'Panic Attack'?? 12 year old ds

[MadameSin]

My ds aged 12 has mentioned periods of time (few minutes) that he refers to as a panic attack. It's very new, in the last 2 weeks, and the first episode occurred on holiday when he had a bit of sun stroke and had a temperature. He woke me up saying he had difficulty breathing and everything was moving fast and voices were really loud. I thought this was purely down to him feeling under the weather and spent the night with him in his room. For the remainder of the holiday he mentioned similar episodes and said he'd been getting them every day but was able to control them by breathing deeply. I haven't made a big deal of it through fear of fuelling a fire that may not come to anything. On the other had, I don't want to ignore it and not support him. Has anyone had any experience of similar? Thanks!

So sorry for your son's distress . This is the 3rd similar posting on this topic this morning -very disturbing that [post] pubertal boys are under so much stress. Are there any support groups for this ?

I had panic attacks at this age. Brought about by specific circumstances (being in enclosed spaces e.g. busy trains). I didn't identify them as such at the time, but used to say to my parents that I felt sick in those situations. They eventually took me to the GP who saw me on a weekly basis for several months (sort of informal counselling, I suppose - I guess that wouldn't happen these days).

The causes for me were ones I wasn't aware of, but were obvious to adults (my parents split up shortly after this spell of panic attacks and they think I somehow 'knew' what was coming, although I have no awareness of that and the news of their separation came as a total shock to me). I also had a pre-disposition to panics, anxiety and worrying as a child anyway.

Anyway, my point is, if he's having panic attacks, he must be anxious or worried about something. Starting school? Family issues? Might be worth starting with the GP and see if a referral is possible?