Would I have a panic attack on a transatlantic cruise?

[skjpm]

I'm terrified of flying, but I'd like to see Europe. I've been thinking about a transatlantic crossing, but I wonder if I'd get the same claustrophobic/agoraphobic (paradoxical, I know) sensations I get on a plane if I were on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Does a ship feel like a plane? Has anyone else with fear of flying ever tried a ship?

[cheezus]

1. go see your doctor

I'd guess an anti-anxeity + put you to sleep (dramamine?) = flight you can handle

[skjpm]

4. I might try drugs--but a cruise sounds fun

I thought I'd let my fear drive my actions, and see if a cruise wouldn't be a sort of romantic way to cross the ocean. I love trains. Is a ship on the water a different feeling than a plane in the air?

[cheezus]

6. well, i've never taken a cruise, but having flown...

plane in the air feels scarier than canoe in the water.

"this doesn't seem right.... but at least I won't die if I fall out"

[ps1074]

2. I don't have fear of flying and I don't have fear of ships

So, I don't know if my opinion matters but these 2 are not related, so I think you will be okay.

Plus on the ship you will be able to walk and talk to people and have fun. Not just sitting for 8 hours or so trying to supress the panic.

[medeak]

3. hated it

flying's better for me...don't like the feeling of not seeing land on horizon anywhere.

Just knock yourself out on the plane.

[Nikia]

5. As long as the weather is good

If the weather isn't so good, you'll probably have anxiety problems. It is scary for the ship to be rocking do to waves created from a monster storm. I don't think that any cruise ships have been lost lately though.
During the day, if the weather is good, you can be out on the deck. That might help you. You don't have to worry about it falling out of the sky or messing up on take off and landing either.

[skjpm]

8. There is no route across the Bering Strait

My other thought would be to go through Alaska and connect with the Trans-Siberian railway. This sounded fun and romantic, too, but as things turn out, there are no roads up to the Bering Strait. I'd still have to get from Anchorage to some city in Siberia.

God, I hate flying. I really do.

I think I'd do OK on a ship. When I even think of being on a plane, I get scared. I can see myself on the ocean, and at least, I'd be near the earth.

[Old and In the Way]

7. When it's your time, it's your time.

That's just the fatalist in me talking. Better chance of dying from boredom, I think.

On edit, I'd say there's a much higher probability of physical discomfit from going by a cruise ship. Lots of people don't like the rolling swells....

[radwriter0555]

9. tranquilizers work WONDERFULLY for allaying fears and hang ups..

if you're THAT terrified of flying, a cruise ship is a great way to go, with proper medication and sufficient booze.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

10. I cured my fear of flying by actually going on a plane .

I had no other choice to get where I wanted to go ( Europe ) seeing as I had no way of getting on the QE2 or any other ship and I can't swim lol . I have problems during the take off of an airplane but other than I take pills before I get on planes to calm down my nerves .

[medeak]

11. cured fear as well

when told the odds of dying in plane crash were the same as winning Publisher's clearing house and you flew everyday for 35 years.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

12. Yep and you are most likely to be kicked by a mule ...

than to have an accident involving an airplane .

[Hell Hath No Fury]

13. Same dilemma...

I too am terrified of flying, and have a long history of panic disorder to boot.

I've wondered about taking a boat myself, but came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be much better, because a huge component of my flying fear has to do with being out of control and not being able to "exit" if I am caught onboard with a bad panic attack.

The same thing would happen on a boat, just over the course of a week instead of 8+ hours. :)

I do fly now when necessary. I have a wedding coming up in Texas and I will be flying there. My trick is Xanax (brand never generic). And lots of it. I have worked out a formula for flying that works for me, including flying in the a.m. so I don't have the day to build up fear about the flight. I take a Xanax (1.5mg) an hour and a half before I go to the airport, and then more (1.5) 40 minutes before the flight. By the time I am boarding, I am so relaxed I don't care if the plane crashes! I ususally fall asleep just after take-off and stay asleep for the rest of the flight. I do have bit of a Xanax hangover the rest of the day, but it really isn't that bad.

[skjpm]

14. That's exactly it!

In my airplane fear fantasy, I run up and down the aisles, screaming, unable to escape. Then the stewardess grabs some kind of syringe. . .anyway, not a pretty picture.

On a ship, I'd have farther to run. And it might be big enough that I don't feel trapped. When I visualize myself on a ship, I don't get panicky, but if I visualize myself on a plane, I get the same sense of panic.

Incidentally, I've flown before--lots of times. Oddly, familiarity with flying and knowing the odds of a crash don't help. It's the sense of being trapped and the wierd sensation of having nothing underneath you. I'm getting nervous just writing about it. And if I take a tranquilizer, who will grab the armrests and hold up the plane?

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

16. Yeah that weird sensation of having nothing underneath you ...

still drives me crazy . Yeah the clouds look like fluffy pillows but oh man ... thats why I immediately close all windwow shades when I am in the airplane . I just concentrate on the food and in flight entertainment . Days before my flight I have to psych myself up for the flight . And then I just say a prayer and get on the plane :)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

18. Classic panic thinking!

The fear you describe (running around like a crazy person) is one of the most common fears of people who have phobias. :)

I went through a great course through Kaiser on panic/phobias that I found invaluable. In it we learned all about the kind of thinking you describe and learned tools for identifying the automatic cognitive thoughts and beliefs surrounding our fears. (An example of these these thoughts and beliefs is "If I fly I will panic and rip my clothes off, running around the cabin naked and everyone will be looking at me and think I am crazy".) We learned to identify them, refute them, and essentially retrain our brains so we had new beliefs and thoughts. As an agoraphobic, my remaining big fear is flying, which I have yet to beat completely.

There is a book written by my Kaiser instructor that is must read for those who have these kind of fears and want to understand what is happening to them on a physical level (heart racing, feeling faint, tingling, etc) and cognitive level (thinking you are going to make a fool of yourself, you're going to have a heart attack and die, if something happens to me I need to be near a hospital, etc.).

The book is An End to Panic, Breakthrough Techniques for Overcoming Panis Disorder; Elke Zuercher-White, Ph.D.

I found that just knowing what was happening to me and why was half the battle.

If flying is your one big fear, this might be enough to help you overcome it. Or at least understand it fully and make it easier. :)

[Tracer]

15. If you can afford it, take the ship.

Transatlantic passages are great! Take the new QE.

That ship is so huge that you'll think you're in a hotel. It has the latest and greatest anti-roll devices for a smooth sail. The food will be non-stop, the entertainment will be everywhere Ñ you can go to the gym, the movies, the barbershop/hairdresser,

Go for it.

[skjpm]

17. I was even looking into freighters

I think the QE2 would be great, and I'm keeping an eye out for specials. But I thought a freighter would be really adventurous. And cheap. Again, it all depends on the possibility of panic attacks.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

19. I hate to break the news but...

but there is always a possibility of having a panic attack. :) What I suspect you are dealing with is beyond a fear of flying, but more a fear of having a panic attack, with is called panic disorder.

Often times phobias are started when a person with panic disorder has a panic attack in a certain local -- say a plane, or on a bridge, or in an elevator. They then associate that attack with the place and say they have a phobia about planes/bridges/elevators when they are really dealing with a fear of having panic attacks.

A person who is afraid of having panic attacks will only be helped by getting rid of their fear of the attacks, then it doesn't matter if you are on a plane, a boat, or whatever.

And, as someone who has "been there" for 14+ years, that is easily said, but not so easily done. I'm still working on it. :)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

20. I sailed on the Queen Mary in about August 1965

We were sailing from Cherbourg to New York and sailed right through the edge of a hurricane that was off the North Carolina coast. The ship was heaving side-to-side and end-to-end. People were confined to their cabins and no food was available because all the kitchen stores had been lost because of the violent movement. No one had any appetite anyway. In the cabin, chairs, keys, wastebaskets and anything else not tied down were literally falling (not just gently sliding) from one side of the room to the other, while also falling back and forth. We were later told that we had sailed through 150 mph winds and some waves were as high as 40 feet. And most of this happened throughout one long, black sleepless night.

When I was younger, I sailed across the Atlantic many times, including on board military family ships because my father was in the Air Force (like the SS Colonel Darby). But may I suggest you try a cargo ship. During the summer of my 17th year, I sailed from Savannah, Georgia to Lisbon, Portugal on the SS Kenosha, a fair-sized cargo ship sailing with an Italian crew under a Liberian flag. It was a great experience, although it took about 20 days to go across. I personally don't like lounge entertainment aboard cruise ships or all of the organized social events and meals. On the cargo ship, I ate Italian food every day in the Captain's mess with his First Mate and other Officers. At night, there was bridge, chess and interesting talk with the crew. During the day, I caught up on my reading and took in the sun. It was incredibly relaxing. Many (if not all) cargo ships take on paying passengers in a few cabins made specifically for this purpose. The whole thing kind of had a 40s movie feel to it and was like stepping into another world. And I was able to take a car aboard the cargo ship with no problem, and at a low cost.

Except for the night on board the Queen Mary as I described above, I have never felt even mild fear or panic on a ship. Instead, I have found it to be a very relaxing escape. I don't have a fear of flying but I hate the cramped seats on passenger jets. I wouldn't trade a relaxing and interesting 20 day cargo ship crossing for a miserably cramped 10 hour flight.