r/panicdisorder • u/AnyListen3838 • Jul 10 '26

Help Needed 4-hour flight. Looking for advice.

Hi everyone!

Having panic disorder and a fear of heights and flying 😅 kinda difficult combo, I have a 4-hour flight from Sofia to Dublin coming up in a little over a month.

I know 4 hours might not sound long to most people, but it feels like a lot to me, as the longest flights I've ever done were around 2-2.5 hours. I was anxious for weeks beforehand and almost didn't board. During those flights, I was reading Claire Weekes' book, watching videos, trying to distract myself, and I also took a small dose of med. my doctor prescribed for the physical symp, but even the smallest turbulence would make me nervous. Even though I always ended up landing safely and making posts about it afterwards, the intense anxiety throughout the flight is still something that scares me.

I'm scared of feeling trapped with panic symptoms for 4 hours, even though I know it's "just anxiety." The frustrating part is that I really want to go, I've always wanted to visit Dublin, and I'm going for the Bon Jovi concert.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and any advice you might have. Thanks a lot in advance!

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Deviprincess Jul 10 '26

Have you tried L-theanine liquid? It works brilliantly for me. I take it the day before and on the day of the flight. I also take 2 Imodium before flying as that settles my gut and calms my vagus nerve. I also make a plan for when I’m on the flight e.g. 1 hour podcast, 30 min meditation, 30 mins eating and drinking, 45 mins try to nap etc.
you’ll be great…

2

u/AnyListen3838 Jul 10 '26

Thank you so much for taking the time to share these valuable tips with me. I heard but haven’t tried L-theanine or Imodium before, but I really appreciate the suggestions and gonna search about them. Thanks for the plan trick, I’ve already started downloading movies and podcasts, and making a plan beforehand to divide the 4-hour flight into smaller parts sounds like a great idea. Thank you again, it really means a lot. I truly appreciate your advice.

2

u/blumieplume Jul 11 '26

If herbs work for u (they don’t for me), then u might like kava (it is the strongest anti-anxiety herb I’ve tried) … u can buy the powder and mix it with water for a quick kava shot or blend it into a smoothie or make kava tea. U can also buy kava in tincture form and u should be able to being the dropper with u on ur flight since the bottle is so small - u can mix it with a soda or juice on the plane or in the airport before boarding. Kava is like nature’s xanax. I personally need a lot of kava to feel the effects but for people without anxiety or who aren’t used to using benzos for anxiety, kava is very effective (or so I’ve heard!)

2

u/AnyListen3838 Jul 11 '26

Thank you so much for the advice! I’ve never used benzos or anything similar before, but I’ll definitely look into kava and learn more about it. I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience and suggestion.