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'I started having what I thought were panic attacks, I reluctantly accepted medication for anxiety and depression, but I thought I was dying...'

Heather Bluer has always been susceptible to chest infections. And as an adult, she was told she had a genetic condition, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, that can affect the lungs and liver.

But when she started suffering mysterious panic attack-like symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic, Heather knew something wasn't right.

“I shielded very strictly in lockdown, once it had passed and I began to socialise and reintegrate, I started having what we thought were panic attacks," explained Heather, a 45-year-old lawyer from Bolton .

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“I’d have them in the supermarke

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