Claustrophobia
HELP! I haven't flown in 7-8 years because of claustrophobia. When I travel I drive around the USA. Of course, this makes traveling to Europe or Asia rather difficult as they've not built any bridges between SE Asia and the States, nor to Europe. I've thought I'll just catch a ship to England or SE Asia but I know that's probably not going to happen. I have family in Singapore and my kids urge me to visit Viet Nam and Thailand.
I've tried Xanax 1mg and it puts me out on the plane. Then Godbless him, the dear captain comes on and announces "We'll have a slight delay here to de-ice the wings. It'll only be 10 minutes. ONLY 10 MINUTES??? And I was sound asleep until that announcement. 10 minutes on the ground with the doors shut and the plane immobile is an eternity in every breath. Then once I'm awake, I'm awake and panicking when the plane is sitting still on the tarmac.
And xanax seems to be too strong all at once so as to put me to sleep and then it has little or no effect when I'm awake. (Also Xanax has given me "sleep paralysis" which is another thread altogether. Imagine waking up in a deep sleep and you're wide awake but you can't move a muscle, can't even open your eyelids!) So I just haven't flown.
Recently tried Valium to take an MRI scan and was surpirsed that it made the experience much easier. I want to fly to Southeast Asia one of these years, and I'd also love to visit England, Italy and the US West Coast again (I live in Detroit).
Anyone with any news on this topic?
Last edited by Justheavenfun; Jul 30, 2013 at 11:45 am