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Self-harm and flights
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I'm going to New York next week :hyper: to see a good friend of mine for a long weekend.
I'm quite scared of it going wrong as I've had a terrible year mental health wise with three inpatient admissions, getting sectioned etc and my travel insurance doesn't cover that type of thing.
Also, more concerning for me, is the flight. I'm not scared of flying, I've done about a hundred or so flights in my lifetime, but I am scared of not being able to self-harm for the duration (8 h 20 min) as obviously I can't take blades on a flight. I know I can do it as I went for 48 hours a few weeks ago with no internal self harm although by the end of it my head was done in and I harmed far worse than if I hadn't denied myself in the first place. But I do feel ready to face the challenge as scary as it seems.
Does any one have any tips for getting through this without cracking up too much?
I'm quite scared of it going wrong as I've had a terrible year mental health wise with three inpatient admissions, getting sectioned etc and my travel insurance doesn't cover that type of thing.
Also, more concerning for me, is the flight. I'm not scared of flying, I've done about a hundred or so flights in my lifetime, but I am scared of not being able to self-harm for the duration (8 h 20 min) as obviously I can't take blades on a flight. I know I can do it as I went for 48 hours a few weeks ago with no internal self harm although by the end of it my head was done in and I harmed far worse than if I hadn't denied myself in the first place. But I do feel ready to face the challenge as scary as it seems.
Does any one have any tips for getting through this without cracking up too much?
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Get friend/friends to write you maessages/letters in a book, and read them when you're stressing out and wanting to self harm. or letters that people have wrote to you before, write letters to people to take your mind off it
Count down in time, remind yourself that the urges to self harm will pass, you just have to wait 5 minutes..half an hour etc.
Take mp3 players/books/cross words/sudoku etc.
Also, if you can ask for ice cubes in your drink on the plane, hold them in your hand til they melt, it hurts and can be used as another form of self harm but without the blades..might do as a temporary thing until you can self harm 'properly'
Hope some of that helps
You can usually watch films on the headrest in front of you, plus take some books/magazines or a gameboy or something. I don't like flying, to i try not to sleep beforehand so i can sleep through the majority of the flight. Or, like katralla said, perhaps try to take a sedative, if it doesn't knock you out, it will more than likely calm you down.
that's a good idea or even a sketch pad so you can vent your feelings through that. things that uplift you like someone else said letters and cards from friends or just think about how much of a wonderful time you'll have in new york. that can be a biggg distraction. i hope you have a brilliant time.
But i dont condone the self harm. kick the habit randomgirl, it helps no1 in the long run.
It's not that easy though.
Just had to put some words of reason in there with the whole helping her out too.
Its not. I've done it for at least six years on and off.
RG - Elastic bands, ice cubes and any other distrcation method you regually use. Take something with you (favourite piece of clothing maybe) that reminds you of being safe. If you are really worried, explain to your Dr, and ask for a mild sedative.
this probably isnt helpful but im on clonazepam and i find it takes the edge off of the feelings of wanting to hurt myself so maybe your dr can prescribe you something like that
I'm not going anywhere near my doctors before I go as she doesn't know I'm going and might not approve of it and I don't want to risk being physically stopped from going (I ended up in a mental hospital when I was just going to get antihistamine tablets for a cold in May, I don't want to risk hospitalisation this week as I'm going this Thursday), so I can't get any prescription meds.
But I'll definately try ice cubes and elastic bands as a short term thing to get me through if I need them. And writing things down.
I was glad I didn't try anything dodgy as I was randomly selected for a full body scan, the type that see's if you are concealing anything internally at the airport but at least it got me out of the one where they touch you as that would freak me out more. I met a girl out in America (a friend of a friend) and it turned out she was on my flight home which was cool too.