Hi Q bug,
I'm so sorry I freaked you out. That was not my intention but I can see how it happened.
There are two terms used all the time in medicine. They "go together" and are "morbidity" and "mortality".
(In medicine they are used as neutral terms.)
We use them when we are talking about the effects of any medical illness or condition.
Mortality refers to the chance of a person with a condition dying from that condition, so, for instance, a high speed car crash without a seatbelt on would be considered to have a "high mortality".
Most medical conditions people have don't kill them, but they can cause varying degrees of suffering - pain, limitations of movement, difficulty exercising etc etc. These things are, collectively, referred to as the "morbidity" of a condition. So something that has a high morbidity has a lot of negative effects for the person who has it, and something that has a low morbidity has not too many negative effects.
Chronic shortness of breath, and, in particular the sensation of "air hunger", which many people on this site are struggling with, are often played down by the medical community. My point regarding "morbidity" is that doctors often don't understand the degree of suffering (ie the morbidity) that these conditions cause people to endure and so they don't take them that seriously.
For many people with panic disorder, breathing difficulties are an intrinsic part of their disorder and this is well recognised. So if the doctor says you have panic disorder and gives you treatment for it and it all makes sense and you feel better then that is good, and appropriate.
My comment about "panic" is that for some people, it is not the primary disorder causing their breathing problem, but if they get labelled with that, and the label is incorrect, it becomes almost impossible to get the doctor to help them look for alternative, better fitting, diagnoses, and, unless they do, it may be less likely that the person will be able to get help to get better. For people in this situation, the wrong label can be devastating.
I hope this helps to reassure you.
Kind regards