HealthBoards - your first panic experience?

im interested to know what was your FIRST panic attack experience? did you end up in the ER?

this is mine:

i was nineteen and at home for the summer. i had been breathing funny all day and had noticed my heart pounding. i had been out, once i came back home i felt something was VERY wrong. VERY VERY wrong. i told my mom she had to take me to the ER right away. that i was going to die.

driving to the ER seemed like the longest trip EVER. i was sooo dizzy, heart pounding, everything. it felt like i was in this out of body state. waiting in the ER was even worse. i think i went to the bathroom about 10 times to get up and do something. i couldn't stop walking around. i could not sit down.

i finally was let in. and they did a chest x ray, a MRI of my heart, blood tests. and guess what?

everything was NORMAL! [COLOR="Red"]{REMOVED}[/COLOR] the doctor asked if i had any history of panic attacks. he asked if i wanted to try to take something that might make me feel better. they gave me some valium...and...BOOM...i suddenly was not having a 'heart attack' anymore.

he suggested i see a therapist and gave me a prescription for as needed basis.

i felt SO embarrassed and ashamed of this episode. little did i know- it would just be the beginning!!! i didn't even know what a panic attack was until then. i am so fortunate i had a good ER doctor who actually took it as a problem and not just said '<YOU'RE> worrying too much'.

i was discharged. sent home and i was SO tired. it seemed like i had been running a marathon. its amazing how much a PA makes you tired!

i dont know how someone COULD have a panic attack for the first time and NOT end up in the ER?