Medicus Health Partners does NOT prescribe sedatives (diazepam, or similar drugs like lorazepam, temazepam or clonazepam) for fear of flying. This policy decision has been made by the Prescribing Clinicians and is adhered to by all prescribers working in the practice. The reasons for this can be found below:
- Diazepam is a sedative, and it could impair your ability to concentrate. It may make you sleepy during the flight increasing the risk of any injury particularly in the emergency situations. This could seriously affect the safety of you and the people around you.
- The use of these drugs can make you drowsy, which may mean you won’t move around as much as during the flight, so you have a bigger risk of getting a blood in the leg clot (Deep Vein Thrombosis – DVT) or lungs (Pulmonary Embolism – PE). Blood clots are very dangerous and can be fatal. This risk is bigger if your flight is longer than 4 hours.
- Some people taking diazepam, can experience mood disturbances and make you behave in ways you normally wouldn’t. This could also impact on your safety and the safety of your fellow passengers or could lead you to get in trouble with the law.
- Benzodiazepines are not allowed to be prescribed for preventative reasons in non-medical settings.
- National prescribing guidelines followed by doctors also don’t allow the use of benzodiazepines in cases of phobia. Any Clinician prescribing diazepam for a fear of flying would be taking a significant legal risk as this goes against these guidelines. Benzodiazepines are only licensed for short-term use in a crisis in generalised anxiety. If this is the problem you suffer with, you should seek proper care and support for your mental health, and it would not be advisable to go on a flight.
- In several countries, diazepam and similar drugs are illegal. They would be confiscated, and you might find yourself in trouble with the police for being in possession of an illegal substance.
- Benzodiazepines have a long half-life. This means it stays in your system for a significant time and you may fail random drug testing if you are subjected to such testing as is required in some jobs.
We appreciate a fear of flying is very real and very frightening and can be debilitating. A much better approach is to tackle this properly with a Fear of Flying course run by the airlines and we have listed a number of these below.
For further information on Fear of Flying Courses, see below links:
Easy Jet
www.fearlessflyer.easyjet.com Tel: 0203 8131644
British Airways
http://flyingwithconfidence.com/courses Tel: 01252 793 250
Virgin Atlantic
https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/bb/en/wellbeing-and-health/flying-without-fear.html Tel: 0344 874 7747