<p>I have to say that I agree with others that have said to consult her dr. You have a lot of flying ahead of you and you need to make sure she will be comfortable making the trip. </p>
<p>My H does not like small planes and use to travel all the time for work. He would never fly on small planes unless there was absolutely no alternative. He will drive a couple of hours just to avoid small planes. He takes medication if he has to fly on a small plane as he has had an anxiety attack in the past when flying which was not fun.</p>
<p>Believe me- I hate medication too- my father died from an overdose, my mother had her life negatively impacted for years because of too strong of medication and addiction runs in H family.</p>
<p>However- the right medication is not a crutch, it is a tool and can help a great deal.</p>
<p>I don’t mind the airports, I dont mind the lines so much although the people behind me might- and I don’t mind the takeoff- but once I am in the air I freak out. the last flight I had from SF to Portland, it was all I could do to keep from sobbing all the way.
Good thing it was short.</p>
Maybe that’s the answer - purchase a first class ticket for her. ;)</p>
<p>The doctor and meds may or may not help so it’s good to have some ideas of things to try even if she ends up taking meds.</p>
<p>For the claustrophobia, really, she should try an aisle seat. I’m somewhat claustrophobic as well and feel much less pinned in when I’m on an aisle versus a window, with the seat in front of me reclined all the way back, and the trays down on the middle and aisle seats - there’s definitely a sense of feeling trapped. </p>
<p>The other advantage of the aisle seat is that once the seat belt sign is off, if she feels the anxiety rising she can just pop up and walk down the aisle or even just stand there next to the seat. Her anxiety has a good chance of decreasing if she exercises some mobility by moving around. She can do this if in other seats as well but needs more cooperation by the row-mates.</p>
<p>For the breathing - distraction is one of the best ways to do it since once one quits thinking about breathing it’ll resort to normal.</p>
<p>sunnyflorida, Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise.</p>
<p>For those advising information about how safe flying is, I’m married to a pilot who is not just a pilot but a flight instructor. Married to a pilot. Have flight anxiety. It’s ironic, I know.</p>
<p>Mr PMK knows all the stats, can walk me through everything happening from when the engines get turned on until we deplane. I too have no fear of the plane crashing. It’s being trapped and out of control. I rationally understand how much safer it is fly than drive. Believe me, I get it.</p>
<p>I no longer take medication when I fly the majority of the time but I always have it with me. When that panic starts, my bag of tricks works or it doesn’t. When it’s not working, maybe one flight in ten these days, I take the meds. </p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, I much prefer the window. The aisle makes me feel more exposed and getting up to walk around only makes the light-headedness symptom far worse. With a window seat, buckled in, ipod on, doing my breathing, I can usually tolerate flying fairly well. </p>
<p>That’s one of the many frustrating things about anxiety; learning what works best for oneself.</p>
<p>^^ Yes - what works for one won’t necessarily work for another. The best thing to do is to keep all of the ideas in mind that have helped other individuals and then maybe trying some of those to see what helps and what doesn’t.</p>
<p>I am in the same boat. Years after I decided to stop drinking and smoking due to high percentage of family members with addiction issues, I developed anxiety and had to start using meds. It was scary at first. But as someone else has mentioned, my brain was being altered either way. The problem with the “natural” route was that it was, basically, digging a groove in my mind that certain things meant my flight or fight response should kick in and not turn off. </p>
<p>Truly, my only regret is not turning to the meds sooner. They are fast acting, out of my system quickly and they don’t make me feel high so much as they make me feel in control and a little sleepy. </p>
<p>It would be one thing if this were a two hour flight each way but, my goodness, just looking at the flight hours you all are going to be logging is daunting. Please, no matter what you decide for right now (and I hope you’ll let her take the meds) take the medication with you. If she has an attack mid-air and all you have is Rescue Remedy and Lavender spray, what will you do?</p>
<p>If you are a borderline diabetic, the doctor will prescribe a special diet and exercise before you get full fledged diabetics. Even afterwards, they still recommend a strict eating regime and lots of exercise to maintain a healthy life. Simply giving the patient insulin with no diet or lifestyle changes isn’t enough.</p>
<p>The OP didn’t say her daughter ever had a panic attack, just that she gets axiety when flying and she is trying to find non-prescription solutions to the anxiety. I applaud that because people shouldn’t be medicated all of the time. There will be times that the D experiences a anxiety-inducing situation in her life when she doesn’t have medication readily available. Developing a bag of tricks would do her well.</p>
<p>Please get your daughter medication if the doctor recommends it. Anxiety and feeling trapped on a plane is a horrible feeling. Don’t make her suffer because you don’t think she should take a mild, short acting medicine that will make all the difference in the world.</p>
<p>Long term you can have her look into cognitive behavioral therapy, which is helpful and can give her tools to deal with her anxiety, possibly without medication. Sometimes, even having the medicine on hand, knowing that relief is available, is comfort enough, and it doesn’t have to be taken.</p>
<p>If it does progress to a full blown panic attack mid flight, she could have embarrassing physical symptoms as well, or even cause a plane diversion.</p>
<p>It’s a personal choice. I’m generally against mind/mood altering drug use, legal or otherwise. Of course, people with serious mental illness (bipolar, etc) need medication and that’s fine. But “my daugther is anxious on an airplane” doesn’t really rise to that level in my opinion.</p>
<p>OK, some on here think my advice is unhelpful. Fine. But here are some practical alternatives to medication.</p>
<p>You say she is claustrophic. My mother is claustrophic so I understand this. When you booked your tickets, did you take a look and get the seat with the most legroom? Exit row seats always have more legroom because the seat in front can’t lean back. Some seats have no seat in front of them - allowing you to stretch your legs straight out if you want. It’s too late now, but in the future you can look at a message board called Flyer Talk where people know the seating arrangement of every airplane and can suggest the ones with the most legroom.</p>
<p>Aisle seats are ideal for walking around as other posters have mentioned. Lots of people walk around on an airplane to get blood circulating and because they feel crammed.</p>
<p>I like window seats the best because you can look out the window and you don’t have people elbowing you from both sides. </p>
<p>My wife promptly falls to sleep on every flight because she doesn’t like flying. She’ll often stay up extra late the night before so she can get a good rest on the plane.</p>
<p>The last plane I flew on was one of the smaller commuter jets. I am a small woman, and there was no headroom or legroom. The aisle was strictly single file. There is no walking around or sense of spaciousness. To someone with a phobia, It’s like being sealed in a tomb. And when the plane is waiting to taxi, the temperature is usually warm inside and the air circulation is poor, enhancing the suffocating feeling.</p>
<p>To someone who has not experienced it, it’s easy to dismiss what someone is feeling as not worthy of serious consideration and downplay what the person is the feeling. A person with a serious phobia cannot just sleep it off. At the worst end of the spectrum, they could be vomiting , have diarrhea, or have an extreme, alarming emotional response - screaming or crying and causing a scene. </p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like the OP’s daughter is that extremely phobic, but these things can worsen. Why take a chance and cause someone distress when there is a simple medical remedy? People take antacids for indigestion or migraine medicine if needed. This isn’t really any different. People don’t get told when they have a migraine that it’s all in their head and just suck it up and deal.</p>
<p>Lastly, the OP’s daughter should look into breathing exercises and meditation. Panic attacks are triggered by hyperventilation. They can be cut short by taking slow deep breaths. This takes practice though, and until she has a better understanding of how to help herself, the medication will allow her to have a less stressful flight and enjoy the trip instead of spending the time dreading the plane ride back.</p>
<p>bigtrees - one of my biggest pet peeves is people who use hyperbole to describe their anxiety when describing a difficult situation. I can’t tell you how many people say, when describing some icky situation, “talk about a panic attack”, when they really just mean a heightened sense of their own anxiety about a situation. </p>
<p>True panic attacks can be debilitating and I’ve found some people are hesitant in their language to use the term panic attack because of the negative connotations it carries, and instead just say anxiety. When people are seeking helpful suggestions, they often interchange the word anxiety with the term panic attack, so it is always helpful to clarify exactly what is the reaction. Anxiety can be dealt with in a myriad of non-pharmacological manners. Anxiety or panic attacks basically leave you non-functional.</p>
<p>That being said, there is something to the theory that it is helpful for someone to be given the opportunity to face their fears and test their developing coping skills in order that they can gain confidence in their own efforts. If it were my daughter, I would definitely call the MD (especially if you can say that this is an issue that is currently being worked on in therapy, but there just isn’t enough time to conquer it before the trip) and ask for some meds as a back-up measure. Let the daughter decide at what point the anxiety is approaching a level so much that she can’t function, then let her take it. Sometimes just knowing you have the meds available if needed can help alleviate stress, or the anticipatory anxiety that often accompanies these situations. </p>
<p>If this is something she is working on, then express your confidence in her ability to know if and when she needs the meds. She may surprise herself, as well as her parents.</p>
<p>By the way, my previous post is spoken from a mom whose daughter has a serious phobia of needles (this is a girl who performs and almost never develops any stage fright) and who had a terrible experience with getting her two bottom wisdom teeth out three years ago because the anxiety of the needles escalated to such a height that her stomach stopped digesting food the night before the procedure. When she went in the next morning (ten hours after last eating anything), once she was sedated, she threw up all the food from ten hours earlier, basically undigested (according to the oral surgeon who said he wished he had saved it to show me - we aren’t going back to him).</p>
<p>So we hunted around for a new oral surgeon who was willing to prescribe benzodiazepams for both the night before and the morning of (her last oral surgeon only gave her one to take an hour before the procedure) the procedure. She is having this done in a week and a half, and I can already see that she is less anxious this time around, knowing that she has that extra pill to take the edge off the night before.</p>
<p>It’s a personal choice. I’m generally against mind/mood altering drug use,</p>
<p>o. k.</p>
<p>But if the mind/mood happens to be interfering with daily function?</p>
<p>Medications can help you get to the place to learn techniques to manage without/or with minimal meds. But without them completely- many people will not be able to get to the point where they can learn the skills to deal with that situation.</p>
<p>They will just avoid it & possibly make life pretty difficult for themselves.</p>
<p>Totally agree with this. My own personal experience: I would get extremely anxious when I flew - always ended up with an upset stomach before and during flight, constantly running to bathroom, etc. I mentioned this to my primary care physician about 15 years ago and he said, ‘It’s silly to torture yourself. Here’s a rx for a minor tranquilizer. Just try it before you fly to make sure the dosage works for you.’ Well, I did and found I only needed a half-dose. It’s a very short acting medication that makes me a little drowsy.</p>
<p>Fast forward to today. We travel extensively -around the world - have for the last 10 years. I probably take 30 or more flights a year. Last flight I took in June was 15 hours. I rarely need to take the medication now. I have learned (with the help of the medication) how to face my fear and how to relax about flying. I would have never gotten there without that medication.</p>
<p>Something else that was a big help to me was a book called: “flying with fear” by Duane Brown.</p>
<p>He was a pilot and he goes through all the noises, sensation, etc. that you will experience when flying. A lot of those thing are scary until you understand the reason they are done. For example, planes take off fast and climb rapidly but then they often ‘suddenly’ slow down and drop. It almost feels like the plane has stopped or is falling. That’s perfectly normal because once a plane reaches a certain altitude they are required by the FAA to slow down on their speed. It use to scare me to death until I realized it was normal. There’s lots of stuff in the book like that.</p>
<p>If my son was that afraid of flying I won’t hesitate to get him medication. There really isn’t any reason to put your daughter through that much anxiety when a medication can help. She won’t turn into a drug addict. I’ve had people say you should ‘suck it up’ without medication but then turn around and drink alcohol on the flight to ease their own anxieties. Anyone who drinks alcohol -ever- is doing it to alter their mood - there’s zero difference between that and taking a minor tranquilizer.</p>
<p>To the OP,
let your daughter try some medication if her MD will prescribe it. Taking one or two anti anxiety pills during a flight will not turn your daughter into an addict. She does not need to take the medication every day. You’ll probably all be a lot happier if she has this option available.</p>
<p>I thank all of you for sharing your experiences. As someone who doesn’t experience anxiety I was not aware how scary it can be. I spoke with her Dr this AM. She has been her Dr since birth and knows my D well. She confirmed that my D has shared with her about being anxious in many different circumstances. The Dr is calling in a prescription for 4 ativan. One for each long leg of the flight.</p>
<p>mom60, I’m glad you were able to come to a solution that you feel comfortable with. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My husband is a combat veteran so I understand that. </p>
<p>Do you see what is wrong with both our statements? No, we don’t understand. We probably have a better idea than most but that is not the same. And I say this with no sarcasm but the idea that you think the right amount of leg room is going to be helpful to someone with claustrophia shows how far out of your depth you are.</p>
<p>People who don’t like flying can stay up late and then sleep on the plane. That has nothing to do with flight anxiety, chronic anxiety or panic attacks. </p>
<p>I want to make clear that I am not saying that medication is the only choice in most circumstances. But one week before a 12 hour flight followed by an 8 hour flight the next day? Frankly, it would be cruel to not at least have it on hand should things go poorly.</p>
<p>A better comparison than diabetes is chronic pain.</p>
<p>Suppose someone has a pinched nerve that is strongly aggravated by the seat on a long flight. There is no risk of injury, nothing bad is going to happen in the long term, just wrenching physical pain in the here and now. Yes, breathing techniques, distraction, exercise and so on have their place in pain management. But you’d be very foolish not to talk to a doctor about pain meds.</p>
<p>A panic attack is as agonizing as any pain. (I’ve had surgery, and I’d gladly accept that recovery pain in place of a panic attack any day.) You don’t get any prize at the end of your life for suffering the most. If there is a safe pill that alleviates the agony, for heaven’s sake, take the pill.</p>
<p>mom60, if it’s any comfort to you, I started ativan at age 11 (when I’d already been having panic attacks for 5 years). It’s a godsend for panic attacks, especially those related to claustrophobia.</p>