Please help! Avoidance or PHOBIA of a gum cracker? My MIL...

April 25, 2010

Please don't think I'm crazy, but I think my mother in law's constant gum

cracking has caused me to develop an almost PHOBIA of her lately.

I've posted on here before about how my mother in law has taken up gum chewing

these past few years, possibly to combat dry mouth from medications... But she

does not quietly chew the gum, she loudly and very obnoxiously CHOMPS and SMACKS

and CRACKS it! She's almost 70 and as I said I think she does it because of dry

mouth... But it seems as if she is NEVER NOT chewing the gum.

Lately I've taken to AVOIDING her at all costs... and I almost feel kind of

guilty about it... But whenever I think of asking her to babysit or going

somewhere with her, I PANIC and IMMEDIATELY WANT TO AVOID HER... I'm so afraid

and disgusted of seeing and hearing her chew the gum that I actually avoid her

all together.

This week is my son's third birthday. My in laws stopped by the other day to

give my son a birthday balloon and when I heard them enter the house I PANICKED

and hid in the extra room. Then I pretended to be " cleaning " and hid in the

upstairs bedroom the rest of the time they were there...

This afternoon we are having my son's actual party and, truth be told, I am

TERRIFIED that my MIL will show up with gum.

I've realized now that this whole thing is affecting my RELATIONSHIP with my

mother in law on a deeper level. My own mother, one of the few people I've told

about this problem, says that my MIL will realize that I am avoiding her and

wonder what is going on...

But, like all of us, I am TRAPPED! I can't tell her why because she will think

I am crazy. I HAVE tried to tell my mother about how gum chewing bothers be

before and she just scoffed and snickered at me and continued to chew loudly.

Then, on some level, part of me even suspects that she is doing this ON PURPOSE

to aggravate me... And if that is true and I'm not being simply crazy then I

am... hurt.

Any advice on this? Have any of you had similar issues?

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