Hello, I'm 43 and just had our third child. Completely natural (no ivf, ect.), it's been the greatest joy to have our son after 23yrs of not having a baby in the house.  However something strange started happening at about the age he turned 7 months.  I started having severe panic attacks coupled with agoraphobia.  I noticed when we would take the baby to the zoo, I started feeling as though I was having a heart attack.  I wasn't obviously (plus this pregnancy was extremely hard on me physically, I'm not 20 anymore. I had pregnancy induced liver failure, insulin resistent diabetes, had him at 36 wks, a heart cath, wore a heart monitor due to low BP and bradycardia, and I still worked in the Cath lab wearing 35lbs of lead a day while assisting cardiologists almost til birth).  Ok, enough with the history you get the jist, needless to say apparently there is Post partum anxiety.  I'm not depressed, I'm happier than I've ever been, but this fear hits me and I want to run, or hide. Sometimes I'm at home playing with our son and out of nowhere it's like a wall hits me, I get short of breath feeling like I can't breathe, heart races, ect.   I've started seeing a psychiatrist and he is trying to start me on paxil. I'm taking xanax for those times I can't calm down and need help immediately.  It does work it takes the edge right off, calms me and I can function again. No drowsiness or dopey feeling I just get calm and the freak out stops. Hope paxil helps since the panic attacks that started in Dec went from one a week to 4 times a week sometimes 3x's a day.  I'm not depressed but I do see where living like this could cause depression.   Has anyone else ever experienced this after having a baby, he's our 3rd and everything though it sounds like a medical nightmare, was the greatest pregnancy that I'd had so far mentally. I still enjoyed every minute of it...but, now this? I'm back in school and have applied for a PA and NP program, so alot going on yes, depressed, no...but I can't be the only one out there with this PPA.