Flying / claustrophobia - help!

[Petra42]

Due to some trauma when young, I developed some sort of claustrophobia which impacted me by making me terrified of getting on planes and trains. 30 years later and I've managed to do some shorter flights with family and am better with trains (though much easier when I know routes or have people with me). I sometimes feel close to the bottom in life because I feel such shame that I can't do something that others find so easy, and I often think my children would be better off without me.

I guess i want some advice from others how to avoid panic in my next flight as I feel like im going to have months of anxiety before it. Ill be with family. My children are small and I don't want to put my fears on them but when I get on, it's like I block everything out to try and cope. I'm terrified. I take Kalms or Bach Flower Remedies. I've had some counselling and they have given me recordings to listen to.

There was a good thread on this yesterday

Fear of flying www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/5249440-fear-of-flying

Try a fearless flying course either with BA or EasyJet. They're brilliant!

I have the same thing and it's terrible because I have to have regular MRI scans. I even get claustrophobic in taxis now. 'Fear of flying' doesn't really cover it because it's not really related in any way to flying and information about how safe planes are etc are beside the point.

I manage with breathing exercises, sour sweets (to force your brain to focus on that sensation alone) and noise cancelling headphones also really help me.I understand it's hard if you've got young children and can't exactly ignore everything around you for a whole flight, but I find I can get over the initial fight or flight reaction with breathing exercises and then if I immediately put headphones on and watch something for the rest of the time, the anxiety dissipates. If it's as bad as you say, I'd go to the GP and try and get a prescription for diazepam or similar to be used very sparingly.