Thread: Fear of flying. Anyone else suffer from this?

Tweet

So to those who are comfortable with airplanes and being in them you will not understand my fear.

I have a total, unrelentless fear of flying. I have only flown one time which was my honeymoon 14 years ago. The entire time I was on that flight I thought I was going to die. I felt every movement of that plane, heard every moan and cried all the way home. This horrible fear has kept me from taking trips to anywhere that is too far to drive. I have dreams (for me they are nightmares), that I am on an airplane and I relive the fear I felt that time I was on the plane. It is awful because there are many beautiful places in the world I would like to experience but don't think I can.

So today my husband is travelling for work and I am sitting here at my pc having a nervous breakdown. I've been crying since I dropped him off at the train station. He isn't even on the airplane yet but he will be soon and I feel just sick about it. When I said goodbye to him today I honestly felt like it was going to be forever. Anyone have any tips on how to deal with this kind of fear? Anyone else suffer with this fear as well?

Please don't throw any, well planes are safer statistically than travelling in a car, phrases at me. Not that I don't appreciate trying to make me feel better but I do know the statistics and it doesn't change my fears.

Thanks to all my forum friends for listening. Really I'm not really this nuts all the time.

BIG TIME hun! Will post about this a bit lately, must get my day started, but yes on a MASSIVE Scale lets just say I can totally relate hun, you're not alone

Irrational fears are hard to get a grip on without help.

My sister was caught out on the road during a tornado, and had to shelter under an overpass (fled the car, still not sure what all went down) and it tramatized her pretty badly. Within a year's time, she because visibly upset whenever it started to rain and obsessively watched all weather forecasts. She got to the point where she couldn't leave the house if it was raining, and had panic attacks during storms where she thought she was going to die.

She started counseling to deal with the panic attacks and within a few months, her anxiety with weather disturbances lessened and now she's fine. It took some work and persistence with the therapy to desensitize herself but it was worth it to her to stop being a prisoner to her fears.

I am so sorry you have this fear. It is something that you can overcome if you're tired of letting it control your thoughts and the way your live your life. I can't imagine living in terror like this every time flying (either in a dream or a loved one flew) came up, but I do know that it doesn't have to be like that.

Oh, and my hubby used to be pretty scared of flying. Not as bad as you, but he was sort of freaking out during our trip up to Salem, MA that was a big vacation for us. I basically stayed quite calm, got us seats where it was just us on the row (so we had lots of room and not feeling closed in) and... got him drunk. He relaxed once he was tipsy, and then we chatted and and I kept him occupied and laughing all the way there. He's actually okay with flying now since part of the reason he was freaked out about flying was because his mother was a major spaz that acted crazy whenever they had to fly and it rubbed off on him as a child...

Very sorry to hear how you are feeling, Boo Baby!!

We'll see later this year when I board a plane for the first time ever I am certainly hoping not

I get a little nervous, but I fly relatively often, so I have to suppress the bad thoughts. The small planes always make me more nervous.
recent news: http://www.fromthecapitol.com/hole-r...acramento-2503

Poor Boo! Once you hear his voice when he gets there should help. I am not afraid to fly. I do have to admit though after 9-11 we flew about 4 months later and yes I was scared then. I just try not to think about it and just think where I am going to be. We took the train one time to Florida to save some money cause the airfair was outrageous. Never will do that again lol! I was so tired coming home I slep most of the way and I am sure that people must have thought I died lol! I don't know what can help you get over your fear. Listening to music and having a drink might relax you a bit.

There are a lot of us,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I have been all over USA, and few times in puddle jumper planes. scares me everytime. I just have a drink and try not to think about it. I thought trip to Hawaii we were gonna crash because of turbulence(I swear plane dropped 12 feet(, and Germany I was 9 months preg, could not get comfy no matter what I did. I could not drink. I had twins OMG15 days later.Never let you do that now a days. Getting ready to do it again, I just pray its not my time yet. Going to Las Vegas in June.

Well I think its fantastic that you don't let your fear of flying keep you from travelling Dolly. I wish I could be more like that. I have a few girlfriends who would like to take a 'girls' holiday away somewhere sunny this upcoming November and honesly I would love to go. I think Frankie has a great suggestion. Perhaps a bit of therapy might be a plan. This really is a dehabilitating fear and it does keep me from doing things I would like to do.

A visit to a counsellor and a nice bottle of sedative should do me nicely.