It was summer of 1997. I was driving to Washington-Dulles airport outside of Washington D.C. to pick up a friend at the airport. While I was driving down the toll road, my chest started to POUND. I'd never had this feeling or this pain before. I was 41 and I thought I was going to die of a heart attack right then and there.

I happened to know that there was a hospital nearby so I drove there while having this intense pain. It was the first time I had walked into a hospital since June of 1973 for back surgery. I walked into the emergency center thinking they would take me in immediately. After walking into the ICU unit, they began to run different tests on me. They checked my blood pressure (normal), they did an EKG (normal) and checked my pulse (slightly elevated). While they were running the tests, the emergency room physician kept asking me if I was under a lot of stress. I kept replying that I was not under any more stress than usual. I kept wondering to myself why he kept asking me that question. I also kept wondering why I was having all this pain and yet, nothing was wrong with me!

He told me I was having anxiety and was having a panic attack! What the hell is a panic attack!

Panic attacks can be diagnosed with any number of symptoms:

• Dizziness

• Sweating

• Rapid heart beat, pounding heart or palpitations

• Visibly shaking

• Lump in throat or choking sensation

• Shortness of breath

• Chest pain

• Fear of losing control or going crazy

• Numbness in extremities

• Lightheadedness

You'll have to understand how my thought processes worked at that time. People with any sort of mental or nervous disorders had a big "L" on their forehead as far as I was concerned then. I certainly don't think that way now. I was really hoping and praying that this was an isolated incident. This was NOT the case.

I looked up everything I could about anxiety attacks and panic attacks. I tried lots of things, valerian root, kava kava, magnets, subliminal tapes, hypnotic tapes, with little help. I started riding a bike daily and that helped a LOT. I turned into a biking fanatic because I believe it relieved me of stress, got me in better shape, made me lose weight and I started to take over control of my life again.

Whatever helps you, anxiety attacks and panic attacks do not have a "one size fits all" cure. It's no different than having bad vision and thinking you can just put on any pair of glasses. Regardless of how long you've had anxiety and panic attacks or the severity of them, there is hope!