Marle,
It sounds like you are exactly right.....your body is saying enough. I think it's easy to add more and more stress on without even knowing it. All of a sudden it builds up to the point where your body just has to scream out.....HALT!
I'm like you and have the awareness that I have suffered from anxiety since I was a child. Anxiety is a way that my body tells me that what is happening isn't good no matter how much I don't want to think about it, deal with it, or even acknowledge it.
The only thing that has helped me is a multi discipline approach. I take Zoloft to quell the majority of the panic attacks but have Xanax for break through. I rarely have to take that but it helps to know that it is there. Limiting caffeine helps as does a support community. One doctor explained to me that after a certain amount of time your brain acclimates to all the adrenaline type chemicals, your neuro patterning gets changed, and anxiety/panic attacks are default mechanisms that occur. Guess that addiction can change our brains for good too - just from the stress. I know that I feel pretty hardwired in all of this. It's my reminder to work a daily program and to stay as spiritually fit as possible.
Ain't a lot of fun at times though.......thoughts and love are with you. Donna