Panic Attacks

[crashtested 0]

I don't know why but every time and get in the plane between 2000 ft up to around jump o clock i start to freak out, not outwardly.
I have this little voice in my head telling me that i am being irrational and should'nt be in the plane, the only way to get it to stop is by promising that this is my last jump.

Anyone else have these kind of problems, i would love them to stop so i could enjoying the £18 plane ride.......

[scottjaco 0]

You are new to the sport and this sort of thing is common.

Remember why you are there. Visualize the best possible outcome. Stop focusing on what might happen. It's all in your head and fear is a thought process that can be controlled with practice.

[Baksteen 84]

How do you feel once you're out of the door? Tell us about that too

"That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport."
~mom

[crashtested 0]

nothing wrong with the ride down. in fact i seem to be at my calmest when just about to take the leap of faith through the door.

Knowing that i have a 5 min pack job on my back, and an inabillity to exit the plane in a sensible way calms me no end.

[Andy9o8 0]

Very common for jumpers at your level, because you're doing something your brain tells you is very unnatural. It's also common when getting recurrent, like the first day back at the DZ after a winter layoff.
For most newer jumpers - aside from just accumulating enough total numbers of jumps for it to eventually subside - the fastest way to overcome it is currency: the more frequently you jump, and the more jumps you make in a single day or weekend, the faster you'll get over it.

[skybytch 259]

"Jump or ride the plane down?" I had that debate with myself on every plane ride until I had well over 50 jumps.

You'll get over it. Just keep jumping.

[Fast 0]

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nothing wrong with the ride down. in fact i seem to be at my calmest when just about to take the leap of faith through the door.

Knowing that i have a 5 min pack job on my back, and an inabillity to exit the plane in a sensible way calms me no end.

Totally natural. Why a leap of faith though? I don't think it is. I put trust in my gear and my training. Shit can go wrong but I do a lot to minimize my risk. I jump with people I trust or trust in myself to be defensive against those I can't. (students)

It isn't about faith at all for me.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[AFFI 0]

I have gone through it, and will again in all likelihood. It is just a part of being human.

Fr all the times I was on the plane having doubts, there is an equal number of times I have been completely astonished how reliable the gear is after openings, especially those pack jobs that were done in a hurry.

Whenever my brain try’s to protect me I can always VETO it and jump anyway, or ride the plane down and risk the chance of perishing in a landing accident. I think I am more fearful of landing in a jump plane that my own canopy.

Control issues?

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[RB_Hammer 0]

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I think I am more fearful of landing in a jump plane that my own canopy.

Control issues?

This is me. My greatest fear is in the plane after takeoff and before we reach 1500. Once we get to 1500, I KNOW I can get down on my own.

"I'm not lost. I don't know where I'm going, but there's no sense in being late."
Mathew Quigley

[AFFI 0]

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This is me. My greatest fear is in the plane after takeoff and before we reach 1500. Once we get to 1500, I KNOW I can get down on my own.

If you can get out of the door in time

[MarkM 0]

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Anyone else have these kind of problems, i would love them to stop so i could enjoying the £18 plane ride.......

I used to go through mental conversations that would go something like, "Why am I doing this? I don't have to do this? I could be sitting at home doing something else."

[sunshine 2]

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the only way to get it to stop is by promising that this is my last jump.

Sounds very familiar....i experienced the same thing when i first started. Keep up with it.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[skydivermom 0]

I suffered a full-blown panic attack about 30 minutes after landing on my first AFF jump. I thought I was having a stroke it was so bad. I passed out cold in the middle of the debrief session, and left the DZ in an ambulance.

I obviously continued to jump, and had that gut wrenching fear until around jump 100, especially when the door opened I was always just fine after leaving the plane though. Even now, I sometimes have days where I'm more nervous than usual. We are, afterall, doing something that totally goes against our survival instinct. Sometimes I would break out in song on the way to altitude, and it would always calm me.

Hang in there....it gets better

Mrs. WaltAppel

All things work together for good to them that love God...Romans 8:28

[mdetrano 0]

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...I have this little voice in my head telling me that i am being irrational and should'nt be in the plane

Try telling the voice its the fear that is irrational, not the activity.

I often worked out these pre-jump jitters (ok, ok, I often *work* out the jitters...) by telling myself that the more I relax, the more reason I have to relax. You perform better and safer that way... staying cool gives you the edge.

All things considered, your case sounds NORMAL to me. Jumping frequently will most likely desensitize you from the fear.

[darkwing 4]

I'd call this normal anxiety, not a panic attack. You have joined a big club. Focus on being safe, having fun, and jumping. It will pass.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[Mark24688m 0]

I get panic attacks frequently at school because of public speaking, but I have never had one because of skydiving. I wish I could give some advice but once it hits you there really is no way to stop it.

[airathanas 0]

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I'd call this normal anxiety, not a panic attack. You have joined a big club. Focus on being safe, having fun, and jumping. It will pass.

I still get nervous on the plane. I was much more nervous as a beginner though. I told myself, "The only way I'm getting off this plane is by jumping."

Here's a couple of sport psych methods you can try:

1) Take slow, smooth breaths by pushing your stomach out on the inhale and pushing your stomach in on the exhale. Breathing heavy by inflating your chest will cause you to hyperventilate.

3) Use cue words to remind yourself of the objectives.

4) Visualize the dive flow from start to finish.

5) TRUST yourself and your training. Continue to learn and grow with each jump. Take additional classes, read magazines and books, watch training videos, hire a coach. Your anxiety and fear may be stemming from lack of knowledge.

Hey, i knew my Master's degree in sport psych would come in handy one day!

http://3ringnecklace.com/

[denete 2]

I've been reading (about 1/2-way through now) Brian Germain's book "Transcending Fear: Conquering the Enemy Within".

Although I think the front end of the book is a little long, the book really does give a good information for discovering ways to calmly approach things (like skydiving) and tame some of your unconscious reactions.

Transcending Fear on Amazon.com

- David

SCR #14809

"our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe"
(look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

[Zenister 0]

focus on your breathing... force yourself to exhale for a count of 10 then inhale for a count of 10... if you practice this breathing pattern often it will come naturally whenever you begin to feel stress or anxious.

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[Ironmanjay 0]

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"Jump or ride the plane down?" I had that debate with myself on every plane ride until I had well over 50 jumps.

You'll get over it. Just keep jumping.

I was the same way. Now I like to visualize on the plane ride up what Im going to do on each jump and it seems to help me out. Your mind is a powerful thing, use it to your advantage

[bob.dino 0]

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Here's a couple of sport psych methods you can try:

1) Take slow, smooth breaths by pushing your stomach out on the inhale and pushing your stomach in on the exhale. Breathing heavy by inflating your chest will cause you to hyperventilate.

3) Use cue words to remind yourself of the objectives.

4) Visualize the dive flow from start to finish.

5) TRUST yourself and your training. Continue to learn and grow with each jump. Take additional classes, read magazines and books, watch training videos, hire a coach. Your anxiety and fear may be stemming from lack of knowledge.

\

6) Smile. Even if you're forcing it.

[chrismgtis 0]

When I started, I'll admit that while I'm uncomfortable with heights I'm not as afraid of them as most people. I'm the type of person that will walk to the edge of a cliff (although I feel like I need to grab hold of something and feel uneasy).

Still, on the plane for about my first 7 jumps in AFF, while sitting with the instructors getting to altitude a lot of those thoughts ran through my head. At one point around my 6th jump I thought to myself, "why the hell am I doing this?".

Everyone deals with fear differently and the same goes for fear in different situations. You might deal with fear of speaking in public better than someone deals with jumping out of an airplane for example and vice versa for someone else.

It's a mind game. What I personally did was decided to just force myself not to think about what could happen. You have to not really think about what your doing as jumping from a high altitude, approaching high speeds and what could happen if a malfunction occurs and you "go in".

In life these things happen. You can die at anytime. What counts is that you make a decision whether or not this is something you really want to do and whether or not you are the type of person that is willing to take the risks involved with doing something you love doing.

I personally decided years ago that I had made too many mistakes in my life and that I had let fear control me and prevent me from doing something that I wanted to do, needed to do and could have made my life a lot better and that I just didn't want to take the risk of dying and regretting not doing something anymore. That was one of my big motivations. At the same time, I'm still afraid of public speaking. I could jump out of airplane much easier, because to me personally you're not risking being judged by possibly hundreds of people for every word you say. So I can handle facing just that fear alone, but that is me. It's not the same for everyone.

People ask me all the time how it's so easy for me to skydive, yet I find it really hard in a lot of cases to be as outgoing as everyone else and things like that. We handle things differently. It's not our fault though. It's just the way our brain works individually. The exact same reason why Albert Einstein could come up with some many formulas, theories and was a brilliant mathematician. He was a complete moron when it came to plenty of things.

-Close your eyes, breathe and think of skydiving as a normal activity. If you can do that you would be surprised how much it helps.
-If you can, talk to people on the plane to keep your mind off of it.
-Psych yourself out (I think that's how to explain it), by telling yourself "14,000 feet? Pfft. That's normal. Big deal.
-I know a lot of people do it, but it might help not to drink any soda or anything with a lot of sugar or caffeine it before you jump. In the past I found out that if I was nervous doing something, that made it a lot worse. It's harder to relax when your jacked up.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[pirana 0]

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"Jump or ride the plane down?" I had that debate with myself on every plane ride until I had well over 50 jumps.

You'll get over it. Just keep jumping.

Interesting. At no point, at any time during a ride up have I even remotely consider not jumping.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[rygon 0]

I get nervous when i havent jumped for a while (been 4wks since my last jump ) and i the way i feel more relaxed is to go over my EPs touching my handles and visulising. Also having a look around and seeing the smiles on everyone elses face helps.
By the time im at the door, a couple of deep breaths and then jump helps. If you can break each part of the skydive down into little steps and reherse each one i find that it makes the jumping out a bit easier (all i have to do is wingtip ready set jump and that parts over with)

[AnKaLi 0]

I had (ok have) the same problem, I haven't jumped in almost 6 weeks now, so I'm anxiously awaiting the restart of my training. BUT I'm still going to do it, because I know I love it, and I know that I love flying my canopy. Follow the advice previously given in this thread, it's all tremendously helpful. The deep breathing and SMILING is essential for me. Finding a groovy song to sing is also one that I use often.

I also recommend Germain's book, and I remember the advice given to me "Its been such a short time that humans could fly, we need to embrace it!"
Numerous people at my DZ have said they went through the same thing, so I know its normal, and it will go away eventually. I'm a crazy thinker, and a perfectionist at times, so I know where my issues are coming from, and I wish you luck in figuring out yours as well!