Liz Cantor talks about panic attacks after traumatic birth

Television identity Liz Cantor has revealed the crippling panic attacks she has suffered since the birth of her second child, including one while she was travelling at 110km/h on the M1.

Liz Cantor has revealed she suffered terrifying panic attacks after the traumatic birth of her second child, including while driving at high speed on the Pacific Motorway.

Opening up about the ordeal for the first time on the podcast Claiming Your Confidence, the Channel 7 Gold Coast presenter said she was working through the panic attack disorder with a psychologist after discovering certain lights and movements triggered her memory of the hospital room experience.

While giving birth to her son Fin, born at 4.4kg in August 2018, Cantor’s uterus ruptured and she began to bleed profusely as doctors struggled to get her baby out.

Liz Cantor with her newborn baby Fin, husband Ryan Lysaught and son Kit at Palazzo Versace.

They were forced to cut into her abdominal muscles to get Fin out safely and into intensive care in what her obstetrician later told her would have been a “catastrophic” natural birth.

“I had an epidural, I couldn’t move. I was trapped on a table, I could sense there was danger to myself and my baby,” Cantor told Seven colleague Katrina Blowers on the podcast, out tomorrow.

“It felt like I’d been hit by a truck in my heart. My uterus had ruptured and my blood pressure was crashing, so I was bleeding out.

“I just closed my eyes. And it was the first time in my life I just needed to check out.

“(My husband) Ryan (Lysaught) was watching, possibly thinking he was going to lose his wife and baby.”

Liz Cantor with husband Ryan Lysaught and children Kit and Fin at their house build at Miami. Picture: Adam Head

Months after the birth, Cantor was driving on the M1 after filming Creek to Coast when a motorbike’s headlights triggered the memory of overhead hospital lights.

She had her first panic attack and lost her vision while driving at speed.

“My whole body flooded with panic. I then realised I couldn’t see. I’m flying at 110km/h in the fast lane and I couldn’t find my dashboard,” she said. “In that moment, you’re absolutely petrified. My whole body was shaking and I still to this day can’t tell you how I got off that highway.”

After similar episodes, always travelling at speed, Cantor sought help from a psychologist and discovered the movement was triggering her brain to react, flooding her body with chemicals that would affect her vision.

She was prescribed beta blockers and anti-anxiety medication and they developed a plan to gradually expose her to situations that could dredge up the trauma.

Cantor shared her story with Blowers, who started the podcast last year after struggling through her own on-air panic attack, to help others facing similar issues and encourage them to seek help.

“There’s no shame in seeking help through psychologists or taking that medication. It’s taken me a long time to talk about it with anyone outside my immediate family,” she said.

Full interview on Claiming Your Confidence on podcast platforms from tomorrow.