Anxiety triggered by Footballer colapse!!

[Rossi_h]

So watching Erikson collapse on live TV and be given CPR and De fib has got me so shaken and brought all my anxiety straight back! I have a fear of Sudden death whilst playing football etc. But the last 4 years I’ve conquered the fear and played football, what worries me is he will have heart tests probably yearly and it still managed to happen to him. A fit athlete just dropping down like that is very scary and without the quick intervention of the medical team he might not still be with us! I’m going crazy thinking about it and haven’t slept properly for 2/3 days now 😢.

I suffer from skipped beats all the time and always checking my pulse on my Apple Watch 😒

Not sure what I can do! Any help appreciated x

[LittleLionMan]

It was horrible for everyone watching. I have spent many hours with Chris, so I was watching on very anxiously myself.

The odds on this happening are tiny, and is more common in athletes because they are tuned to their limit, and even then, it's odds of 1 in 15,000 that it can happen to a player. The odds for the average person are way way higher, and your skipped beats are not a sign of anything wrong.

I turned the setting off on my smart watch so I can't check my pulse without going through the process of checking through my phone, not scary because the info is still 'available', but not so accessible that you can't stop.

You aren't Eriksen, and it won't happen to you.

[emmabombemma]

I am exactly the same. I had to go to GP today about a UTI to get more antibiotics and my heart rate was 153 and would not come down and I have been fine at home but now I am home it is higher again because I witnessed the collapse and keep thinking I must have a heart problem to get so high. Big hugs

[Lencoboy]

What's really annoying me right now is the antivaxx brigade and conspiracy theorists trying to blame Covid vaccines for Erikson's ordeal without any lick of concrete evidence so far.

It sucks, it really does!

[NoraB]

So watching Erikson collapse on live TV and be given CPR and De fib has got me so shaken and brought all my anxiety straight back! I have a fear of Sudden death whilst playing football etc. But the last 4 years I’ve conquered the fear and played football, what worries me is he will have heart tests probably yearly and it still managed to happen to him. A fit athlete just dropping down like that is very scary and without the quick intervention of the medical team he might not still be with us! I’m going crazy thinking about it and haven’t slept properly for 2/3 days now

Totally understand the spiralling. This would have been me a few years ago..

So, two things..

One - Eriksen went down like a sack of King Edwards, for sure, and it was unnerving to see, but he was brought round very quickly with the aid of a defib machine. Thanks to being alive in 2021 - most sports clubs will have one - along with people who are trained how to use it but there are usually defib machines close by for most people. Ours is a few hundred yards away..

Two - Eriksen, himself, wouldn't have know much about what was happening. As soon as he lost consciousness, it was away with the fairies time. No pain. No comprehension of what everybody else could see..

My point is that the two scenarios are not without their 'positives'. You have a cardiac arrest, you get defibbed and come back to live another day. Or you just go as quickly as turning off a light, and if you have to go (and we all do eventually) there's something to be said for not suffering? It's those around us who experience the trauma - not the one who is on the floor. The perspectives of the observer and the experiencer are completely different..

I suffer from skipped beats all the time and always checking my pulse on my Apple Watch 

Not sure what I can do! Any help appreciated x

Ectopic beats is nothing to worry about. I have them a lot - more so when anxiety ramps up - and I know my heart is healthy.

You might want to stop constantly monitoring your heart because that causes anxiety from the moment you think about checking your heart rate and anxiety will release stress hormones which will make your heart race. It's a normal functioning of your body (fight or flight) but it's not nice to have these symptoms all the time, right? So try and help yourself and ditch the monitoring. Your heart is magnificent, and is looking after you..

[Rossi_h]

Thanks for this, I’ve been playing football since I was 4/5 years old it’s just if it can happen to someone as fit as him who gets tested yearly maybe even quartly then it’s in the back of my head. It’s so frustrating but that’s how my kind works and it sucks! My season starts again soon and I really want to play without this fear!

Any advice would be great! Again thank you ��

[Lencoboy]

Thanks for this, I’ve been playing football since I was 4/5 years old it’s just if it can happen to someone as fit as him who gets tested yearly maybe even quartly then it’s in the back of my head. It’s so frustrating but that’s how my kind works and it sucks! My season starts again soon and I really want to play without this fear!

Any advice would be great! Again thank you ��

You're probably still more likely to get run over by a bus than suddenly pop your clogs whilst playing footie.

[pulisa]

Thanks for this, I’ve been playing football since I was 4/5 years old it’s just if it can happen to someone as fit as him who gets tested yearly maybe even quartly then it’s in the back of my head. It’s so frustrating but that’s how my kind works and it sucks! My season starts again soon and I really want to play without this fear!

Any advice would be great! Again thank you ��

What is more important to you? Playing football and concentrating on your game or playing football and not being able to run about because you are fearful of being poleaxed by a heart attack? Christian Erikson is an elite footballer who is at the top of his game so something like this is going to get huge coverage. It doesn't mean that you are at any more risk. Why would it? Footballers get cancers too. It happens and you can't rationalise it. Do you worry about breaking your neck on the pitch? Or breaking your leg? Or isn't this as bad a risk for you?

[MrAlexander88]

Thanks for this, I’ve been playing football since I was 4/5 years old it’s just if it can happen to someone as fit as him who gets tested yearly maybe even quartly then it’s in the back of my head. It’s so frustrating but that’s how my kind works and it sucks! My season starts again soon and I really want to play without this fear!

Any advice would be great! Again thank you ��

The thing is, these players are very, very highly tuned. You say he's fit, but these footballers are probably too fit. They get very little rest after a season. I think they play way too much football if I'm honest. It seems that you only play at regional levels right? You aren't an elite player who is constantly playing at a high level, so I would try to not worry about it and just keep playing football.

[LittleLionMan]

Also, Chris is fine now anyway.