The Castle Practice does not prescribe sedatives for fear of flying. All partners and prescribers who work within the practice have made this decision, for which the reasons for this can be found below.
- Diazepam is a sedative, which makes you sleepy and more relaxed. If an emergency occurs during a flight it may impair your abilty to concentrate, follow instructions given to you and react to the situation happening.
- Sedative drugs can make you fall asleep, however, when you do sleep it is an unnatural non-REM sleep. Meaning you won’t move around as much as you do in a natural sleep. This can cause you to be at an increased risk of developing a blood clot (DVT) in the leg or even the lung. The risk of this is even greater if your flight is longer than four hours.
- While most people find Benzodiazepines like Diazepam sedating, a small number of people have paradoxical agitation. They could also cause a disinhibition and lead you to behave in a way that you would not normally. This could have an impact on your safety as well as that of others around you.
- According to the prescribing guidelines doctors follow (BNF) Benzodiazepines are contraindicated (not allowed) in phobia. Your doctor is taking a significant legal risk by prescribing against these guidelines. They are only licensed short term for a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the case, you should be getting proper care and support for your mental health.
- Diazepam and similar drugs are illegal in a number of countries. They may be confiscated or you may end up in trouble with the police.
- Diazepam stays in your system for a while. If your job requires you to submit to random drug testing, you may fail this.
We appreciate that fear of flying is very real and frightening. A much better approach is to tackle this properly with a Fear of Flying course run by the airlines, a few of which have been listed below.
EasyJet – Fear of flying course | Fearless Flyer (easyjet.com) Tel: 0203 8131644
British Airways – Fear of flying courses from British Airways™ | Flying With Confidence Tel: 01252 793250
Virgin – Tips For Nervous Flyers | Advice For Nervous Flyers | Virgin Atlantic Tel: 01423 714900