I am 20 years old and in my second year of university.
I'm not the healthiest of women, I'm over weight by around 21 pounds (a stone and a half, but I'm steadily losing weight, I lost a stone between September and Christmas) and I had asthma when I was younger so whenever I got shortness of breath, felt my limbs go a little weak and my heart beat faster a couple times in a year I didn't think anything of it.

A couple of weeks ago I came home for Christmas, I have this horrible cold and took some cold medicine for it finally two weeks ago; it made me horribly ill and I was sick several times, I had horrible heart palpitations, was shaking and didn't recover for a couple days (I'm assuming I'm allergic to penicillin like several other members of my family but I haven't been tested yet).
After that I've had these moments where I'll suddenly feel the need to force myself to breathe deeper, my heart would start bounding, my limbs go weak/numb and tremble slightly, my finger tips sometimes tingle but not all the time, I feel sick and I am struck by a horrible feeling; I'm so upset and angry and it takes all my might not to cry, I keep thinking 'I'm going to die' while it's happening even though I know I'm not.
This can last between 30 minutes to an hour and a half, if I drink coffee while it's happening (I try to continue on as normal and wait for it to pass) the feeling of my heart gets worse and I thought that maybe I was spontaneously allergic to caffeine (again another family member is) but I drank a mug or two another day and felt nothing.

The first time this happened I just dismissed it, I wasn't doing anything I was just talking to a friend online, the second time I was hungover (probably the reason) and was looking for something; crawling under beds etc, the third happened a couple of hours after the second when I was doing nothing in particular again and the fourth happened after my dad was getting at me for little things (like where I parked my car).

I'm very scared at what this is because my family has a history of heart problems, both sets of grandparents have had at east two heart attacks and one has had five strokes. My dad started having problems with his heart early last year.

It would bge both dangerous and foolish to diagnose a medical condition over the Internet.

You need to see a Physician. The next "episode" could very well be fatal.

I also would stop drinking alcohol until the underlying condition is diagnosed.

You have posted various physical and emotional problems you are experiencing. Have you considering therapy/counselling as well as medical intervention?

I didn't want to go to the doctors in case it was nothing, it would be embarrassing, I feel the same way about therapy, it's why I post here if I think I might need help so I don't waste anyone's time.

I'm a nurse and I suggest you seek medical help. We cannot do the necessary diagnostic tests via the internet to give you an accurate diagnosis.

You will have to seek medical attention sooner rather than later.

You have enough known health issues that this could easily be something seroius.

You can worry about it being silly or worry that the Emergency Techs will not make it on time the next time it gets worst

You ask for help with various medical and emotional issues, but every suggestion is met with a reason why the suggestion isn't the answer for you - embarrassment, finances, something else.

That is wasting people's time.

In view of your family history of heart attacks and strokes I'd be very concerned about becoming a dependent invalid at a very young age - unless, of course, you seek medical intervention.

I have asked for help on other things before yes, but there is only one question where I replied that I wasn't sure if their answers were right for me and expanded on my problem; when I said I cannot afford counselling because it is expensive I'm inviting someone to suggest an alternative option, not refusing everything that is offered to me.
And when I explained about not wanting to be embarrassed I was not giving an excuse to not go, but a reason why I had not gone already. I wanted to post on here first to see if I did indeed need to see a doctor or it was something that almost everyone has experienced and the cure was well known to everyone but me and would just be wasting the doctor's time when they could be seeing to someone with something far worse, which would be embarrassing; when the answers were that I should seek medical attention I began the process of trying to find my medical information since the first post to try and make an appointment (as I need to set up a temporary registration to my local doctor since my permanent one is now at my university)
I think you read what I say differently to how I mean it; I'm sorry if I came across as wanting to be incurable and attention seeking, that wasn't my intention. I am thankful for all the replies I get.

I had an ECG and Blood test, they came back normal and the Doctor informed me that he believes I'm having panic attacks; I now have to make another appointment with my university doctor on what to do next. Thanks for helping me :)

Thank you for the update - please keep us informed.

How are you feeling?

A bit deflated; I hoped it was something physical so it could be fixed, but it's not and the thought of having to try to tell my university doctor what's happening makes me think I shouldn't bother because I'll probably be told there's nothing that can be done or that because its all in my head I just have to 'get over it'.
They've stopped happening quite so much, only two in the past week, so I might wait to see if they stop all together by next week :)

If the diagnosis is "all in your head" I would be insistent.
There are medications.

Please let me know how you are.

I don't know if you're still interested in what it was but I'm going to tell you anyway.
The doctor diagnosed me with acute panic attacks. She prescribed me some beta-blockers to take every time I was in a stressful situation and told me to keep a diary for two weeks. After that my episodes got worse and more frequent; I ran out of a seminar and cried in the corridor for two hours because I was scared, of what I don't know but I couldn't cope, I couldn't move, my house mates had to get a taxi from our house so they could come and help me leave the building and get a bus with me back home.
The doctor then agreed that the 10mg of proranolol wasn't enough, she has now prescribed me 80mg of Bedranolol to take every day regardless of whether there are any situations that could bring an episode on, she also told me I need counselling and directed me to an NHS branch near me (I always thought you had to pay for counselling) because I have 'confidence and insecurity issues' which is fair enough. She asked me if anything had changed when I was at home for Christmas, and I couldn't think of anything at the time but after a while I came up with a possible reason; I was severely bullied as a child from primary school all the way until year 12, so from the age of 5 till I was 18 - a similar story for many people, the worst years were when I was aged 10 to 16, and last Christmas one of the worst bullies I had started to work where I work, he also started dating my closest friend (Only since I've been to university have I become close with her) so I'm wondering if him being here, invading my life where I was comfortable, triggered something.
I like him, he's all right now and I can talk to him like I would anyone else, but he doesn't remember what he did to me or my friends which makes me very bitter towards him.
I have an assessment appointment with the counsellor on the 26th of March, it's been a long wait and things on the inside have gotten worse but at least the Bedranolol is stopping them showing physically; hopefully it won't take much to get me back to where I was.