Anyone have anxiety over flying??

I wasn’t sure where to post this, but since flying (or even the thought of flying) seems to trigger my HA (main reason being I’ll become deathly ill on flight and will be unable to get med help in time), I thought I’d post in the HA forum.

I will be turning 40 in about 17 months. I would love to take an extended Alaskan cruise. But I live in the Midwest of US so will really need to fly to Seattle to meet the boat. Even being 17 months away, thinking about flying gives me the butterflies. Closer we get to time it’s only going to get worse. I have flown before but it’s been many years - and only once since 9/11.

If any of you HA people are scared to fly but have overcome it, can you give me any tips/pointers?? I feel like my hubby would LOVE it if I could get over this irrational fear. Thank you so much :yesyes:

I don't have a fear of flying (in fact, I love it), but the best advice I can give you is that you should get some therapy for your fear. You've got 17 months. That's loads of time to work on this. It would be worth it given the amazing experience that awaits you at the end of your flight.

I recently had my first flight as an adult earlier in the year and while my anxiety is health related, I think I was more worried about being trapped on a plane for an extended period incase I had a panic attack and nowhere to hide! :D

I think the thing that is important to remember about health anxiety is that it in essence, catastophising. It becomes too easy to look at the absolute worst case scenario and being absolutely certain that it will happen rather than looking at things from a probability point of view.

What are the chances of something absolutely horrible happening to you in a situation where you can't get help? Actually rather slim in all respects. I'm sure I could take your same situation and apply it to many situations in my life, I do convince myself that i'm going to have something serious happen to me whether i'm in the house, on the street, on a train, bus, plane you name it. I think your anxiety is just latching onto this thing that you know is coming up, and it's trying to make you avoid it (fight or flight)

My advice? Just say "Screw it" and do it! Anxiety thrives on trying to ruin our lives and forcing us to avoid things we will get through without a scratch because it convices us that we're dead men walking. I say just go for it, face it head on and tell yourself that you're not going to let anxiety stop you from doing the things you want to do. It's not always easy, but I promise you that nothing bad will happen and the experience of going on that cruise and having a blast will make you all the stronger for combating your anxiety! The more situations you pull through, the more times you can rationalize and say "I did this before and nothing bad happened, so it's definitely not going to happen now!"

I am terrified of flying! I had this fear long before HA. The longest flight I've been on is only 3 hours, being in those claustrophobic Ryanair planes doesn't help the anxiety despite them being very short flights.

I just picture the destination that I'm going to, I have a few drinks on the plane and grit my teeth and bare it. Often I'm at the airport gate and feel like I'm walking down the gangway to my doom :roflmao:

I do understand though that the anxiety of the flight can trigger your anxiety in general and even when you're off the plane you can still feel anxious. I can't say that I've overcome it myself but I will still go on flights to places I really want to visit. Life isn't worth living if you avoid amazing trips for the sake of the flight, you'll kick yourself if you back out and once you're on the cruise you'll be so glad you went!

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Originally Posted by Mindprison

I think I was more worried about being trapped on a plane for an extended period incase I had a panic attack and nowhere to hide! :D

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I can 100% relate to this and think I’m very similar. I don’t have a fear of heights really, but I do have a fear of not being in control and then add in the fear that I’ll have a heart attack or something on the plane and won’t be able to get any help, or something else equally as crazy. Logically, I know the odds are slim.

I may look into some CBT type stuff, did some quick google searches today and it seems as though there are a couple programs out there for fear of flying.

I would really, really love to be able to overcome this fear!!! :shrug:

Okay take it from someone who has been in a plane around the world more than 3 times. You will be fine. If there is a serious medical emergency (which I highly doubt will happen) they will do an emergency landing as soon as possible. Also there will be someone who is cpr certified. If you were to have a heart attack there's no guarantee being on the ground vs sky will save u anymore. It's no different than living pretty far away from the hospital to begin with, and from my understanding they don't just air evac all the time. Also Out of almost 12,000 inflight medical emergencies, just 36 resulted in deaths. Thsts EXTREMELY rare. You are probably more likely to get eaten by a shark in the desert. Go on ur trip!!

---------- Post added at 02:02 ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 ----------

Also I forgot to add that it would actually be better having an emergency WHILE being around a bunch of people (assuming someone can help) than alone at your house when you really think about it (:

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Originally Posted by Yvaine

Okay take it from someone who has been in a plane around the world more than 3 times. You will be fine. If there is a serious medical emergency (which I highly doubt will happen) they will do an emergency landing as soon as possible. Also there will be someone who is cpr certified. If you were to have a heart attack there's no guarantee being on the ground vs sky will save u anymore. It's no different than living pretty far away from the hospital to begin with, and from my understanding they don't just air evac all the time. Also Out of almost 12,000 inflight medical emergencies, just 36 resulted in deaths. Thsts EXTREMELY rare. You are probably more likely to get eaten by a shark in the desert. Go on ur trip!!

---------- Post added at 02:02 ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 ----------

Also I forgot to add that it would actually be better having an emergency WHILE being around a bunch of people (assuming someone can help) than alone at your house when you really think about it (:

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You made some awesome points there that I hadn’t really considered before. I really appreciate it, thank you!

I’ve been doing a ton of reading and research over the last few days. I have 17 months, so I may look into a couple courses of CBT geared specifically towards managing the “fears” that I have for some reason associated with flying. I’m just so done with not enjoying traveling because of this stupid anxiety!! :doh: