Not very horsey I know, but Wimbledon has been an annual tradition in our family forever! Its pretty difficult to get any sense out of my Mum during the Wimbledon fortnight and I think she was most put out about the amount she missed while giving birth to 3 out of my 5 siblings during the coverage!
I raise the subject of Wimbledon because of Emma Raducanu’s story this year (2021).
Emma was a wildcard entry at 18 years old and stormed through the first week but during her fourth round match she found herself struggling to breath and was advised not to continue by medical staff. Emma had a panic event, she said “I think it was a combination of everything that had gone on behind the scenes in the last week and a culmination both the excitement and the buzz” (Carayol, T., 6/7/2021: the guardian.com)
Panic events can hit us at any moment, without warning and be debilitating. For equestrians this can be an issue when hacking out, competing or just the thought of riding, as a client of mine experienced in the past; a couple of session of BWRT helped and now she is enjoying her horse again.
Shortness of breath, palpitation, chest pain, shaking, distorted vision, nausea, and feeling faint are some of the symptoms of such an event.
Some people are lucky, they only experience these events once or twice in their whole life but others are challenged by them on a regular basis.
Here are a few things you can do to help abate the symptoms…
- Remember it will pass! A panic event will only last for so long and although it may feel like you are going to die (this is not an exaggeration for those who are challenged regularly) you will survive and thrive afterwards.
- If possible, and if they exist, recognise the triggers. Panic events can be seeming random at first but there maybe an underlying trigger you just haven’t noticed. Start to map out when and where your events happen; what do you see, hear, smell, where are you? If you start to see a pattern you can be better prepared when you know you are going to meet your triggers. Prevention is better than cure after all.
- Breathe! This sounds obvious but when you are in a full blown event your breathing can become shallow. Learn a breathing technique that works for you (there are a lot of options available online) and practice it every day so that you have muscle memory the next time you experience a panic event.
These are just a few things that will help to alleviate the symptoms you may experience, however if you would like to remove your symptoms for good let me know… I can help you do that!
Photo by Valentin Balan on Unsplash
