I have a similar story. I am 29 and only had about 3 full blown panic attacks so far. I thought they were very uncomfortable and frightening. The first two times were when I was seventeen and then I had one that lasted about 30 seconds a month ago. I was worried so much about being away from home (My save place), that I work up having one. I canceled my trip to Vegas because I did not want to go through that again. I should have not because you only live once. Let me tell you what I did to make my save place 60 square miles to 300 square miles. The thought of doing this scared me but I was so angry worrying about the attack, I could not help myself. The only way to not worry about the attack for me is to do everything I can to provoke it... So I did. I drove everywhere. I started with 100 then 200 then 300 miles and felt worried but no panic. I could have had one if I wanted to, but chose to wait. I only have the fear of being away from my save place. I am going to train my mind not to be afraid of the attacks. After thinking about the attack I had, it was not so bad. Do not get me wrong..I could have done with out it. It just was not enough for me to worry about it all the time. I do think about it when I am alone and bored. I just tell myself...(COME ON ATTACK, DO YOUR WORST, YOU ARE NOT SO BAD) and they do not come. I have the worry for a little while just not the attack. If you just do not stop and have the attack no matter where you are, they will slow down and go away. You just have to teach yourself that it is just an illusion. I will update you all on my journey as I progress on it and good luck to all of you on your own journey.

THANK-YOU Trish!!! I've been suffering panic for a long time and that post is so me!! I printed it out and I'm going to carry it in my purse!!

I found this post on another site, I found it refreshing, and encouraging. I thought I would post it here, as it really speaks from the heart and I can relate of it. Long but worth it. Who I am Hopefully someone will read through my experience, and find comfort in it or help because of it. I am 39 year old, White female (Upstate, NY). I have always been a high level anxiety person without the full-blown symptoms of panic attacks€¦at first. I began having full-blown symptoms of panic at age 30. I€™ve always been a worrier, as well as a very phobic and a medically conscious person, so I can see why I would be a great candidate for having full-blown panic attacks and scary, racing thoughts all the time. I know that everyone€™s panic symptoms are different even if we all have some of the same ones in common. My most scariest and difficult symptom to deal with was a racing heartbeat. My body would even wake me up at night out of a sound sleep with a racing heartbeat. It got to the point where I was monitoring my pulse constantly. My other symptoms included being fidgety or restless, tunnel vision or feeling slightly unreal, and I would become very tired and quiet. Sometimes I felt that I wasn€™t breathing €˜right€™, even though I was able to take good breaths, and I was always really hot (felt like I had a fever) during really panicky moments. I experienced a hard tightness around the back of my neck region that usually led to headaches after a bad panic attack. My Panic Background At first, I wasn€™t too scared about my panic symptoms. Since I had only two full-blown panic attacks within weeks of each other, I chalked it up to a one-time instance, and it didn€™t get the best of me. However, within three months of my second panic attack, I really thought I was either going crazy or there was something horribly wrong with me medically, because I started having these bizarre symptoms that would come out of nowhere (it seemed) and then the end result would be that even though the symptoms faded, the fear of them coming back and how I felt when I remembered them would haunt me every day. Within those first three months everything just started to fall apart in a ripple-effect. And it happened fast. All of a sudden it seemed that I was afraid of everything,