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Jenny is the busy mother of young children, and life is full enough for her without having the worry of panic attacks and claustrophobia. For more than 15 years her life was sporadically troubled with bouts of feeling very uncomfortable and fearful in places such as supermarkets, banks or waiting in queues.
"On bad occasions I would feel tingling in my arms and my hands would turn cold. My heart raced and my breathing would go out of control," she comments. "I knew it was something to do with breathing too much. I would feel I was going to faint, although this only happened to me once. I believed it was something I had to learn to handle myself, but I was struggling to overcome it."
She didn't allow this to stop her from doing many of the things she wanted to, although on a couple of occasions she decided not to go out to dinner at a restaurant because she didn't feel able to cope with the 'closed in' feeling. There were periods when the attacks were particularly bad, which Jenny associates with stress at work, when lots of demands were placed on her.
"I was taking a preventive drug regularly for asthma, and would use Ventolin when necessary. But I didn't discuss the panic attacks with my doctor as I was afraid that I may be given something like Valium. I have read of people in the past who were suffering from panic attacks being told they had psychiatric disorders - that really scared me. I believed it was something I had to sort out myself. I had no idea it was so common, or that it would be helped so easily by breathing retraining."
In 1996 Jenny had a dentist's appointment, and had her worst panic attack while in his waiting room. She passed out, and after that decided that she needed help to overcome the problem. A friend stayed with her shortly after and told her about the Buteyko technique, which was being taught in her city that week. Jenny enrolled in the course, and was very impressed with what she learned about breathing.
"After the second day's session, I no longer needed to take my reliever medication regularly for asthma", she remembers. "I practised the exercises and had an eight-month period without needing any reliever or preventer for it, and then I had a brief 4-day allergy attack when I needed some medication. After that, I needed nothing." But it was the breathing education that has really made the difference to Jenny's panic attacks, which were the reason she had decided to go to the course. "It is so much easier when you understand the physiology of over-breathing, " she says. "When you can see what is happening in a panic attack, half the battle is won." Practising the exercises has meant that Jenny is able to go to all the places that previously would have made her feel claustrophobic, without any problems. Her feelings of panic no longer occur nearly as frequently.
"Any attack I now have is on a much reduced scale. I can control them - I am very aware of what causes them and I have this wonderful feeling of empowerment. I control the feeling - and know that I can overcome it. Any sense of claustrophobia has gone."
Jenny can now go to the cinema, the shops and to parties without worrying that she may have a panic attack, as well as experiencing very real relief for her asthma. "My doctor has received information about this technique and is very supportive of my using it. She can see the evidence of how much my asthma has improved, and I hope she will encourage others to learn it. I like to tell people about it, so they can be helped as I was."
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