kidding aside, my first MRI I was barely inside the machine when, with all the calm I could muster, I told them to "get me out of here NOW!" It's open MRI all the way for me.

 

[Accipiter]

I'm not claustrophobic, but years ago I was reading an account of the first exploration of one of this country's longest caves (maybe Schoolhouse)? The lead spelunker would be working through a very small tube (rather like the video but head first, without knowing how the tunnel ended). The explorer would exhale, pull himself forward a few inches, then inhale. My palms were sweating just reading about it. When I first started dating my now wife, I knew she was claustrophobic but I didn't realize how badly; we were following a guide into a cave in Jamaica, with only the guide having a flashlight. We were just in about twenty feet and I turned to say something to Liz, but she was gone; I found her outside shaking and crying. She insisted I go back in and see the cave, which I did, and it was quite a Jamaican experience. You would walk along a tunnel in the darkness and every fifty feet or so an electric lantern would go on and a different little two minute show would be put on for you, like a Reggae band (of course each stop required tipping). I swore that the guide said we were going to see "the gerbil of the caves" which I was looking forward to seeing, but I must have misunderstood because it never was shown. At one point there was an ice cold underground stream a couple of foot deep which came out of solid rock, shot across the five foot wide tunnel, and disappeared into the opposite wall. There was a rock sort of like a stalagmite in the middle of the stream and the guide said if we climbed into the stream and held onto the rock, he'd turn off the flashlight and we'd feel the energy of the cave enter our bodies (maybe that had something to do with a gerbil... who knows). Well, I hopped in, wrapped my arms and legs around the rock, and stood there in the darkness, in the ice cold water, wondering if I lost my grip if they'd look for my body six months later in the ocean.

 

[Lone Clone]

I'm not claustrophobic, but years ago I was reading an account of the first exploration of one of this country's longest caves (maybe Schoolhouse)? The lead spelunker would be working through a very small tube (rather like the video but head first, without knowing how the tunnel ended). The explorer would exhale, pull himself forward a few inches, then inhale. My palms were sweating just reading about it. When I first started dating my now wife, I knew she was claustrophobic but I didn't realize how badly; we were following a guide into a cave in Jamaica, with only the guide having a flashlight. We were just in about twenty feet and I turned to say something to Liz, but she was gone; I found her outside shaking and crying. She insisted I go back in and see the cave, which I did, and it was quite a Jamaican experience. You would walk along a tunnel in the darkness and every fifty feet or so an electric lantern would go on and a different little two minute show would be put on for you, like a Reggae band (of course each stop required tipping). I swore that the guide said we were going to see "the gerbil of the caves" which I was looking forward to seeing, but I must have misunderstood because it never was shown. At one point there was an ice cold underground stream a couple of foot deep which came out of solid rock, shot across the five foot wide tunnel, and disappeared into the opposite wall. There was a rock sort of like a stalagmite in the middle of the stream and the guide said if we climbed into the stream and held onto the rock, he'd turn off the flashlight and we'd feel the energy of the cave enter our bodies (maybe that had something to do with a gerbil... who knows). Well, I hopped in, wrapped my arms and legs around the rock, and stood there in the darkness, in the ice cold water, wondering if I lost my grip if they'd look for my body six months later in the ocean.

They love to get the tourists with that prank down there. But you weren't really in Jamaica. Every 50 feet somebody would have been offering to sell you ganja.

 

[JWolf74]

A little. I hate being cramped in the back of a car with my head touching the ceiling. I have to close my eyes or I get a tad anxious.

 

[Thomas Barnes]

I have experience fitting in pipes to do minor repair or to retrieve blockage. It was bad at first, but I got used to it after while.

 

[ping72]

Not at all. In fact, when I was young (elementary school age) I used to crawl into some pretty small built-in cabinets and sleep with both of my shoulders touching the walls and the ceiling just a few inches above me. I slept great.