gwenny

Hi all...I have a couple of long flights coming up in a couple of days, and my beast is starting to pace frantically around his cell. I used to be a seriously professional pre-flight drinker, and have barely managed to make my plane a few times because of it. Of course I always kept the buzz going in the air as well, $8 bottle of godawful wine be damned, and have passed out wheezing boozy breath on my poor helpless seatmate so many times that I really doubt I have an ounce of good seatmate karma left.

Anyway, my beast the boozehound is stoked about our upcoming trip, since I'm a nervous flyer and that is totally music to my beast's ears. Flying is, by far, my biggest trigger/association, especially since I haven't built up a lot of replacement strategies and experiences. I'm mostly just posting to fend beast talk off just by shining a bright flashlight in his face and posting about it, but if anyone has any ideas or strategies I would love to hear 'em.

walktheline1

Check out this thread I started when I first got sober.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-tomorrow.html

As a side note, I now take valium to fly. Was straight up with the doctor about my abuse issues so he monitors my refills very closely. The biggest thing for me is to get enough sleep, keep my blood sugar up, and try to stay relaxed. Being sober for 11 months helped a lot too!

SoberKnitter

God, your pre-flight drinking sounds familiar.

I think there are going to be times, especially when we recently quit drinking, that are going to be uncomfortable and terrible and there's not much to be done about it. I have stuff happening that's making me anxious; last night I felt I could barely breath, and this was made worse because the AV was just chanting "DRINK AND MAKE THIS STOP!" over and over again. I had to keep reminding myself that, while this feels terrible, it won't kill me, but drinking just might.

Beavis

Flying is a trigger for me as well. Based on some of my experiences, I think it might be common. There was the time the lady in front of me spilled her Bloody Mary on my beautiful purse. Then there was the guy who fell asleep next to me with a beer can in his hand, which spilled on my pants. They were oblivious to how ridiculous they looked and how mad I was. Maybe thinking about preserving your dignity and pride feeling for not being one of those drunk guys on the plane.
Of course, who am I to talk. One time I had to really use the restroom after drinking before and during a flight. We were about to land and had to circle around a thousand times and couldn't get up. I was so close to peeing my pants.
Good times.