Natalie,

IN my experience there is a fine line between vasovagal and panic attacks - the two can easily feed into each other but what you describe sounds more like a panic attack.  I have found the opinion of the medical profession on this to be that they are two separate conditions but I experience links between the two.  As I said to my psychiatrist about a decade ago when he asked me "You can tell the difference between a panic attack and vasovagal can't you?" I said "Not when I'm having a panic attack I can't!"  The actual fact is that I can to a degree.  I have learnt to let my panic attacks pass by letting them go and not indulging them and they are very rare and short term in recent years - although I have still had a couple of vasovagal episodes associated with injury and the fact is that if I am able to relax and not feed into the panic - in the same way that I do with a panic attack - I am sometimes able to avert seizures and have been able to do this at different times throughout my life - even before I was diagnosed with panic disorder and learnt how to deal with it directly.

This is a very basic outline of my story:

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=238125966&blogId=500354928

These are the most helpful books I have read on panic disorder.  They literally saved my life:

http://bevaisbett.customer.netspace.net.au/books.htm

I am still waiting for an equally helpful book on vasovagal and dysautonomia - perhaps I will have to write it!