I dont get out much...and I travel little to nothing. I have booked my flight coming from Wisconsin to Vegas with the least time in the air.under 2 hours to Denver...then 2 and 1/2 hours to Vegas...I am scared as hell to fly..I have tried everything...I stayed up the night b4 my flight...I took a valium and had a whiskey at 6am...and still I couldnt fall asleep...I did look up a fear of flying course ..It did help...I need more help pls...
soehatesshaman wrote:
The only thing that helped my mom, befor she got over it, was having someone with her to support her durring the most stressful parts, Takeoff and Landing. Unfortunatly, short of flying alot, to get used to it, there really is not much you can do to get over your fear. I can quote statistics till I am blue in the face, and it won't help you.
I have a similar problem with very high places, where only my own balance is keeping me from falling... so I know that clenching fear when it hits.
I doubt that this will be much help, but I'd rather be on a plane than in a car. I just came back from vacation, and I saw an ungodly number of people weaving all over the road while reading newspapers, putting on makup, drinking coffee and smoking at the same time, steering with their knees, etc.
I've flown for business nearly half my life.. and never had a bad experience. Maybe a rough landing or two. Cars crash. Planes crash. Trains de-rail. There's no such thing as 100% safe travel.
Flying fright is very common. Its not natural to be that high in the air. For those that can't manage their fear on their own with distraction.. I suggest a sedative. My partner at Microsoft used to take one on every flight that was longer than 30 minutes. She was hysterical if she didn't to the point that it was annoying to the other passengers.
I've flown a fair amount, and thankfully don't really get nervous with it anymore, though I see plenty that do. My suggestion is find a book you can really get into. When you get on the plane, just start reading well before take off. Focus on the book as much as you can. If you can swing it, try to get the meaty parts of the book to start when you're on the plane. Being fearful and nervous is 95% mental. If you can distract your mind, you won't get as paniced. Also, don't look out the window for at least the first 30-45 minutes, that's just a bad idea that'll remind you where you are. When you take off, keep reading and force your brain to concentrate on the words in front of you and not what your body is feeling. Just remember, flying IS a safe way to travel. Billions have done it safely, and billions more will continue to do it.
My first time flying alone was a little nerve wracking but since then I've flowen so much I no longer get nervous. I don't really think it was the flying that put me off though, rather going so far away on my own and not knowing anyone there.
I actually find planes to be pretty fascinating
We're coming out of Wisconsin too, but we're flying from Chicago-Midway. The only advice I can give you is what I got from a Navy Corpsman who HATES flying (not my hubby). He takes promethazine (sp?) the night before, then eats a light breakfast, takes some light sedatives and has his wife beside him if at all possible. Flying with someone you love and trust is the best "safety blanket" psychologically.
Becareful with the sedatives though. You don't want to be so groggy you get confused.
I feel for any of you scared to fly. Fortunantly, I am not afraid and if it helps, I fly regularly and have only experienced delay problems & not even one lost/delayed bag in over 100 flights.
I actually look forward to flying. It's the one time my ears "pop" and clear up from the altitude, my sinuses open up and I hear like I'm 15 again.
2 weeks from now, I'll be in Vegas and I'm excited !!
Get thee to a health food store and ask them for Rescue Remedy. It's a flower essence, used to help alleviate/control anxiety. You can take it as much as you need to, it's homeopathic, so you don't have to worry about it interacting with any medications you take. It works almost instantly. You can get it in drops, spray, even lozenges, so if you really need it, you can dose yourself with the drops or spray and then have a lozenge in your mouth the whole flight.
Sheer terror every flight. I get back pains about 2-3 days before i'm due to fly due to the stress. Going by an airport and seeing them taking odd makes me dizzy.
Tried sedatives, just made me groggy and scared. Have to warn anyone next to me if we get any turbulence, I'll probably grab the closest thing, it may be their knee. Have to be able to look out of a window to make sure ground is below, sky is up or I freak out badly, books help, Terry Pratchett in particular is my 'lucky author'. The more flying I do, the worse I've got, and had some /really/ terrible flights with people being thrown about the cabin and stewardesses hanging onto things looking pale.
Sat next to a guy on a flight once working for Rolls Royce who was bringing part of an engine back to base as it had sheared off and gone through the engine housing. Plane was powering up and was able to taxi back and it didn't go through the cabin. That might have been a bad situation if it had been up at 35k and depressurised the plane. Sat next to a Navy engineer who said 'wings can snap, but it's not common luckily' (yeah, thanks for that). Everytime anyone's told me anything to try and calm me down, it only makes things worse ('yah, most accidents happen at takeoff or landing, so once you're up, you're safe' 'thanks, that part didn't use to worry me, UNTIL NOW' 'Flying's only the safest form of travel if you go by distance, not duration, as then it's trains' 'thanks, didn't need to know that fact'. Flight accident investigators who say the best thing is knowing how many seats there are in front and behind you to the exits, as if there's a problem, you won't be able to see, and don't count on the lights on the floor still working, so count how many seats so you can do it with your eyes closed. So I sit there and count the seats in front of me, and back of me. Over and over and over and over again. Just to be sure. That I'm 6foot5 and a bit on the heavy size doesn't help me settle down if I'm crammed into a non-emergency isle between people bigger than me.
That I work in homeland security related industries, trained the TSA to spot thing things they need to in an x-ray machine and have seen many times what terrorists can do doesn't bother me actually, it's just the actual flying/turbulence.
Flying IS scary, we're in a tiny tube hurtling around the sky at ludicrous speeds that has to be pressurised and filled with air to stop us passing out. This is not natural. It's as far from natural as you can get. It's only RIGHT to be scared witless by the actual thing you're doing.
But I love being IN different places, it's the bit inbetween that I have to grimace and bear, whilst knuckles are going white on the seats edge. Just wish they'd hurry up and invent teleportation/Portal technology.
Hello, my name is Jyve and I'll be your pilot for today.
Oh, and as for delays and getting stuck at places I've never even heard of because of diversions and bad weather, and how much luggage has gone missing over the years, don't get me started.
Yay! Vegas in 2 weeks! Woot!
The only other thing not mentioned that I can think of that might help. Take off and landing.. to me it feels like a rollar coaster ride. Try to make yourself believe you are on an amusement ride and thats what making everything jiggle.
Hope that helps some.
Jyve wrote:
Yup yup. That's my only fear of flying too! I've been stuck in London, Sydney, Calgary, St. Louis & Dallas over the years due to bad weather or ticketing mistakes. The worse is when the entire airport closes down... never think positively.. call and book a hotel room immediately! Cause as soon as its officially announced you'll be competing with 15,000 other people for 2000 hotel rooms in the area.
Sheer terror every flight. I get back pains about 2-3 days before i'm due to fly due to the stress. Going by an airport and seeing them taking odd makes me dizzy.Tried sedatives, just made me groggy and scared. Have to warn anyone next to me if we get any turbulence, I'll probably grab the closest thing, it may be their knee. Have to be able to look out of a window to make sure ground is below, sky is up or I freak out badly, books help, Terry Pratchett in particular is my 'lucky author'. The more flying I do, the worse I've got, and had some /really/ terrible flights with people being thrown about the cabin and stewardesses hanging onto things looking pale.Sat next to a guy on a flight once working for Rolls Royce who was bringing part of an engine back to base as it had sheared off and gone through the engine housing. Plane was powering up and was able to taxi back and it didn't go through the cabin. That might have been a bad situation if it had been up at 35k and depressurised the plane. Sat next to a Navy engineer who said 'wings can snap, but it's not common luckily' (yeah, thanks for that). Everytime anyone's told me anything to try and calm me down, it only makes things worse ('yah, most accidents happen at takeoff or landing, so once you're up, you're safe' 'thanks, that part didn't use to worry me, UNTIL NOW' 'Flying's only the safest form of travel if you go by distance, not duration, as then it's trains' 'thanks, didn't need to know that fact'. Flight accident investigators who say the best thing is knowing how many seats there are in front and behind you to the exits, as if there's a problem, you won't be able to see, and don't count on the lights on the floor still working, so count how many seats so you can do it with your eyes closed. So I sit there and count the seats in front of me, and back of me. Over and over and over and over again. Just to be sure. That I'm 6foot5 and a bit on the heavy size doesn't help me settle down if I'm crammed into a non-emergency isle between people bigger than me.That I work in homeland security related industries, trained the TSA to spot thing things they need to in an x-ray machine and have seen many times what terrorists can do doesn't bother me actually, it's just the actual flying/turbulence.Flying IS scary, we're in a tiny tube hurtling around the sky at ludicrous speeds that has to be pressurised and filled with air to stop us passing out. This is not natural. It's as far from natural as you can get. It's only RIGHT to be scared witless by the actual thing you're doing. But I love being IN different places, it's the bit inbetween that I have to grimace and bear, whilst knuckles are going white on the seats edge. Just wish they'd hurry up and invent teleportation/Portal technology.Hello, my name is Jyve and I'll be your pilot for today.
You know I hate people like that. I am talking about the people that tell you things like "wings can snap off" after you tell them your scared to fly, in order to "Calm' you down. The truth is yes wings can snap off planes bodies, however the one and only time I have ever heard of that happening was when one flew into the Hardened bunker that is the Pentagon, even when 2 flew into the steel colums external supports of the Twin Towers, they left veagly plane shaped holes.
The truth is you can dog fight with a comercial airliner and it still will remain strucually sound. That is why most people who know about aircraft know there was more to that Air France flight then "Just" turbulance. Maybe a maintance issue, maybe a computer malfuction, but it was more then just the turbulance.
And I always recall the couple of scenes from the beginning of "Die Hard" where Bruce Willis' character is afraid of flying and he talks to a fellow passanger who tells him that as soon as they land and get to the hotel, he takes off his shoes and socks and makes "fists with his feet" into the carpet to calm his nerves.
Ol' Bruce does it and with surprise remarks, "Well, wouldn't ya know." Hehe.
