to be absolutely petrified of turbulence ?!

[optimisticpessimist01]

It panics me to the point where I start crying and feel sick, and I convince myself that the plane is going to crash and we are going to die. It doesn't even have to be severe turbulence, just a quick shake of the plane convinces me we are flying to our death. Dramatic, I know.

I also worry so much about it for months leading up to taking a flight. We are doing 5 hours to Cyprus soon and I am terrified in case we get turbulence

I'm at my wits end and I'm worried I'm going to get to the point where I don't even want to fly anywhere anymore

AIBU to ask how I can stop this silly feeling that I have and make flying enjoyable again?

my adult daughter alo afraid of flying - my advice - was theres nothing you can do anyway if it does go wrong, so why spend 4 hours worrying about it

i am pretty direct - but this is a somewhat logical answer to your somewhat over emotional reaction. that is not meant to be demeaning, but its up to you to get out of your own head and to build those strategies to make the journey more tolerable. you cant control anything whilst your up there anyway - so why spend your time crying.

To those who take Xanax, does it put you to sleep?

No. it does make me feel a bit drowsy but I still usually don't sleep. I only take a low dose though

It’s infuriating if you’re flying overnight and trying to sleep. Much worse if someone is having histrionics though. Fair enough, be a bit frightened but screaming and wailing is so unnecessary. Some people do it if there’s as much as a slight bump. If they put their bed down, turned off the screen and hummed Brahms or Bach, it would be better for all. But no, seat bolt upright, constant bell ringing interspersed with attention seeking shrieks. So unfair on others around you.
I’m not suggesting OP is so extreme but plenty are.

We are flying abroad next month OP and i am terrified of turbulence too .Two of my DC's have never flown before, eldest has and isn't the slightest phased, in their early 20's they are coming too .We flew back from Greece in a thunderstorm storm must admit that was pretty hairy .But it has been least 15yrs since i was last on a plane and i am so looking forward to going .

i always think to myself that the pilot and cabin crew want to get home to their families so it cant be that bad as they are not panicking....the more flights ive done the easier its got

My GP prescribed me diazepam for this. Took it half an hour before take off, and was relaxed even when things got bumpy (and I'm particularly anxious on take off and landing too).

I also love turbulence. It’s like reading a thread on AIBU: you’re scrolling along, taking stuff in, nodding in agreement.

Then someone posts something inflammatory about someone else’s spelling as a strategy to undermine them, while making several grammatical errors in their own post, and you think: wow, didn’t see that coming. What was that about? Of course that’s the correct spelling of cumulonimbus. And even if someone made a typing error that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t fly a plane. Hundreds of instruments in every cockpit and not one of them requires the spelling of clouds.

And then you see other posters have replied with a variety of articulate and witty responses and the thread gets back on topic. And there was never really any danger of the thread descending completely into a spelling and grammar derail, but it’s hard to tell when it begins whether you’re in for a brief patch of spurious insult-flinging or whether there’s going to be a sustained loss of on-topic discussion before the thread is steered back to sense.

My friend, who hates turbulence and every other aspect of flying, gets diazepam from the GP to manage the fear, and it seems to work really well.

I'm a very frequent flyer and it's horrible. Your fear and panic is a natural response , knowing that somehow helps. A cabin crew member from Singapore airlines told me once " planes are built for turbulence, people are not ". So true

I went on the Virgin Fear of Flying course. Sadly, it did not work for me and around half the participants.

They do show you the glass of water trick and liken turbulence to a boat on water.

I haven't flown since that short flight on the course 6 years ago but am determined to try again as I used to fly.

I can't see my doctor prescribing valium and I used to drink on flights before I had kids.

Why can't you see your GP prescribing Valium (Diazapam)? It's a perfectly acceptable reason to be prescribed it. They only give you a low dose and, the first time, my GP just prescribed about 6 tablets, so literally just what I'd need for my journey. The two GPs I've spoken to about it were absolutely in agreement it was the best idea for me.

I used to love flying as a young child but had an extremely turbulent flight as a teenager when travelling back from Greece. The turbulence was relentless the whole way back and the air stewards all had to sit down for a couple of hours. Ever since then I’ve been a nervous wreck and end up spending the whole flight gripping the arm rests and I never get up to go to the toilet either. My DP loves turbulence and my dad is an engineer who helps design aircrafts so I know how incredibly safe it all is but I still feel very anxious. I think it’s the idea that if something did go wrong then it would be an incredibly dramatic way to die

I love turbulence, it calms me instantly and sends me off to sleep. But I’ve had one flight which had such bad turbulence it felt like the whole plane was being shaken up and down, so can relate to being terrified.
Get some medication from the GP’s, my father uses Valium and sleeps through the flight.

Will GPs just prescribe valium if you ask for it?

It really depends on your doctor. Broadly, the older the doctor the more likely they are to be generous with benzos. I have a wonderful young doctor who I love, but he follows the current advice and hardly gives me any. Unfortunately I need quite a high dose so it isn't really enough.

I have a friend with dodgy connections who can buy genuine vallies from dealers, I've never used this option but I can't say I never will. Its the difference between having a foreign holiday and having to go to bloody Center Parcs.

Mine did. I explained what I needed it for, specifically for fear of flying and there was no problem. As I said in my PP, he just gave me what I needed for the holiday the first time (6 tablets I think, but I didn't take them all) and it was 2 years later, when I next flew that I went back for another prescription so I think he could tell I wasn't abusing them.

I think it's because my mother was refused valium (no health complaints at that time) and this has made me reluctant to ask.

So far we've had a 27 and 33 hour journey to France and Spain by coach, a Eurostar trip to the South of France or UK holidays. Two years ago I waved my husband and sons off as they flew to Amsterdam without me.

I have previously flown to the US and Canada and dream of going to California.

Prescription guidance on benzodiazepines has clamped down massively over the last few years - there's been a couple of threads on here this year complaining about GPs refusal to prescribe even 4 2mg tablets for flying that have got really heated!

Diazepam can't do anything you technically can't do yourself, engage your parasympathetic nervous system by long, slow exhaling and using visualisation/meditation.

I used to be similar to you OP and then had to take a lot of flights on my own, it was 8 in 2 weeks, and after that something just changed.

It wasn’t a conscious thing but the next time I got on a flight I was completely calm and found myself comforting another anxious passenger.

Maybe it’s a facing your fear kind of thing, I don’t know, but there was something about flying alone that made me not really care about the outcome if that makes sense.

'I love turbulence, it calms me instantly and sends me off to sleep* 🙄 always one.

Anyway diazepam never worked for me AT ALL. So I am thinking valium next time.

Umm, diazepam IS Valium - it's just what they call it now as Valium is an old brand name. Like how fluoxetine used to be called Prozac

Anything ending in pam is valium. I always have temazepam, for added council estate chic.

I’m with you OP, terrified of flying and going to Greece in October. I think it’s a mixture of being jammed in with loads of other people and the turbulence and the noises it’s just too much so think I will be seeing if my GP will give me something to relax me and have a few drinks before hand

If my GP won’t prescribe them, are there any natural remedies you can buy do you know?

Turbulence not only terrifies me it induces instant vomiting, regardless of having taken travel tablets and wearing so-called anti sickness wrist bands.
Returning from Russia some years ago we circled over London for nearly an hour in horrendous turbulence and I honestly prayed that I would die. I ended up being carried off the plane I was so ill.
I avoid flying if I can now.

Umm, diazepam IS Valium

Umm, okay, sorry I'm not up on my narcotics ffs. Any need for the snottiness?