Several months ago, when all of my symptoms started, it began with swollen lymph nodes accompanied by random pain. Since I take a medication for RA that lists lymphoma as a possible side effect, I was immediately terror-stricken that this is what I was dealing with. The lymph node swelling has continued, and I have another appointment with my rheumy on April 12th. At that point, if my nodes are still swollen, she's sending me for a CT scan, so I guess I'm not out of the woods there yet, but I don't have any other symptoms associated with lymphoma, so I've moved on mentally from the lymphoma diagnosis.
But while I was still in the throes of that stress, I had a panic attack, the first one ever. Let me preface all of this by saying that I am the most anxious, nervous, controlling person you'd ever want to meet. (I am, however, not blind to my own flaws!) 
I would have thought that if I were prone to panic attacks, I'd have had one long before, but such was not the case.
As many do, I ended up in the ER, thinking that maybe I was having a heart attack. I had actually had symptoms (of the panic attack) building up for a couple of days, but didn't know what was going on, and I thought somehow it might be related to whatever was going on with me physically.
Anyhow, the doctor in the ER (who was very kind) diagnosed me with a panic attack, and sent me home with some Atavan, which I have never taken.
Several years ago, my husband began having panic attacks, and we did a lot of research at that time to find something that would help him. In addition to not wanting to take medication, he's a commercial truck driver, and so those types of prescriptions are not legal for him to take, if he wants to continue driving as an occupation.
Well, we found a non-drug approach online, and it really helped. He still gets attacks on occasion, but they have far less power, and they don't last as long, and aren't as severe. From seeing what he went through, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what one felt like.
Wrong! It was much, much worse than what I had ever dreamed, and even though I had been very supportive when he was going through his difficult time, I realized that I didn't fully appreciate his experiences.
Anyway, once I knew what I was dealing with, I was thankful that I already knew what I knew, and that I could handle this drug-free. As the months have passed without me having another one, I smugly thought that I had it all figured out, and that I was home free in the panic attack department.
Wrong again.
Last night, around eleven, I was sitting at the computer, thinking about going to bed. My hubbie was home (thank Heaven) and in bed, when all of a sudden, I felt so sick...dizzy, nauseated, headache, sweating, heart pounding--it was awful. The heart part and the overheated part of it felt like my other panic attack, but this sick feeling was new. I wasn't sure if I should head for the ER (since women having heart attacks can be sweaty and nauseated) or what, so I woke my husband up and told him I wasn't feeling well.
I really felt like I was going to get sick, so I put the wastebasket by the bed, and laid down. I'm scared to know what my blood pressure was--it felt through the roof, and this sick feeling added to my fear that this was something more than a panic attack, since I hadn't had that part before. The sick feeling slowly abated over about two hours, and my heart continued to hammer for about three hours, but I stayed put.
What I'm wondering is if anyone else has had this nausea/headache/dizziness accompany a panic attack, and if so, I'd appreciate hearing about your experience. These feelings didn't accompany any of my husbands attacks, and I'm just wondering if I should be looking in a different direction for an explanation.