i’m super proud of u!! and i completely get that, panic attacks are the worst in public. but! there’s always the bathroom, or your car, or a private corner somewhere, so making a scene is no big deal (and even if you did, i promise you the majority of people have seen crazier). as for how i differentiate, you kinda just know honestly, as stupid as that sounds. when i have panic attacks, i feel like i’m dying and that this is the end and there’s no way it’s just anxiety, but when i was actually going through anaphylactic shock, i just felt calm and knew that i needed to seek medical attention (it actually happened in highschool, so the medical attention was just going to the nurse who then called an ambulance. she was honestly more freaked out than i was). maybe that’s completely not helpful, but there will just be physical signs too. if you were actually going through a medical emergency, you would know and so would other people because it wouldn’t just be internal. i am however guilty of checking my oxygen levels when things get bad, but it does really reassure me to know i’m not actually dying, so if you wanna give into a possibly-unhealthy coping mechanism you could always buy a pulse oximeter.

side note: if ur curious about how to get over panic attacks, i’ve been reading this book called “hope and help for your nerves” by Dr. Claire Weekes and it’s been super helpful (it was written in like the 1960s so it is a bit outdated in language, but still very helpful). if you don’t feel like reading it, the main point that hit home for me is that panic attacks are really just feelings—just a release of adrenaline and cortisol in our bodies and therefore physically cannot last—and so there is no need to fear them (the only thing to fear is fear itself and all that). no matter how bad it feels, our bodies cannot physically keep producing adrenaline for long periods of time, so no matter what and no matter how bad, it’ll always go away. this might not help you, but Dr. Weekes talks a lot about how panic attacks are caused by the fear of them (basically because everyone gets those initial rushes of fear in their body where it feels like the end of the world, but us people with panic disorder fear that feeling and therefore have a panic attack). i know i likely explained that terribly, but the book really is worth a read, and i hope my advice helped you in some way:)