prettymess I'm sorry to hear that you get panic attacks, too.
I thought it was just anxiety, but I described all the symptpms to the doc and he called it panic attacks, which I can now, see are a version of the same thing.
Having managed to 'talked down' some other people in the past, distraction makes sense to me. At the time, it is hard to 'let go' of whatever is causing the attack, and we can't think straight anyway. So, it makes sense to me, to get on, physically, with some activity that demands full attention, that stops the adrenalin rush. Sorting out a mess of 27 different coloured embroidery threads (without labels,) certainly did that for me! 
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Depending on what floats people's boats, a distraction could be kondoing something difficult (paperwork, OH's clothes, or anything that doesn't require too much emotional input,) crosswords, sudoku, painting a picture, knitting a difficult pattern as a swatch, cooking a new complicated recipe, frenzied dancing to loud music, an engrossing DVD or novel, etc.
Panic attacks are when 'mind clutter' is actually good for us!
Washing the kitchen floor, or other chores are not the answer - we do most of those on auto-pilot, which leaves the mind free to continue its anxious activity! 