| I, too, suffer from panic attacks, related to stress. It began years ago when I'd have shortness of breath every morning, and I thought it was the humidity. At times I'd get this reall odd feeling that I can't even describe, but it would go over my entire body. One day I was out of town and this began to happen, and I was rushed to the ER because I thought I was having a heart attack (this was pre-diabetes). The doctor said I was having a panic attack but I disagreed and insisted it was a heart attack due to the pains in my chest!
Since then the symptoms can vary. Sometimes I can actually feel the attack coming on. Sometimes I get chest pain with pain in the arms, sometimes shortness of breath, and occasionally I just get dizzy.
It's a horrible feeling.
They had me on a medication whose name I can't remember but it would take an hour for it to work and in that hour I'd panic more and more when I could not breathe easier. I was then put on Xanax which takes 20 minutes to work. While they say it's habit-forming, I've never had a problem with it. I can go months without an attack, then have several in a week or even a day.  | 
