Aubrey Huff opens up about his anxiety attacks

San Francisco Chronicle / 5-5-12

Aubrey Huff was standing in his New York hotel room at 5 o'clock in the morning in the early stages of what would be an eight-hour panic attack. The Giants were to play a doubleheader against the Mets that afternoon and evening. Baseball was the last thing on Huff's mind.

"I couldn't breathe," Huff recalled. "I felt I was taking short breaths. Right then and there I thought I was having a heart attack. I told myself, 'I'll be damned if I'm going to be sitting in this hotel room and die of a heart attack. I've got to get out of here.' "

And so he did, starting the odyssey of a ballplayer who left the Giants two weeks ago to go home to Florida, where he had a second panic attack one day later and, finally, after insisting to the team that he had a "family emergency," phoned trainers and described what really happened.

Huff told his story for the first time Friday in a 20-minute conversation with The Chronicle at AT&T Park. He returned to San Francisco a week ago to work out with teammates and, for the first time in his life, see a mental health professional. He expects to resume playing in Los Angeles on Monday night, when he is eligible to come off the disabled list.

MORE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/04/MNB51ODPJI.DTL

Best wishes Aubrey. Your team needs you.

Go Giants -- beat L.A.