So scared to fly!

[dharma517]

Our cruise at the beginning of December is coming up. I just did our online registration today and booked Palo I do have some dread because I am way afraid to fly. I already have my prescription sedative ready thanks to my primary care doctor but it still doesn't completely knock me out. I would prefer some IV sedation

I was wondering if a dis'er would track our flight? A few years ago I went during Hurricane Jean and we were tracked by some nice diser's. Anyone interested? For some reason it makes me feel better. I was thinking I could post our flight number just before we leave?

Jenn

 

[breakingd_awn]

I'm new to flying ...what do you mean by "track my flight"

 

[disney1990]

I would be happy to track your flight. I always track my daughters and close friends when they fly.

This is the site I use: http://www.flightview.com/

 

[mndisfam]

Try Captain Stacy's Fear of Flying course. I hate flying, but we go quite a bit. It really helped me! It's free...just google it.

 

[inkkognito]

www.fearofflyinghelp.com

What type of meds were you given? I use Xanax and it is the best! For our transatlantic cruise, my initial thought was "OMG, we will be out over the ocean nowhere near land!" Once on the flight with a horse dose of Xanax in me, the thought was, "We're out over the ocean nowhere near land...cool!"

 

[trimix]

Here is the worst and most expensive advice I can give anybody.

Find a local flight school, ask to talk to an instructor, and tell him or her that you have a fear of flying and a private pilot told you an introductory lesson can really help.

The reason this is bad advice is not because it doesn't work - I know a lot of people who have overcome a fear of flying by sitting in the left front seat and flying the plane. The advice is a time vamipre - there is an excellent chance you will fall in love with flying and spend thousands of dollars and dozens of hours learning to fly. Then you will spend far more money to feed your flying habit.

It sounds a bit crazy - taking a flight lesson when you are afraid to fly. But I know it has worked for a lot of people and there is a good chance it will work for you. But you'll never be happy on another commercial flight - you'll sit there irritated the whole time because you are not up front flying the plane

 

[El&Asmom]

Here is the worst and most expensive advice I can give anybody.

Find a local flight school, ask to talk to an instructor, and tell him or her that you have a fear of flying and a private pilot told you an introductory lesson can really help.

The reason this is bad advice is not because it doesn't work - I know a lot of people who have overcome a fear of flying by sitting in the left front seat and flying the plane. The advice is a time vamipre - there is an excellent chance you will fall in love with flying and spend thousands of dollars and dozens of hours learning to fly. Then you will spend far more money to feed your flying habit.

It sounds a bit crazy - taking a flight lesson when you are afraid to fly. But I know it has worked for a lot of people and there is a good chance it will work for you. But you'll never be happy on another commercial flight - you'll sit there irritated the whole time because you are not up front flying the plane

I'm glad that worked for you, but for me it was quiet the opposite. I was an athlete in college and we flew to all of our away games. We flew some pretty small aircraft, and we often would have to sit next to the pilot during the flight so we could all fit. It scared the bleep out of me.

I hate to fly. The older I get the worse it is. I once heard that women of childbearing years are typically the worst. Something to do with the mama bear protective instinct.
I'm usually better on the flight home, and the more frequently I fly the better I get. The anticipation is the hardest for me. I'm already stressing out about our January trip. It will be for 6 nights at AKV and a 3 night cruise so thankfully there is a lot to look forward to. Maybe I should look into some of those happy drugs. Won't be able to help dh too much with the kids though....

 

[makaylee]

www.fearofflyinghelp.com

What type of meds were you given? I use Xanax and it is the best! For our transatlantic cruise, my initial thought was "OMG, we will be out over the ocean nowhere near land!" Once on the flight with a horse dose of Xanax in me, the thought was, "We're out over the ocean nowhere near land...cool!"

To funny Barb!
My DH is in the AF so we move and fly alot. We're currently overseas again and whenever we fly (over water especially) I have to have atleast 10 mg of xanax in me. And like you said, it's then "cool" to be flying over the ocean!

 

[makaylee]

I'm glad that worked for you, but for me it was quiet the opposite. I was an athlete in college and we flew to all of our away games. We flew some pretty small aircraft, and we often would have to sit next to the pilot during the flight so we could all fit. It scared the bleep out of me.

I hate to fly. The older I get the worse it is. I once heard that women of childbearing years are typically the worst. Something to do with the mama bear protective instinct.
I'm usually better on the flight home, and the more frequently I fly the better I get. The anticipation is the hardest for me. I'm already stressing out about our January trip. It will be for 6 nights at AKV and a 3 night cruise so thankfully there is a lot to look forward to. Maybe I should look into some of those happy drugs. Won't be able to help dh too much with the kids though....

That's pretty interesting, because I didn't really hate flying so much until I had my children. Flying with them absolutely terrifies me.

 

[justmestace]

I have fearofflyinghelp.com saved in my favorites and I review it before each flight. I also have some nifty little drugs from the doc to help me out too.
I have found that taking a half a pill before bedtime the night before I fly helps me sleep, so I don't lay there all night worrying also. Also, for some reason, it helps if I drive to the airport, instead of my husband driving. Keeps my mind busy on the way down there, I guess.
My doc gave me Clonazepam (Klonopin)...which is a little stronger than Xanax, and takes a little longer to work. Several people I know take Xanax...I'm the only one with something different.
If you do get something from the doctor, take it once you arrive at the airport, so that it has time to take effect by the time you get on the plane.

 

[sbell111]

I'm glad that worked for you, but for me it was quiet the opposite. I was an athlete in college and we flew to all of our away games. We flew some pretty small aircraft, and we often would have to sit next to the pilot during the flight so we could all fit. It scared the bleep out of me.

I hate to fly. The older I get the worse it is. I once heard that women of childbearing years are typically the worst. Something to do with the mama bear protective instinct.
I'm usually better on the flight home, and the more frequently I fly the better I get. The anticipation is the hardest for me. I'm already stressing out about our January trip. It will be for 6 nights at AKV and a 3 night cruise so thankfully there is a lot to look forward to. Maybe I should look into some of those happy drugs. Won't be able to help dh too much with the kids though....

It isn't simply being in the cockpit that makes people fears go away.

The reason that flight training works for many people is because they get a good understanding of the physics involved in flight. Once the mystery of flight is gone, many people realize that there really isn't much to be scared of.

 

[inkkognito]

If you don't want to try a flying lesson, buy the DVD from www.fearofflyinghelp.com. They have a free course online, but they also sell a DVD that is VERY helpful for those who are comforted by knowing how things work. I got it before my transatlantic flight as it has a whole section on how they track the plans and have contingency plans etc. There is a discount code; I can't remember it, but if you email the site owner and ask, I bet he'd give the discount.

The problem with me is that although knowing as much as possible helps, I have a weird claustrophobia fear that was triggered by a very bad flight experience. We tried to beat a storm to Chicago and didn't make it, so we couldn't land. We circled and circled till we got low on fuel, then diverted to Rockford to get more. We weren't allowed to get off the plane there, so we sat on the ground for hours till we were allowed to go back to Chicago. But just before we touched down at Midway, they had to abort the landing due to a tail wind. It was back up again, then FINALLY back down and done with it. To top it off, I had a sinus infection so every up and down was torture. Now I get rather nuts if I think the plane can't land for some reason (like being over the ocean). It's not claustrophobia of being in a confined area on the plane, but rather being stuck there. Fortunately the Xanax takes care of that very nicely.

If you are going to try Xanax, get enough so that you can try it out a few days before your flight. It takes a different dose for different people. My brother only needs to take a small dose, but I happen to be resistant to it and need to take enough to choke a horse before I get an effect. Before the transatlantic I asked my doc if it was possible to overdose, and he said I would most likely fall asleep before I got to that point.

 

[ldalvarado]

Another vote for fearofflyinghelp.com!

 

[delo4]

Barb - is that why you moved to Florida? Now you don't have to fly before getting on the ship

 

[Pennyb123]

Funny the talk of Xanax.. If I have to fly, I can sometimes white-knuckle a trip from Tennessee to Florida... but even the 2 hour flight makes me crazy. In 2007, I went to Australia. I wasn't about to let my fear of flying keep me from going! And friends... let me just tell you that I was doing a whole lot of flying... From Tennessee to Georgia, to Los Angeles.. finally catching the big Qantas to Sydney... a 14+ hour overnight flight! On the return... the Xanax gave out... I still don't know how many I took, but I was wired. All the way home from Sydney through all of my flights. I finally walked in my door at probably 10pm, visited with the parents and the boyfriend until about midnight. Thought I would take a nice hot bath in my own tub in water that didn't smell "different" before hitting the hay. Got in and the next thing you know I have a horrific crick in my neck! I had to pry my eyes open to see that I had fallen asleep in the tub (no danger of drowning folks, my feet were plastered to the end of the tub). I looked around with bleary eyes and my first coherent thought was, "What hotel am I in??" Then it dawned on me that I was at HOME and I looked again and realized I fell asleep in the tub and my next thought was, "What time is it?" I finally got out of the tub and into the pj's and looked at the clock... it was 4am! Went to sleep and got up at 11am for a welcome home breakfast outing. Everyone always asks... Was the water cold?? Funny thing is.... I have NO recolection of water temp!! It was all focused on figuring out where I was!! Happy for the Xanax... I wouldn't fly without it... but those crazy circumstances... Just a funny story of forgetting where you are after traveling!

 

[inkkognito]

Oh yeah, Xanax will knock you out and disorient you! On the middle leg of our transatlantic we had upgraded to first class, so our seats turned into beds. I made myself a little nest and zonked out after the movie, and I didn't stir a bit until DH was poking me because we were descending and my seat had to be put back up. I had even slept through breakfast service! My only concern was getting up if I had to go potty; I was seriously thinking of donning a Lisa Nowak-brand "astronaut diaper," LOL!

 

[been2marceline]

Here is the worst and most expensive advice I can give anybody.

Find a local flight school, ask to talk to an instructor, and tell him or her that you have a fear of flying and a private pilot told you an introductory lesson can really help.

The reason this is bad advice is not because it doesn't work - I know a lot of people who have overcome a fear of flying by sitting in the left front seat and flying the plane. The advice is a time vamipre - there is an excellent chance you will fall in love with flying and spend thousands of dollars and dozens of hours learning to fly. Then you will spend far more money to feed your flying habit.

It sounds a bit crazy - taking a flight lesson when you are afraid to fly. But I know it has worked for a lot of people and there is a good chance it will work for you. But you'll never be happy on another commercial flight - you'll sit there irritated the whole time because you are not up front flying the plane

This is 100% accurate - when I was 14, I fell 20 some odd feet off of the top of a house I was painting.

Since then I've had what I called "justifiable acrophopbia" - when I see or get near a precipice -I get the whole weak knees, upset stomach etc.

I was still able to fly on commercial airlines after that, but I did get nervous.

I had a friend who was training to be a flight instructor, I volunteered to be his guinea pig.

It was amazing that after flying the plane my self, I could look straight down at the ground while flying and have no issues whatsover.