Panic attacks about flying

I'm no expert in any way, but to me there are at least two kinds of fear about flying on a commercial airline. One is actually being afraid of flying, the other is more along the lines of someone no longer being in control of their own destiny and/or actions (a passenger is told what to do and when, and can't just get up and get off the plane--it's not unlike being a prisoner when you think about it).

A friend of mine can't fly. Last time she tried, she had a full-blown panic attack, hyperventilating, and had to be carried off the plane. Not fun and very humiliating.

Flying was never a trigger for me, but I can give you an insider's view of a panic attack. Mine would hit without warning, for no apparent reason whatsoever. The worst one I ever had was while I was standing in a grocery store. My heartrate sped up, then I got light-headed and my arms and legs started tingling, then everything in my peripheral vision went black - think tunnel vision. My vision continued going black and then - not sure if it was seconds or minutes - I found myself standing in an isle not knowing where I was. I walked to the end of the isle and stared at contents on the shelves for a minute. I finally realized that I was in a grocery store, but I didn't know why I was there. It took several minutes for me to recover my memory of what I was doing there.

That was the very first panic attack I ever had. I thought I was having a heart attack or stroke or something. I promptly went to the doctor and had every test run we could think of. Nothing turned up. I had several attacks after that and they all started the same - heart racing, lightheaded - but sometimes I would feel an overwhelming sense of dread or fear. I was finally put on a medication - Zoloft, which is used to treat anxiety and/or depression. That was many years ago and the worst symptom I've ever had since is my heart racing slightly. None of the other awful symptoms.

I am not aware of a medication you could take at the onset of a panic attack and to be honest, I don't think I would have the presense of mind in that situation to be able to take it. Mine would hit so fast that there wouldn't have been enough time to even find a pill in my purse.

I don't have any first hand experience. But there's a popular book on CBT, Mind over Mood, that uses four case examples throughout, one of which is a woman who is afraid of flying and has recently started experiencing panic attacks. So you might have a look at that.

I came pretty close to a panic attack the last time I flew (which is approaching a decade ago now). It was a smaller plane over the V.I., and it hit a storm somewhere over Antigua. I've never been a huge fan of flying, and had taken a Valium before the flight, but it didn't help. It's been a while, but pretty much what I remember is the adrenaline flood, galloping heartbeat and just feeling somewhat paralyzed - hands clenched around the armrests, feet rigid against the foot bar, etc. I just sorta put my head back and tried to breathe. Xanax is a little more powerful than Valium, I think - might've worked better.

The first time I ever had a panic attack was when I was inside an MRI machine.

I'd been nervous before hand, but thought I would be okay, but after a minute or so my heart started to beat faster, my breathing got shallower and faster and I started to sweat. This increased to the point where I could barely breathe at all (hyperventilating) and all the strength seemed to go out of my body.

They give you a panic button when you are in and MRI machine, but I was so weak I couldn't press it.

Needless to say it was not pretty.

The main emotion was this feeling of complete and utter fear and panic and needing to get away, coupled with the physical issue of not being able to move, which only made things worse.

My GP prescribed a tranquiliser as a 'just in case' but it wasn't intended to be taken at onset. More before the trip--actually a train trip. He wasn't too happy as the drug was known to interact badly with other drugs I was taking at the time. Knowing I had the drug meant I didn't have to take it.

Panic attacks...well. The sour taste in the mouth, your heart rate speeds up, sometimes you can actually feel (or think you can feel) your heart knocking against your ribs. I get this awful thing where I can't swallow. It's a physical pain at the back of the throat and down my neck. Often happens when I'm eating. Sometimes I have to throw up because I can't finish swallowing. Tingling, yes. Light-headed, yes. Bit woozy, sometimes.

Have to get out of here. Now. And nothing'd better get in my way...if you can't get out, the symptoms intensify.

shaldna said:

The first time I ever had a panic attack was when I was inside an MRI machine.

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OMG, me too! I kicked the (*&^ out of that machine!

I find the worst part of flying is when the plane lands and the engines shut down. The air goes off, so it gets stuffy, and if you're in the middle or back of the plane, it is very claustrophobic when everybody stands up, blocking the aisle.

For me, panic attacks come in the form of tightening hands around my throat. The heart races, I sweat, I feel light-headed, and I start to get wheezy breaths (because of the tightening throat).

Hope this helps.

When I have panic attacks I get this terrible constricting feeling around my heart, like something is pressing on my chest and I can't breathe. I actually thought, the first time it happened, that I was having a heart attack and I was dying. I was sitting in an English class and had put my hand to my chest and was kind of gasping for air, and my professor got really concerned and asked if I was okay. I had to leave class.

I had a prescription of xanax to take in an emergency, but I never really noticed if it worked - the dose might have been too small - but it might have been a placebo effect thing too. ("I can take this pill and feel better" thought process as opposed to becoming more panicked because I felt like I was losing control of myself.)

There's always the option of ordering loads of drinks on the plane, McCardey. Works for me. :-D

Seems you have loads of responses here, but my husband said to tell you that, in his case, the stress/precursor symptoms of the actual panic attack start weeks before he is set to head to the airport...sleepless nights due to racing heart, etc.

Your heart speeds up and you feel nauseous. You get dizzy. If you're driving you need to pull over immediately (so I hope pilots don't get panic attacks.) You can experience moments that feel like those before fainting: a rush of darkness or 'stars' twinkling.

Paxil worked for the person I'm describing above. She was also able to wean off it successfully with no ill effects.

She had these attacks while driving and on a new job and was fearful they would affect her when she flew. But by then she'd been medicated and had no problems. A caring, soothing husband, wife or companion at one's side is also very helpful.

I don't like to fly. I REALLY don't like to fly. I can do it, but it's taken a lot of training to get over the panic attacks. Here's what happens.

I start to feel a foreboding when I step on the plane. It's not too bad as others sit down beside me. It gets worse as the flight attendant starts to shut the overhead bins. My flesh starts to crawl and the hair on back of my neck stands on end.

When we start to back away from the gate, my heart starts to beat faster. My breathing increases and my muscles tense. During take-off, my fingers clench into the arm rests (or whatever arm happens to be ON the armrest). I don't have the ability to unclench them. They're locked and someone else has to move my fingers. I've worried in the past that I'd have a finger broke while being unclenched.

Take-off is the worst. In the air isn't as bad so long as I don't think about it. Turbulance is bad. Really bad. I feel like I want to vomit even with small bumps. My head starts to pound and I worry I'm going to stroke out. I also can get a rash. My upper chest and inside of my forearms will get red and bumpy.

Xantax actually made it WORSE, because I still felt what I felt, but I couldn't do anything about it. It was like being paralyzed while my mind was going full-tilt.

What finally worked for me was taking a train trip. Oddly, being in turbulance and at take-off feels nearly identical to the rocking sensation of an overnight train trip. Engineers haul ass overnight to catch up their schedule. It's moving 70+ miles an hour and the rocking and thumping from uneven tracks is extraordinary.

But it's on the GROUND, which makes it not feel the same. So during takeoff, now I read a book and imagine I'm back on that train. I still clench the book, but it's a book. No worries. All the bouncing and thumping, it feels just the same as the train. In flight, I play Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja. Yeah, for the whole trip. Otherwise, I'd be a basket case.

Oh, and I have to do direct flights and pony up the extra money. I can convince myself to get on a plane ONCE. But twice or three times on the same day? Huh-uh. I'm still not that good. I've also learned to book early morning flights (cool air means less turbulance, and also less bad storms). If I can't fly in the morning, I won't go. I also sit on an aisle (so I can't see out the window) and near the front of the plane (less bumping there). I did first-class one time just to be at the front. Ouch in the pocketbook, but well worth it for the mental stability.

This month I'm going from Texas to Denver for RomCon. I'm driving because there weren't any morning flights and all flights had layovers. 15 hours on the road, but still worth every hour I'm not in the air. As my hubby always says: "It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground."

Does that help?

I'm usually a really good flyer. I've flown from one end of the country to the other meeting cousins for my genealogy, so I've gotten boarding down to a science, and I used to be a pro at getting through DFW, since that was my HQ airport for a long time.

But only ONCE-- and it was a doozy, did I have a panic attack on a plane.

Mr. Hip and I had flown from Edmonton to Toronto. We wanted to visit some friends who lived there, and I hadn't been before, so I wanted to see what the big deal was.

We had a great time, but the day we were to fly home to Dallas, a torrential rainstorm hit TO.

When we took off, we were being buffeted all over the place. And we did not get out of the clouds for at least a half hour or 45 minutes.

I FREAK when I can't see. Being in the clouds turns me into a claustrophobic basket case, and I always picture another plane plowing out of the murk into the side of our plane. I started hyperventilating, and whispering frantically to Mr. Hip, clutching his hand as tightly as I possibly could. Pretty soon I was in tears. He had never seen me like that, and was worried sick, holding me, telling me everything was going to be OK, and I think we finally had to order a double Bailey's on the Rocks to chill me out enough to be normal again.

Once we got south of the border, we finally got above the clouds, and everything was fine. But I NEVER want to go through that again.

There was another time I was on a little doctor killer flight from Madison to Milwaukee before I got on a plane to come back to Texas. Also VERY windy. And we swung out over the lake to come back into Mitchell to land, and all I could think of were all the irreplaceable family photos from last century that were in my suitcase (and had not been scanned yet), and what would happen to them if we crashed into the lake. That was just paranoia. That's different.

I've very recently started experiencing panic attacks. Mine are a little slower in coming, and i always have the presence of mind to realize what is happening. What sent me over the edge into full blown hyperventilation the last time was not being able to find my mediation. I always try to tell myself to breathe slower, which obviously doesn't work. I get really lightheaded and it feels like my chest is caving in on itself. I don't really feel like this is the best description, but it's all I've got so far. Ironically, I had a flash of wanting to take notes on what I was experiencing the last time, but I couldn't focus my thoughts enough to use my laptop.

Medication knocks me out - I really need to talk to my psychiatrist about it, actually. I feel like I'm stoned for a good twelve hours after taking it. I also never manage to take it in time to ward them off, so it just makes me more annoyed. I've only been on anxiety medication for a month though, so I'm probably not the best judge of their full potential.

I have a fear of flying, but I never get panic attacks on the plane. Once I'm there, I recognize that I have no control and let it go. I have always told myself that if I have a really strong instinct that something is wrong, I won't board. I'll be one of those people who didn't get on the plane that crashed.

I used to get airsick and I carry ginger candy in case I need it. Ginger is calming. Before kids, I took Dramamine and was loopy and asleep on my feet.

When I have panic attacks, they come in the middle of the night and wake me from a sound dreamless sleep - I remember my dreams and there's nothing before waking with the palpitations and consuming fear. I don't even know what I'm panicking about until I can think it through.

While awake, I can use strategies to control fear. I breathe, meditate, problem solve, act instead of reacting. I re-language fear and nervousness as excitement and anticipation. I talk alot, out loud to myself if necessary. I focus on others - I have two kids who will be upset if I am (one also prone to anxiety so I have to manage hers along with mine). I don't refuse to panic, but try to panic in a way that successfully accomplishes what needs to be done. I've had this kind of attack the night before a flight - at least then I can put my finger right on the issue, remind myself that I don't have to board the plane if I feel I shouldn't, and go back to sleep.

I have panic attacks on flights when I'm over water. Drugs are a bad idea for me: they just make me nauseous and woozy and that somehow makes everything worse. I once had a horrible panic attack during a flight over the Irish Sea. It started with pins and needles that wouldn't go away. I was fidgety and restless, which quickly turned into hyperventilation. I was physically unable to control my breathing. I ended up with full-blown tachycardia, thrashing in the aisle and gabbling nonsense until I fell unconscious from lack of oxygen.

That was a bad time.

Since then, I've learned to control it through meditation - deep breathing, self-control and visualising myself elsewhere. If I do go into a panic, I ask Mr Crunchy to squeeze my hand every thirty seconds to keep me calm - the constant contact makes me feel more 'grounded'.

mccardey said:

You're all being so generous and helpful - I really appreciate it. I really do. Thank you all so much. The more I can hear about it, the better.

Re the xanax: If you don't mind me asking, did the Doctor assume it would work on the first dose? Or did you trial it first? I'd like my MC to have been on it before, but to still carry it around with him just in case he needs it.

Do we think that would work?

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My doc started me on the smallest dose and said we could up it if it didn't help. She was really cautious about giving too much because it's easy to develop a dependency. I'd try the smallest dose, not notice anything, then she upped it .5mg or whatever until it helped. It takes a little trial and error for some people. I carried it around with me for a few months until I ran out. I never, ever felt "knocked out" so maybe the dose never was high enough for me. But like I said, possibly the act of just taking the pill calmed my brain enough to function. Though I did take like four on my wedding day and I felt kind of in a haze, though that might have been related more to the craziness of getting married.

I haven't needed xanax since I last flew overseas. Exercise has been enough to keep my anxiety to a minimum on a daily basis.

I am not a huge fan of flying. (Now I'm talking about me, not my daughter in the thread up there somewhere.) But sometimes I have to fly, so I just do. I don't think about flying. I focus on the book in my lap, or talk to my husband, or work on a book - notebook in my lap.

We're all writers here, so those of us who are nervous about flying, yet will fly, why not write during those most nerve-wracking moments? Write about what's going on right then, right there, or even better...

Write dialogue. A description. An action scene.

Writing has got me through some pretty nervous times.