Do I suffer from anxiety and if so, should I seek help?

I have always been a nervous person. I have pretty serious panic attacks where I literally can't walk or breath, and i get so nervous about even the smallest of things. I get heart palpitations, I can't sleep properly. When i do I have nightmares about my worries for the next day. Sometimes I just wake up nervous for no reason. It also affects my digestive system pretty badly. I started university last year, and although on the surface it appears I have been very successful, I hated it and mentally is the hardest thing to cope with. I've lost a lot of weight unintentionally despite eating healthily and good amounts. Also my mood changes RAPIDLY. I'll go from depressed, to suddenly feeling ridiculously happy and on top of the world, invincible, and then it just drops. So confusing. This started happening when I was about 15, though my nerves have always been out of control. Anyway, I guess you could also call me high functioning. I'm a musician and performer, I get very nervous before performing but I'm good at pretending. People always comment on how confident I am. Even when im not performing, everyone sees me as confident, easygoing and happy. I am far from it, I'm just a good pretender!! I hate social events, I never go out clubbing because I can't stand it. Alcohol also makes me aggressive and depressed so i avoid it. I tell my mum these things and she has witnessed my panic attacks, Ive had nose bleeds from worry, she has seen me worrying irrationally and crying my eyes throughout the night but tells me I'm strong and I'll get through it like i always do. I used to thank her but I now I think that wasn't such a useful piece of advice. It's got worse over the years, and university definitely hasn't helped. I was lonely on top of having all this stress and worry about nothing! I have also just ended a year long relationship with a much older man, also a liar, a cheat and married... My grandfather had bipolar and schizophrenia so we don't really like talking about mental illness in my family's house because my mum's life was really hard having him as a father. Therefore, I'm basically on my own here. I don't want to scare my mum and my family by seeking therapy or a doctor or something.... Though my question is SHOULD I seek help or is this how life is supposed to be and I can just get through it or am I just thinking about myself too much??? Do I actually have a problem??? Forgot to mention that I have an extremely controlling father who is basically living through me, and controls my every move. I don't have an emotional relationship with him as such, as in we never talk of those things. So for him, to know about my problems would make him crazy. My brother has mental health issues, he was seeing a psychiatrist for a while, and my dad still to this day tells my brother he's full of s**t and he should just stop focusing on himself and get on with his life. I'm the only one of my dad's children left that's doing what he planned for me to do, so to 'spoil' it would be heart breaking for him.