As a patient being treated for anxiety, I send you a BIG hug for trying to help. My panic attacks began at that same age!

Once the brain begins using this coping mechanism, it can become even more frequent. I urge your Mom to get a screening with a competent psychiatrist. Panic attacks are not a weakness, they are the brain’s reaction to some stimulus, which could be hormones, or illness, or brain change.

The most important thing is that they are treatable, and every treatment makes things better. I suffered for only a short time before my wonderful psychiatrist gave me effective meds. I was on a higher dosage for a few months, then titrated down to “as needed”, which now is only a few times a year. One happened last year while I was hospitalized for a heart problem, and I got the fear that a new pill had something I was allergic to. The doctors told me it didn’t, but my brain would not believe it. Panic attack right there in my hospital bed. Pharmacy sent rescue med, and an hour later I was fine,

Tell you Mom that she deserves some peace.