Diplomatico

+1 ^

Xanax is an anti-anxiety drug and it has worked wonders for me wrt fear of flying. I've now flown enough to be more or less anxiety-free but couldn't have gotten there without Xanax.

haydensydney

I too have a unusual fear of flying, which is uncharacteristic given how obssessed about flying I am! Anyway my tips are:

1. As ACB has commented previously, focus on the flight attendants - also remember that all crew on the flight do this every day and if there were any safety issues, chances are they would not be turning up to work! Focus on how cool calm and collected they are going about their usual duties.

2. As my psycologist mentioned to me, why are you anxious? Are you preparing yourself for a disaster that ultimately you will not have any control over? Why prepare yourself for a unlikely eventuality? I would constantly listen to the not-so-dodgy sounds of the aircraft, including vibrations, and try and work out what is wrong with the aircraft -all of this is wasted mental thought when you could be doing...

3. Deep breathing exercises - breath in & hold it for 3 seconds (and when holding it in, imagine yourself rotating the air in your abdomen in a anti-clockwise direction a couple of times). Slowly breath out and repeat. Sounds strange, but if you regularly do this it will progressively work better and better

4. Im in Australia, so im not sure if it's called the same where you live, but my doctor prescribed me some "murelax" which is a light benzo and can assist with the anxiety issues. Due to her age, this may not be appropriate however.

It's probably best she nips this in the butt now that she is in her teens, before it progresses into a larger issue later on in life.

Cheers

Rebelyell

After 9-11 I started having phobias about flying, and near panic attacks. The bigger the plane, the worse my fear, which is of course irrational. Anyway, my doctor prescribed me the lowest dose of Ativan, I think .5 milligram, with instructions to take one one hour before the flight. If I was still nervous 30 minutes before the flight, take another. If still nervous sitting in my seat, take one more. (1.5 milligrams is not that high a dose, although I don't think I ever took that much).

It worked wonders.

I later started taking some unusual, off-label medications for weight loss and one of them had an unexpected calming effect. So I don't need the Ativan. But it's a great drug for occassional use and I highly recommend it.

Gargoyle

Some airlines offer fear-of-flying classes. They include behind the scenes tours (seeing the quality of training, flight planning, and maintenance) and a short flight along with the instructors. Those programs are very well designed and very effective. Not sure who offers them in the U.S. (I believe Alitalia and Virgin do, along with an few others). Delta is planning to introduce such a program, but don't expect it to happen right away.

coachrowsey

Don't if anything I can say will help or not but here goes:
Not a pilot but I have 30years in the airlines including an aircraft dispatchers license. I can assure you the trip to the airport is far more dangerous than the flight could ever be.

Try to arrive at the airport early & explain the situation to the gate agent & ask said agent if you can pre-board & meet the Capt. Explain to him & see if he or she will show you the cockpit while on the ground & explain things to you. I bet the Capt. will do it.

Not long ago I had a friend who's daughter was very afraid of flying & was going to Europe. I arranged in advance for her to get on an airplane & visit the cockpit. The Capt explained things to her & she even got her picture taken there. She had a great trip when it was time & no problems. Also one of my best friends is a retired US Capt (29years Boeingboy) & he's told me in 29 years he's never flown through anything bad. Hope this helps. If I can help any more please ask.

Capt Tom Bunn LCSW

Two research studies show Xanax makes flying worse. It does work on the ground, but in flight, Xanax makes it harder to distinguish what is being imagined and what is real, so fear gets easily translated into actual danger.

At Georgia State, research showed people taking Xanax had ten times as many panic attacks versus placebo.

Also http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...472517f857fb74 shows Xanax makes flying worse.

For some articles on what does work, see http://www.fearofflying.com/wordpress

phoenixgck

abstract of the article
In order to test if a benzodiazepine would enhance or hinder the therapeutic effects of exposure, immediate and delayed effects of alprazolam on flight phobics were assessed by questionnaires and ambulatory physiological recording. Physiological measures included heart rate, skin conductance level and fluctuations, finger temperature, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and various respiratory measures derived from two bands calibrated for each subject. Twenty-eight women with flying phobia flew twice at a 1-week interval. One and a half hours before flight 1, 14 randomly assigned phobics received double-blind 1 mg of alprazolam and 14 received placebo. On flight 1, alprazolam reduced self-reported anxiety (5.0 vs 7.4) and symptoms (5.3 vs 8.6) more than placebo, but induced an increase in heart rate (114 vs 105 bpm) and respiratory rate (22.7 vs 18.3 breaths/min). Before flight 2, the alprazolam group did not expect to be more anxious than the placebo group (6.7 vs 6.5), but in fact indicated more anxiety during flight (8.5 vs 5.6), and a substantial increase in panic attacks from flight 1 to flight 2 (7% vs 71%). Heart rates in the alprazolam group increased further (123 bpm). Results indicate that alprazolam increases physiological activation under acute stress conditions and hinders therapeutic effects of exposure in flying phobia.

FlynGyn

Thanks for moving this, RSSrsvp -- I have not yet learned the ropes over here. And thanks to all for the suggestions!!!

squeakr

Anyway - I was afraid of flying for many years and joined FT partly because I hoped the road warriors and frequent flyers here would have some good advice. They did, and I became addicted to traveling by plane, so now I really am not scared. I'm listing some of the things I learned over the years that have helped.
(And so you know, turbulence or not it's very common for a fear of flying to start in the teen years, so it's great to unlearn it now )

1) Xanax and other antianxiety meds help the anxiety some but can cause amnesia and wooziness . If your niece's family thinks they might help and she is interested, they might talk to the dr. about Ativan or Clonipin, shorter acting medications that can be prescribed in very tiny doses. If she does go that route it's important to try it before the flight so she isn't surprised by the effect. Nothing worse than dealing with fear AND a strange rubbery feeling at the same time.

2) For me the anxiety was part of motion sickness which took me a while to realize. I dropped Ativan and began taking Bonine, the non drowsy motion sickness med and did OK most of the time. Again if she hasn't tried it it's best to take a dose before the actual flight day as you can feel spongy. (she may prefer one like dramamine that will help her feel drowsy if it's a non stop.)

3) Buy any fear of flying relaxation CD. There's a ton of them out there, have her pick one that seems worthwhile. My favorite one isn't made anymore, on cassette, but I've tried a bunch and they all serve the purpose.

4) 3 words. noise cancelling headphones. They really help with the random noises that contribute to the anxiety around flying. JVC makes several types that aren't too expensive and serve the purpose.

5) Not everyone finds relaxing relaxing. It's a well known paradox that anti anxiety tapes, , meds and music can make you feel MORE anxious becasue you worry you're blocking out something important. So encourage your niece to try what works.

6) Splurge on buying bottled water after security. If it's turbulent, she'll be sure to have a beverage if her mouth gets dry or she's thirsty. Same with loading her favorite snacks.

7) Watching the flight attendants can be helpful unless it's really turbulent and the Captain tells them to sit down. happened to me years ago and it scared the bejezus out of me. Your call.

8) The main thing that can help to have her exert the control over the things she can, like what to listen to , what to eat and drink and let go of the things that someone else is control of. Personally, knowing how safe flights are was never that helpful to me.

9) Some people like window seats > I hate them., I would prefer not to be reminded that I am 35000 feet in the air. If your niece prefers them that's great but I always have liked the aisle - I feel way less trapped.

10) call the airline in advance if she'd like a particular seat (aisle, window) or any other things you think might be helpful. Can't hurt.

Good luck - I'm sure it'll be fine.

barnesgene

I never flew till I was well over 20 years old, and it was a pretty scary event. Why, I wondered did we keep climbing? We were already well over the tallest building, nay, the tallest mountain between here and Las Vegas, so come on, stop climbing already!

Over the years I found a few keys to getting over my fear. I'm now a seasoned flyer, but I can still remember most of them:

(1) Watch the flight attendants calmly going about their business. They're not screaming in horror, so why should you?

(2) I remember climbing up into the sky during one of my earliest flights while listening to Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 on the earphones provided. It was a piece I knew and loved. I said to myself, well, this would be a mighty fine way to go out, listening to this piece, if go out I must. Somehow that calmed me. I now take such "comfort music" with me along with noise-canceling headphones (cheap Maxells from Rite-Aid, $35.00) and it always does the trick.

(3) I found that, the first time the plane banked, I should look out the window with the ground and not the window with the sky.

(4) Appropriate only for over-21's, it's a good idea sometimes to pop for a stiff drink to calm you. I used to say that as long as I'm flying as high as the plane, I'll be alright. Ha, ha. Sometimes, it's a good idea to get a drink in the airport, but not too early -- climbing into the sky while you're sobering up can be a surprisingly wrenching experience, and nobody needs that.

(5) Go for the Zen thing. I once sat next to a native American (Indian) during a bumpy flight to Washington, DC. He was completely unperturbed, and I think it was because he was so doggone Grounded in his sense of himself and his destiny. It was great because it rubbed off.

(6) Go into the bathroom and confront yourself with, "Hey, I'm about to relieve myself at 35,000 feet in a tiny little box in the sky. Is that cool, or what??" Talk about gaining perspective...!

KDflier

What helps me deal with feelings that "this time the plane I will be traveling on will crash' is that one day I stopped near a commercial airport and just watched the number of jets taking off and landing for about 30 minutes. I could quickly expand that number to what it meant for the whole day, then for all the airports in the US, then for all the airports around the world, then for the number of days in a year, etc... It gave and still gives me a release from the fear when it hits, and it still does at times, because I have a solid sense now of how infrequently a plane actually does go down. Now we've all heard the statistics for a long time, but for me as a visual learner, I needed a visual.

keruin

I fly a lot for work, including into a lot of small, developing-country airports. I had a rough flight one day - ugly turbulence, unlike anything I'd experienced. I was SCARED by it - and it affected me for several months afterward. I was still traveling a lot, just all of a sudden really subject to this fear. I surfed the sites trying to find some way to ease my mind.

I've always scoffed at the "go to your happy place" type of advice - at least for my own use. But one day, on a random flight to I-don't-even-remember-where, I tried it. As I started to imagine what my "happy place" might be, I realized it was... um... in that exact chair, going somewhere, just not scared. All of a sudden I was fine. I've had to "go to my happy place" a handful of times since then - I always get such a kick out of the fact that I don't want to be anywhere else, that I smile and forget the fear pretty much right away.

This might not be helpful for your niece, except maybe the message that the world is full of fantastic stuff for us to enjoy, and planes are a mighty nice, amazingly safe way to get there. Letting the fear take over would mean missing a LOT in this life.

jackal

Lorazepam (on Google)

My dad’s doctor prescribed it to him for his fear of flying. He says it leaves him completely lucid and in control but just unable to feel any fear (it suppresses most emotions, actually). The side effect on him is memory loss—he can’t remember anything that happens under the influence of the drug, but you wouldn’t know it if you met and talked to him while he was under its influence (except that he seems calm and unexcitable). The side-effects are different for everybody, though.

dadi pecci

Hello!

I have a huge fear of flying and that is a big problem for me...
Im flying often but I cant get used to it...,Im always asking for seats in the back of the plane because I read an article which says that the back seats are the safest...Any idea to cure this illnes????

anyway this is the article about the safest seats:
http://xlcrash.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=91

Jenbel

dadi pecci, welcome to FT!

I'm going to move your thread over to the Travelbuzz! forum since it isn't really appropriate for Communitybuzz!

Jenbel
Co-moderator, Communitybuzz!