I agree with @TeaCake. What you describe is a "panic attack". Not everyone with PTSD has panic attacks. I know that I don't. Ok, so yes, I am quite guilty of describing my "episodes" as "panic attacks" but that's only because the general public has NO idea what an emotional flashback is, and to an uneducated observer, they look the same. (I have NO hope whatsoever for anyone to be able to understand an emotional flashback as 99.9% of therapists and psychiatrists have no idea what one is either....hence why I was undiagnosed for 25 years, but I digress!)

I have episodes all the time. I am getting better at not experiencing them in public, but sometimes it can't be avoided. Most of my episodes have at least a few second warning so that I can get to a private space, but occasionally they don't, and BAM, I have one in front of others. And yes, it is completely embarrassing.

Medical professionals such as paramedics and ER employees are well accustomed to those who present with a panic attack but think they are dying or having a heart attack. That is, it is not uncommon for someone with their first panic attack to go to the ER because they think its something much more serious.

My guess is that PTSD "episodes" involve some element of a flashback as that's sort of the crux of the disorder, that is, being stuck in the past in one way or another. You describe a panic attack which is more along the lines of someone with GAD. I am sure there is some overlap, but panic attacks aren't a part of a PTSD diagnosis.