Fear of flying

There are several reasons why healthcare practitioners at here do not prescribe these medicines to treat fear of flying:

• If an emergency were to occur on a flight, being under the influence of this kind of medicine would worsen your ability to react.
• By being sleepier, you will move around less. This increases your chances of suffering a blood clot, such as a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which can be fatal.
• Although diazepam makes most people who take it sleepy, in some rare situations it can have an opposite effect, and make people aggressive or agitated, which would be dangerous on a plane, and may lead you to suffering legal consequences.
• Sedatives such as diazepam, are illegal in some countries. Transporting such drugs could lead to legal consequences in other countries.

We appreciate that fear of flying can have a significant impact on your quality of life, affecting ability to visit relatives abroad, attend family functions and enjoy family holidays. Therefore, we recommend either self-referring for talking therapy via the NHS wellbeing team or undertaking a fear of flying course as a safer and more effective treatmenr.

Courses

• Flying with confidence
• Fear of flying course
• Travel Advice