Meteorologist has panic attack on TV: ‘I’ll need to wait a second’

He then cut his segment short and asked co-host Lisa Millar to take his place, who assured him he was fine and gently explained that Byrne had been open about being nervous.

The meteorologist later returned with a camera and thanked his colleagues for their support.

He said: “I’m sorry if I scared anyone there.”

“No, really, because you’ve been very honest before about having a panic attack on the air, and it’s great for people to know that it can happen to anyone,” Millar said.

Live TV caused Byrne’s first panic attack, which he revealed in a 2022 interview, calling it “absolutely terrifying.” It happened after he didn’t hesitate to go to his section and ran into the sky wall.

“My heart was pounding, I was gasping for breath and sweat was pouring out of every pore as my brain screamed ‘MATA!'” Byrne wrote.

A psychologist told Byrne that it probably happened because he tried to control his breathing so much that his brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen, which caused the plane to react.

While that was happening, his doctor temporarily put him on a beta blocker, a type of medicine that slows down the heartbeat. It helped, as did techniques to “distract” his brain, such as pressing his finger on the side of his finger during the episode. But Byrne continues to have occasional panic attacks.

She has learned that it is important to open up to her colleagues and let them know that she may need help at times if this happens in the air. The experience changed his perspective on mental health.

“While I appreciated that things like anxiety and depression are very real, I didn’t know about the complete lack of control that you can sometimes have in your brain, or ways to control,” Byrne wrote.

Anthony Polcari, a digital producer in Washington, shared a similar experience of having a panic attack during a recent TV appearance.

Carson Daly’s experience with a panic attack

TODAY Carson Daly, 51, has also been open about his panic attacks. He had never heard of them when he saw his first while hosting MTV’s “Total Request Live” in the 1990s.

“I thought I was going to die,” he recalled. “My heart started racing and fear entered my body.”

Panic attacks were a symptom of stress and anxiety, Carson said.

In 2018, the TODAY co-host revealed that he was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, which causes extreme emotions and sometimes panic or panic attacks.

She began seeing a therapist and learned tools to manage her anxiety, including meditation and breath work. Medication helped, too.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t be scared anymore. The body can always trick the mind,” he said.

He wears his mental health problems “like a badge of honor. I have always worried. I have dealt with panic attacks. I went to a lot of therapy.”

He added: “This is how God gave me, I was created this way.

What is fear?

It’s the sudden onset of intense fear or discomfort, according to The Anxiety and Depression Association of America. It can happen suddenly and for no apparent reason when a person is calm, or strike when they are feeling anxious.

The body reacts as if it’s in danger, even though there’s no threat, Todd Farchione, Ph.D., director of the intensive program at the Center for Anxiety and Chronic Anxiety Disorder in Boston, previously told TODAY.

“It’s a false alarm,” Farchione said. “It’s all internal, and that’s what scares people the most. If you had a big spider in front of you and you reacted to that , you would say, ‘I understand why I react that way.’

The height of a panic attack lasts a few minutes because the body can’t sustain that fight-or-flight mode for long, Farchione said.

Panic attacks can happen with any anxiety disorder, he added.

Some people may have panic disorder, which involves frequent and unexpected panic attacks, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

What are the symptoms of panic attacks?

The American Psychological Association has noted that patients may experience “paralyzing fear.” They also feel that there is no way to stop the panic attack.

Symptoms may include a racing heart, shortness of breath, nausea, light-headedness, tremors and tremors of the hands or lips. People may also experience feelings of absence, absence or disconnection, Farchione said.

Panic attack therapy

Therapy can help identify triggers and teach people how to overcome panic attacks with slow breathing, according to the American Psychological Association. Anti-anxiety medications, antidepressants and beta blockers may be part of the treatment.

If a person often has panic attacks, it may be useful to tell loved ones and colleagues what can help if it happens, Dr. Ken Duckworth, medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), previously told TODAY.com.

It allowed Byrne’s colleagues to quickly pick him up when his panic attack began and the cameras were rolling.