Sunaddict wrote:

Phenergan can be bought in tablet and elixir form. It is an antihistamine that can be used for allergies and motion sickness. It can also be used as a sedative or sleep aid. You should not drink alcohol while you are taking it.

Thanks for the proper spelling Sunaddict. It was the liquid one that I had a memory of purchasing some years ago. It was more for motion sickness as I dont really have a fear of flying, but am aware that it can be used to induce sleep for a flight, I think it has all the warnings on the bottle about not drinking alcohol etc

Doe

Mdollar - If you were 'knocked out' by taking 10mg what would you do in case of an emergency.?

totally agree Denny..

the dosages do seem terribly high......

is there not some form of herbal stuff that can be taken?
or a relaxation coping technique?

I am not a big fan of medication anyway..and whilst Diazepam is a muscle relaxant etc..I have seen the flip side.

Mdoller Im sure they will not give you 10mg they do not like giving this stuff out unless they really have too I didnt go in and ask for it was based on my file.

It was a horrible feeling I had no sense of anything and certainly wouldnt take it again.

A while ago my G.P. suggested I take Phenergen to take to help me sleep at night; the pharmacist was at first reluctant to let me buy it because apparently it is addictive. When I said my doctor suggested it, the pharmacist let me buy a packet. I took one and woke up the following morning feeling very woolly.

When I am on the plane and I want to relax and/or sleep I take herbal Nytol. For me it works a treat.

No, seriously I wouldn't jump from 2mg to 10 and drink alcohol on top. I will just stick with what I've got or try those Phenergen If I can find any or even just stick to a couple of glasses of wine.

So the doctor prescribed me a few 2mg tablets and some 5mg tablets for fear of flying and told me try and 2mg at home before my holiday and see how it affected me. She said if it had no affect then to try a 5mg. I have never taken any tablets of this kind before so wasn't sure what to expect. I took a 2mg diazepam yesterday when I was relaxing at home and I don't think it had any affect. How are you supposed to feel when you've taken it? I was quite relaxed anyway when I took it so it wasn't really noticeable. I felt a little bit tired a few hours after taking it but that's about it really. I think i'm going to try taking one of the 5mg ones tomorrow and see how I feel with that. I'm not a small person so i'm wondering if that's why 2mg didn't really do a lot. I'm 5ft 9in and weigh about 160lbs.

Diazepam is the generic name for Vallium. It is used to control anxiety attacks/episodes, and you should avoid alcohol when taking this medication. In effect it produces a calming effect, and I suppose the dosage you need, really depends on how anxious you are about flying.

I work in a secure mental health hospital and most of the patients on my ward are prescribed this drug alongside anti-psychotic meds.

I'm slighty worried now that people may be taking drugs on planes that impact their reactions/movements. Please don't sit anywhere near me as if the worst happens and I've got 90 seconds max to get down the escape slide, I don't want drugged up, immobile persons getting in the way. This isn't a dig at nervous flyers, I don't like people flying when they've been drinking.

I understand that they/you may be nervous about flying (my wife is a real white knuckles on the armrest flyer, and her eyes almost pop out her head at any change in engine pitch) but there are plenty of other options that won't impede you (& everyone elses) exit in an emergency.

I agree with blondiescot - analyse what makes you nervous and address that. Take a nervous flyer course, read up on how aircraft work, read some of the aircrash reports - if you have an inquisitive and logical mind these actually help as you understand the risks better and if you increase knowledge you will have less to fear.

Laura1988 wrote:

So the doctor prescribed me a few 2mg tablets and some 5mg tablets for fear of flying and told me try and 2mg at home before my holiday and see how it affected me. She said if it had no affect then to try a 5mg. I have never taken any tablets of this kind before so wasn't sure what to expect. I took a 2mg diazepam yesterday when I was relaxing at home and I don't think it had any affect. How are you supposed to feel when you've taken it? I was quite relaxed anyway when I took it so it wasn't really noticeable. I felt a little bit tired a few hours after taking it but that's about it really. I think i'm going to try taking one of the 5mg ones tomorrow and see how I feel with that. I'm not a small person so i'm wondering if that's why 2mg didn't really do a lot. I'm 5ft 9in and weigh about 160lbs.

I congratulate you on having such a good doctor who has the foresight to give you several doses for you to monitor the effects (including any side effects) before stepping onto a plane. People who get hold of this drug and who take it for the first time and a short time before stepping onto a plane, without knowing how it's going to effect them, they really me off.!

It's got nothing to do with adult body weight/size and remember everybody is different. Diazepam works by acting on receptors in the brain and the dosage is determined by your doctor after evaluating the symptoms . Some of the side effects of this drug is to cause confusion, amnesia and unexpected increase in aggression, so when I was working, it was standard practise to give elderly patients with a tendency to become confused the lowest dose, no point in giving someone already slightly confused a high dosage drug which has the ability to cause more confusion, we would monitor the effect the drug had on the patient and increase the dose if necessary to acheive the desired effect or withdraw it.
Feeling sleepy is quite natural, the drug relaxes you, but remember Diazepam stays in the body for a long time, so you may still feel the effects of the drug the next day.

Sanji

Phildo74, do you think your comment about having 90 seconds to get down an escape slide are the most wise words to a person who is extremely scared of flying? I most certainly will not be drugged up, this is why I am trying the different doses of diazepam in advance to check which dose is right for me and to make sure I am not too sedated.

Everyone else thank you for your comments and advice! I am lucky to have an understanding GP who was wise enough to give me two different doses to try to see which one is right for me.

I am nervous flyer too, I am on citalopram so have to be careful of what I take, The chemist suggested Stugeron 15 I haven't tried it yet, (fly out on Sunday) just hope it works

Laura1988 wrote:

Phildo74, do you think your comment about having 90 seconds to get down an escape slide are the most wise words to a person who is extremely scared of flying? I most certainly will not be drugged up, this is why I am trying the different doses of diazepam in advance to check which dose is right for me and to make sure I am not too sedated.

Everyone else thank you for your comments and advice! I am lucky to have an understanding GP who was wise enough to give me two different doses to try to see which one is right for me.

Huh? My point was that there are plenty of alternatives approaches to dealing with fear of flying that do not involve impairing your wits when you are onboard thus endangering yourself (and others!). The simple facts are that the odds of anything happening to an individual aircraft is very low but if someone did happen then knowing what to do can be the difference between life & death. The 90 seconds is based on research into survival of crashes and I mentioned it to make sure you appreciate just how quickly you'd need to move (albeit if by a really, really, really long shot something did go wrong)

Didn't mean to scare you anymore than you are, just highlighting that you really want to know what's going on around you so taking drugs isn't great!

As an example of what I mean as alternatives - Virgin Atlantic run one day fear of flying courses from Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Southampton & Leeds. They get good reviews but are about £250 for the full day. This includes current Virgin Captains explaining about aircraft & flight, cabin crew trainers on how flight safety works, a talk from a psychologist on fear of flight and the day closes with a short flight with the whole group on a jet aircraft

British Airways do a similar course but the Virgin one looks better.

Or there are plenty of online courses available if you google - but mixed reviews so careful.

Or - (and this is what I use with my wife) - learn what the plane does, what each noise actually is, why the engines change pitch shortly after takeoff, how previous accidents were caused and what has been learnt.... this means that the irrational fear gets challenged by the reality that flying is very safe.

Erm Phildo, it's always a good exercise to look at the history of the poster ( where possible) before proceeding to give a lecture .

Laura1988 said :
The very strange thing is I worked as an air hostess with XL for a year in 2007 and my fear of flying has only developed since I left that job. I used to fly every couple of days with no problem at all now i'm terrified.

Sanji
Edit for typo error

Thanks for all the support guys i'm off on Sunday for 2 weeks so i'll report back when I return as to how I got on with flying!
Laura

All the best laura. Try not to worry too much (easier said than done, I know) but concentrate on thoughts of your destination-

sanji wrote:

Erm Phildo, it's always a good exercise to look at the history of the poster ( where possible) before proceeding to give a lecture .

Laura1988 said :
The very strange thing is I worked as an air hostess with XL for a year in 2007 and my fear of flying has only developed since I left that job. I used to fly every couple of days with no problem at all now i'm terrified.

Sanji
Edit for typo error

If you are suggesting that I now need to review all of the previous postings in other threads made by a member before engaging in a discussion then you are taking the P. I login on my breaks at work or at home sometimes and if I have something to add, I add it. I am not spending 5-10 minutes looking back through everything that someone has ever posted just in case there is something that might affect what I say. (5mins is how long it took me to find that earlier post by Laura1988, let alone read all her other posts).

Secondly, what lecture anyway? I said I didn't like the idea of people being drugged up (my opinion, which I'm allowed to have) and that there were alternatives which wouldn't have the same impact in an emergency. I then did some research and posted a second post with some info about some alternatives available, I actually thought this was being helpful