You often hear people expressing fears around spiders, injections, or even dogs, but one woman has shocked others by admitting she has a crippling phobia of peas.
Maddy Alexander-Grout, 39, said that her debilitating fear of the popular vegetable comes from being force-fed them at school, and has said her "terror" at the sight of them causes her to have panic attack-like symptoms.
She even claims that her phobia "stunted her childhood" as she didn't want to go round to her friend's houses in case peas were on the menu.
Maddy, from Southampton, believes her fear stems from being forced to finish her peas at lunchtime at school when she used to "stuff peas into [her] cheeks like a hamster", and then run to the toilet to spit them out.
She explained that she gets a "fight or flight" reaction to peas, including a racing heart, sweaty palms and anxious feelings. Her breathing also gets faster.
Maddy added: "The school was really strict, and they basically served peas with every single meal. It was the sort of school where you eat what you're given, and they won't let you out to play until you've eaten all of your lunch.
"It mentally scarred me really badly - from that moment on, I was scared to go over to friends' houses in case their parents served peas.
Maddy was diagnosed with ADHD in 2022 and thinks her fear of peas is also partly due to her "struggle with sensory processing" as she hates their texture and taste, and claims her phobia is so "deep-rooted" that no therapist could cure it.
She said: "I was always told by my parents to finish my plate and eat what I'm given when I went to others' houses to be polite. I think it sort of almost stunted my childhood a little, and it really did make quite a big impact on me."
Maddy is often teased by her friends and family about her disdain for peas. Her dad once giving her a can of peas for her birthday as a joke, which made her cry for hours. She insists that it is not funny and she is "genuinely scared of peas."
The phobia even has an impact on Maddy's job - she's in the process of making an app that focuses on money-saving tips, and she can't include peas on any recipe list, or film TikTok's in restaurants where peas are being eaten.
At around the age of eight, Maddy also developed emetophobia - a fear of vomit - after having a sickness bug that triggered memories of her spitting out peas as a young child.
Five years ago, Maddy had hypnotherapy to help overcome her fear, but she doesn't think it helped.
She said: "I think it's just so deep, so deep-rooted, I just don't think that any therapist is going to get rid of it."
She even has to leave the room when the rest of her family eat peas, admitting her husband once put a pea in their bed - and she was disgusted.
Do you have any unusual phobias? Let us know in the comments.
