Flying phobia

[Anonymous]

Have any of you successfully conquered this? I really want to travel but I can't get myself onto a plane.

I tried meds a few months ago for a one hour flight as an experiment and I got onto the plane successfully but I was petrified the entire time, ill afterwards (headache and nausea, I think from the meds), and wound up taking a train home.

It's so sad - I don't even know if I'll be able to visit my kid at college in the Midwest

[Anonymous]

What meds did you try? I suggest klonopin as needed, maybe longer acting anxiety meds and a series of cbt or exposure therapy. The more you are exposed to a less panicky flight, the easier the next one will be. I haven’t needed meds nor had a problem on a flight in years.

[Anonymous]

OP you are not alone. I have a more general anxiety around long haul flights and traveling alone. Is this one issue or two? I don't know what do do about it, and I feel like it is making me avoid joining friends and family on otherwise exciting adventures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What meds did you try? I suggest klonopin as needed, maybe longer acting anxiety meds and a series of cbt or exposure therapy. The more you are exposed to a less panicky flight, the easier the next one will be. I haven’t needed meds nor had a problem on a flight in years.

I've tried Xanax and Ativan in the past for an MRI. I don't know why these drugs make me feel so lousy - I had the same issue after the MRI as well (headache, nausea).

All these recent plane crashes and articles about understaffing at air control towers are making things so much worse.

[Anonymous]

I don’t like flying. I take regular Dramamine (NOT the non-drowsy version!) and just knock myself out. It works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like flying. I take regular Dramamine (NOT the non-drowsy version!) and just knock myself out. It works.

I've tried Dramamine. Unfortunately I panic so severely that it counteracts the drowsy effect.

[Anonymous]

I did hypnosis. It really worked

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did hypnosis. It really worked

Really?? Where did you do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What meds did you try? I suggest klonopin as needed, maybe longer acting anxiety meds and a series of cbt or exposure therapy. The more you are exposed to a less panicky flight, the easier the next one will be. I haven’t needed meds nor had a problem on a flight in years.

I have to take meds and fly often, and not to be discouraging but after making some progress I was on one bad flight and now am as bad as ever. Prescription rx and then dealing with the “hangover” after are the only things that work for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like flying. I take regular Dramamine (NOT the non-drowsy version!) and just knock myself out. It works.

I've tried Dramamine. Unfortunately I panic so severely that it counteracts the drowsy effect.

Xanax may help. It’s faster acting than Klonopin. You can’t drink alcohol with either one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did hypnosis. It really worked

Can you share more about this PP?

[Anonymous]

I had great results with this course:
https://m.fearofflying.com/

[Anonymous]

Therapy? Pessimism? (Half joking). I have anxiety with a few things but not this and not this severe, because I just accept the fact that I could die at any point in time every single day and there's not a goddamn thing I can do about it. I could die in a plane crash, sure. I could die being t-boned driving, I could die heli-skiing or just crossing the street going to the market. Air travel is generally, very very safe, so there is no reason to fixate on this particularly. No one knows how long we have, so mentally I try to do things to challenge myself that are "hard." I do find the "hard" is worth it. I just never wanted to live a liited life based on what I knew to be sightly irrational fear.

In your example, I would feel terrible I couldn't see my son because of this internalized, not entirely rational fear. Or see the world! Something that matters more than your fears is a motivator for me. I think for this one of the suggested programs would be good and anything truly phobic seems to do well with exposure therapy. Take a 40 min flight to NYC. Do it a few times. A trained specialist is the way to go, but they'll probably want you to do this. Once you've "mastered" it, it should get easier. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

My sister got this, and honestly, I am mad that she is not trying to cure it and do something about it. At least you are doing something op and trying something.
So, my sister fly the world, traveled and all, is a successful surgeon. So you would think she would, as a doctor, try something for this phobia. But, no.
She now has a two year old daughter, late in life only child, and my niece can only go where they can drive. We don't live on the same continent, and this means that my niece will not come see me until I am 70, I guess, when she can fly on her own.
I am just so mad about it, to be honest and see my sister's refusal to even try something as selfish.

[Anonymous]

Hypnosis user here. I found a clinician trained in hypnosis. I’m being vague with who I used for confidentiality reasons.
We did several sessions and I have recordings I listen to when I fly. Different ones for long and short flights. I have also heard good things about the fear of flying website listed above.