Is this just anxiety?

Something happened today which has me scared. I'm wondering if it is just a panic attack or if something is really physcially wrong.

I was a bit tired this afternoon and decided to lay back on the couch when I got home and close my eyes. I was drifting off when suddenly I jumped up because I felt like I couldn't breath. There was a heaviness in my chest and I felt like I couldn't take a deep breath. It didn't last but a few seconds or a minute at most but it really scared me! Now I'm freaked out afraid it is going to happen again.

What do you all think? Has anything like this happened to anyone else?

[suzi-q]

It can be a slight panic attack, but I would suggest that if it happens again, to go to your doctor and get it checked out.

[dmil241]

suzi-q,

Thanks for responding. This has happened once before about a month ago. It was early morning. I was asleep in bed. When suddenly I woke feeling like I had stopped breathing for a second or couldn't get a breath. I sloughed it off as nothing and tried to get back to sleep but everytime I would begin to drift off I'd feel it again. So I got up and worried about it for the next two days. I tried to come up with reasonable explainations to settle myself down. I hadn't experienced anything like that since until today.

Now like then, I feel kind of panicky since it has happened and keep asking myself if I feel like it is hard to breath which it isn't or keep taking a deep breath to make sure it isn't hard to breath which it is not. I even went out for a walk about an hour later. It is a bit hilly where I live. I figured if I could walk the block and not feel anything I was fine and I could.

I just feel unsettled now and wonder what happened to me and why.