I have always suffered from a certain level of anxiety, having a history of eating disorders and OCD tendencies. I had a mental breakdown when I was 17; I locked myself in my bedroom balling my eyes out for days because I had convinced myself that I had AIDS. And yet, somehow, this did not result in an anxiety diagnosis for me.

My illness progressed over the years, and finally, when I had my first true panic attack, I just knew what it was. Obviously, it was the most terrifying thing in the world, but when it ended, I just knew. After years of increasing distress, searching for answers, I had come across definitions and stories of panic attacks quite a few times at that point.

Of course, I double checked my Merk Medical Manual Home Edition before I could be sure.

For me it was about 4 years ago, I was on the computer just playing online games having fun when all of the sudden it hit me right out of no where, i seriously thought i was having a heart attack went to the emergency room and they ran all the blood tests ekgs ect and everything came back normal, the doctor asked me if i had any family history of panic attacks and or disorder and I do my father and my aunt have it and some on my mothers side, that is when i first found out, i went to my reg doc the next day he put me on heart monitor for 3 days and that came back normal. after that he put me on kolonipin for my anxeity, and he suggusted i see a physco therpist about it and i did, that is when i started reciveing full time treatment, I still have panic attacks everyday since i am under so much stress, but i will say i have made some progress in the amount of ativain i have to take i went from 4 times a day to 2 times a day, and i am praying to work my way donw to as needed, that is my goal right now as well as trying to get over this depression and agrophobia, but those will take alot more time.

I went to the emergency room feeling as though I was having a coronary. They had seen it before, so that is why I have always surmised that this is some sort of social epidemic

I really don't remember when my first panic attack was, I'd been having them for about a year since I had my first boyfriend and he was an emotionally abusive shithead. During my first year of uni, I was really unwell. I couldn't think or breathe, even sitting at home doing nothing. I couldn't sleep and I couldn't do basic things like go to uni without fearing I was going to fail my next assignment, miss a class, miss the bus, and I was going to die lonely poor and miserable. Then I'd flip out and the cycle would start over again.

I eventually asked one of my lecturers for an extension on my exams because I told him I couldnt do it, I couldnt stop having panic attacks and he sent me straight to the uni clinic without letting me argue about it. They sent me straight to a GP and they diagnosed me with panic disorder and secondary depression. I really never knew what it was, during its worst I just thought I was just fucked up. I never understood what "anxiety" was as a concept.

The first time I acknowledged to myself I had what I'd been diagnosed with, my memory of the event is a little hazy. I had a four hour attack where I thought I was dying and the only way my housemates could make me breathe was dumping ice water on me at intervals so I'd gasp in air. I ended up being hospitalised. A complete stranger had to pull me bare arsed naked out of the shower where I'd holed myself up to wait out the attack.

Scary ass disorder, it really is very difficult to explain to people who haven't experienced it themselves. I couldn't think or breathe. If you can't think and you cant move, you're a victim.

@ travisbickle, it seems far fetched but there really isnt a lot of explanation for why this is so common now compared with past generations. Most likely, it was attributed to something else. Older versions of the DSM or studies by people like Freud termed anxiety like symptoms as hysteria. I guess people weren't so concerned with placing a diagnosis on everything like they seem to be these days. Maybe its a product of the society we live in, where we're constantly bombarded with stressful or threatening stimuli that just overwhelms everyone on a basic level. Though there would be some comfort in establishing a government conspiracy, it would be nice to have somebody else to blame :P

I have always known that I was stressed out more than most people and depressed for as long as I can remember. After I got married and was getting sued over a car accident, my symptoms escalated. Over the first year of my marriage I got much worse to the point my husband and I were fighting about getting divorced every day. I would have panic attacks, wake up with them, and I was just generally irritable. The day I threw his wedding ring out the door and lost it was the day I made a doctor's appointment. They told me that I had GAD, PMDD, and was seriously depressed. That was almost 2 years ago and now I have gotten the depression under control, but my level anxiety is always elevated and the panic attacks happen about once a week. I was just recently diagnosed with panic disorder. My mother is borderline bi-polar and my grandmother had panic attacks and agoraphobia so badly in the past that she didn't leave the house for months. There are a great number of things like that that run in my family: OCD, depression, anger management issues, control issues, GAD, panic disorders, etc.

Now that I know what I have it is so interesting to look back over my life at the different things that happened and see that I began showing symptoms around age 13 when my dad walked out the first time. My first panic attack came when I was 19, in college, had a falling out with my now-husband, lost my cat, moved away from my home, and my dad walked out for the THIRD time. I think that was just the point where my psyche couldn't handle anymore and I have had panic attacks ever since.

My dad died of a massive heart attack when he was 52. One thinks one adjusts to these events over time. When I turned 52, I developed mild anxiety issues. When several stressors were added to my life (a move, a job change, family issues, 9/11), the wheels came off. All my panic and anxiety issues stem from my heart health.