claustrophobia anyone?? Anyone???

[Rick]

Was at our Cub Scout campout this weekend and my son and 2 other cubs were in my tent I was hanging and the dads were sleeping one tent over.
After I got all comfy on my blue pad and sleeping bag pulled up around me,
I realized I could hear muffled sounds of the cubs and started feeling claustrophobic, it didn't help that every now and again a waft o smoke would drift under my tarp.
It took about 30 minutes for the feeling to pass, but I definitely felt like pulling out my spare tent and sleeping on the ground. (though I did realize it was claustrophobia and not foolishness, before I opted not to dwell on the ground ).
Anybody else come across this. It seem to be more related to all the work it took to get comfortable on a pad and sleeping bag, and the fact I might have to get up in 5 mins to check on the cubs. But after 30 some years of sleeping on the ground and only one season of hanging, I want to also make sure it isn't like quitting smoking and I am having ground withdrawal......

[FanaticFringer]

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...claustrophobia

[slowhike]

yep, the thread that fanaticfringer linked for you shows that you're not alone.
you can probably adjust phycologicly... especially as you get more accustomed to adjusting your cool weather sleeping gear.
but if not, you may want to try a top loading hammock. any thing but going back

[frog]

I did two or three different things. Each one seemed to help my prob with claustrophobia a little. The sum of all the things made it bearable and several shorter stints of an hour or two before I tried an all nighter, seemed to progressively make the prob pretty much go away.

My first all nighter in the woods was successful with the only 'problem' being having to get up during the night to answer natures call.

I started by putting my self inflatable pad on the bottom, next to the hammock, with my sleeping bag on top. This caused the sleeping bag to bunch up around me and seemed to contribute to the closed in feeling.

I ended up putting the pad inside the bag (rectangular, Wal-Mart el cheapo) which held the bag spread out much better. This helped a lot.

I found a fan at WM that hangs on the ridgeline and blows across my upper body and face. This really helped.

A radio with ear buds seems to give the illusion of being in the open when my eyes are closed and helps a lot.

Finally, a clip on led light that was clipped to the ridge line within easy reach finished things off. I actually only used the light to get rearranged after the nature calls, but just knowing it was there seemed to help.

Someone on the forum once used the term "bear pinata", and camping in bear country, it sort of stuck in my mind. The term went through my mind several times during the night and may have helped keep my mind off the closed in feeling. Now, if I can shake the bear phobia, I've got it made. JK, lol.

Good luck, and don't give up. It really is, as they say "all in the head".

[Rick]

Thanks all. Thanks Fanatic for that other thread.
I was thinking about it and It all starts with feeling a bit frustrated trying to pull my blue foam pad into the HH after it sat rolled up for 2 weeks.
Then trying to get my sleeping bag to stay put on it in position long enough for me to sit down (and have the pad slide sideways 3-4 times didn't help).

but by the time I finally got into position and laid down, I struggled for several more minutes to get the bag up and around me and finally zipped up. That's when I felt a bit of panic.

It also happened one other night near a trail head when a car pulled in and I couldn't see it but heard a door open and close.
I was playing around with the HH last night and I think I had the tarp not centered properly, which could have had something to do with it as well...
Again, thanks... I a feel a bit relieved to find out it is a normal occurrence with others.

[FanaticFringer]

I reverse roll my pad right before I put it in the hammock to help uncurl it.
Most people like a pad wider than 20" so a Speer SPE is something to look into.
Using your bag zipped up would be much more claustrophobic than using it as a top quilt. Not to mention much more of a pain in the #^@% getting into.
Careful of those zippers in a hammock. I cut mine off.

[kohburn]

I don't have the clostrophobia issue, but i've been contemplating modifications to my sleeping pad and bag to make them not move around so much when getting in and out of th ehammock and i had the idea to add some tie loops to the diagonal corners and run a peice of line from the two diagonals up the the peak at each end of the hammock. figured it would keep them pointing diagonal and centered in the hammock at all times.