>Yeah, I'm familiar with what anaphylactic shock is, it just seemed irrelevant to > the conversation. I'm talking about someone with no history of asthma, >no sudden incident such as a bee sting or what have you, who suddenly >is completely unable to exhale for a matter of several minutes. A >frightening experience, but survivable. My question, I guess, is does >that qualify as a "panic attack", and if so or not, what forms of behaviour >do panic attacks take? They might though they have no history of asthma and don't appear to have exposed to an allergen have had an allergic reaction. Or they might be having a panic attack. But I would expect fear to enter into their mind almost before the physical symptoms. To an observer, apparently, panic attacks and asthma attacks can look the same. This account omits hyperventilation, still, it may help: "your heart is racing, your mind is filled with anxiety, you start to tremble, you're having trouble breathing, and you feel a threat of impending doom." I found it here; I haven't checked this site out but think you might also want to look at say nih.gov http://www.anxietypanic.com/ I think someone who gets what could be panic attacks should see their GP Judy Evans, Cardiff ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html