I don't know if anything that helped me will help any other but of course i'll give them a mention!
Firstly I took some time off work as I'd been overworking myself into an early grave. I didn't stay too long off work, just enough to re-evaluate my priorities. I drank a lot of tea, but none with caffeine! I mostly drank chamomile and rooibos as I found them pretty relaxing and they'd help me clear out my head. I also found exercise a great way way to get rid of all the adrenaline that would build up from the panic attacks. The hardest part, which I still have difficulty with occasionally, is the blistering head aches I would get. They would completely fog my vision and would make me really depressed. But the best way I found to deal with this was by drinking lots of water and repeating a Stephen Fry quote to myself (
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/10/it-will-be-sunny-one-day.html). I know that might not help some people but his view on emotions really helped me control mine. Also my big brother suffered from panic attacks nearly 10 years ago and he helped me whenever things became far too much.
Apart from things that helped, I also found avoiding certain things helped equally. Such as not drinking excessively. At the start I stopped drinking for a few weeks actually because the hangovers were so mentally bad. It's also better to stop yourself from working anymore than 50 a week I would say for the first part, because I was a workaholic before it all happened. I stopped smoking on nights out as well, because that would have a long effect on me for at least a week. At the beginning as well I watched the amount of sugar I was eating because I would heavily crash after meals and it would make me anxious.
Other than physical things I would say that the journey for me was mostly mental. It genuinely is like having a hijacked mind, and you have to reel it back in towards your own possession. The best way I found to do this was to think when I was at my lowest that I would come back from this. Even if it was for days or 2 weeks straight of heavy attacks I would try and remember that it could never be permanent.
I really do hope this helps others. However, a lot of it I think is based on the person and their attitudes and I wouldn't be surprised if someone read this and thought "wow, well absolutely none of that helps.."
D
