I think I mentioned this before on here but I remember having a panic attack years ago when we lived in a flat 3 floors up, it was an early winters morning and I went out to get some a newspaper, the stair lights were off and it was pitch black but I made my way down the stairs ok.
It was a bad time for me as I had just been made redundant from my job (again, for the third time) and I was very low in spirits and really down in the dumps, as I made my way back up the stairs which were still pitch black I started to sweat and was short of breath, by the time I got to our front door my hands were shaking and I could not get the key in the door.
I started to bang and the door and yelled to the wife, when she opened the door I just staggered in and could not breathe properly and collapsed on the sofa, Liz thought I was having a heart attack and started crying, I managed to get my breath back and calmed her down.
She called a Dr out and he did his bit examination wise then told me I had a panic attack and then he told me that it looked like I had asthma and to go and see my local Dr, which I did and I ended up with 2 pumps for asthma and a pump for COPD which I still use nowadays.
The good thing about all that is I am still here 20 odd years later.