Imaginary allergy

My first panic attack happened at work while eating a salad that had nuts in it. My immediate thought was I was having an allergic reaction to nuts. My throat closed up and I couldn't swallow, pounding heart, sweating, the works.

I had my coworkers call 911. I went to the hospital where they gave me an epi pen & suggested I get tested.I had the tests done & was not allergic to nuts. But I have kept them away ever since.

No matter what the results were, it was the association that keeps me fearful of seating them. Now, whenever I'm near nuts, I feel itchy all over and think my throat is closing up.

Does anyone have anything similar and/or suggestions to get over this?

What you went thru is a classic example of how one starts getting anxiety over a certain item/place. It is called avoidance, your avoiding the thing that caused you panic. Some people avoid stores because thats where they had a panic attack and they are so sure that if they go back into that store it will happen again. What we need to learn is it is not the store or the peanut that is harming us, it is our own thoughts. If you would of felt like that while eating a cheese burger I bet you would be avoiding cheese burgers right now.

It's comforting to hear that this is normal panic behaviour. What's hard to grasp is how my body can mimic those allergic symptoms when the tests showed I was not.
Thanks for the responses Larry & Deborah