Don't slate me for what I write here I am no expert on this subject but even if this helps one person my opinion is worth it and I should know.
I won't go into personal details but I suffered extremely badly for appx 8 years and still get the occasional "rush" even now.
At the age of 20 I had a near death experience which turned my life upside down. from that day I had massive attacks up to 10 times a day to the point I couldn't see the point of carrying on with life,I hated waking up in the morning and just wanted to sleep to get away from my now normality gettin pissed sometimes for a temporary cure.
Then I lost my best mate to cancer if things couldn't get any worse.
I was a walking skinny wreck!!! Took days and weeks off work in financial shit and was paranoid of absolutely everyone.
I was pumping beta blockers like nothing else my GP was absolutely crap !!!!
I woke up one day and thought enough is enough.
I had no money no life fuck all. I took out a loan and paid for counciling but hey if it didn't work I could always kill myself and not have to pay the loan back.
The advice i was given was confront any fears you have,you may panic but it will not hurt you,repeat this until you panic no more and acknowledge this and think to yourself "I have done this"
I had to start with walking out the front door ffs.
I was told not to hide my problem from anyone,it is unbelievable how may people actually suffer from them.
It has been 10 years since I had a major attack to the point I actually do things that I wouldn't of even dreamed of doing before I had the first attack,
roller coasters,track days on motorbikes etc.
NOTHING CAN SCARE ME MORE THAN PANIC ATTACKS.
At the end of the day it is your mind playing nasty tricks on you.
You just need to reasure yourself you are not going to get hurt.
It is along hard process but keep trying and trying and trying and never give up and I hope for everyone that suffers with this cruel problem you will eventually get better.
Do not avoid any situations,if you feel scared don't ovoid the situation think to yourself ok not this time but I will try again soon and when you actually manage to complete your goal praise yourself and think "I DID IT" then do it again and again you may feel nervous at first but it gets better to the point it becomes normal again.
I found talking to other people the most important remedy and never bottle things up, be assertive,don't worry what other people think of you and tell yourself every day that you are special.Don't worry about what you don't have, look at what you have got now (not material things) and build on that and become a stronger person.
Thanks for listening and good luck
Pete.
P.S the loan has been paid off