In the midst of a sport like mixed martial arts where the majority of attention falls on a fighter’s performance and the competitive nature of athletics, sometimes an athlete’s personal health and well being get lost in the shuffle.
One fighter who has dealt with an intense situation over the last few months is Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight contender Karo Parisyan, who following his fight with Ryo Chonan at UFC 78 in November 2007, was diagnosed with having panic attacks.
The Mayo Clinic defines a panic attack as a “sudden episode of intense fear that develops for no apparent reason and that triggers severe physical reactions. Panic attacks can be very frightening. When panic attacks occur, you might think you're losing control, having a heart attack or even dying.”
Parisyan, who has now been treated and is dealing with the disorder, spoke candidly when appearing on MMAWeekly Radio recently about the feeling he had when suffering from a panic attack.
“I never even knew what a panic attack was,” he said. “The truth is it’s not about ‘oh I’m panicking because I left my car keys in the car.’ It’s actually like your mind travels a 135 miles per hour. It’s like your heartbeat goes through the roof. You can’t find yourself and the nastiest part is when you sit there and you tell yourself, is this ever going to leave me? Am I going to get through this? Am I ever going to heal? You think about committing suicide, that’s how bad it is.”
The 170-pound fighter also felt the effects of the panic attacks before his fight with Thiago Alves in April of this year.
“I had the worst feeling before the fight. I had the worst feeling after the fight,” Parisyan commented about the bout with Alves. “(When) the fight was over, I was like, ‘thank God everything is done.’”
Still regardless of his condition, Parisyan takes absolutely nothing away from his opponent that night.
“(I’m) taking nothing away from Thiago (Alves); he won fair and square. He deserves a title shot; he’s doing great.”
Talking to his doctors, Parisyan said that it was explained what exactly caused the panic attacks.
“All throughout the years, he said, ‘Karo when you go out to fight’ – and I’ve been fighting martial arts since I was 12 years old, so about 12 years now – he goes, ‘when you fight, that stress, everything is stress related, that stress in your life, in your fights, all that stuff builds up inside you like a water balloon and eventually one day it pops and you start seeing panic attacks.’”
Parisyan said that the doctor prescribed Xanax to help him with the panic attacks, but it is still something he has to live with even in training for his upcoming fight as he traveled away from home to prepare.
“I went to (Greg) Jackson’s about a month ago, month and a half ago, and I was supposed to be there for a week,” he stated. “The second day I was there, the second night, I had a panic attack again where I was staying at and I didn’t sleep the whole night. I didn’t know what it was; I thought I was dying. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever felt.
“I had a panic attack all night I couldn’t sleep. I was trying to find a red eye flight to fly back home and the next day I woke up and still did some kind of a sprawling at Greg Jackson’s. I was still kind of in the panic attack mode and I still did a little bit of training, then I flew back home.”
Despite the situation, he maintains a positive attitude and makes no excuses for what affect his condition may have on his fight career or training.
“It’s the toughest sport in the world. You’ve got to be able to cope with anything that comes in your path if you want to make it to the top
