One of the main problems with someone who has anxiety or is having panic attacks is that they start to scan their body almost every minute 'searching' for something that 'must' be wrong - what's that pain in my shoulder? Why do my legs feel shaky? Why are my hands sweating? What's that tingling in my head - it must be a brain tumour! Why is my heart pounding - surely I'm going to do die! This creates more of the feelings they are trying to avoid - i.e. if you concentrate on your heart it will beat faster! If you concentrate on your shoulder the pain will become even more noticeable, etc etc. This is true for ANY person, whether panicking or not.
One of the first steps Dr Weekes describes is acceptance. If your hands shake, LET THEM SHAKE FOR GOODNESS SAKE! They are still good hands to use! If you are talking to someone and they notice your hands shaking - WHAT MATTER! If you feel your heart racing, LET IT RACE! If you were in the gym it would be pounding just as fast, or even faster! If you feel a tingle in your head/lip/face, LET IT TINGLE! It's still a good head, regardless of whether it tingles! If you feel numbness somewhere, or like you can't take a deep breath, WHAT MATTER! This learning of acceptance is one of the keys, and you'll find that after lots of practice, your symptoms will begin to subside.
One of the crucial things Dr Weekes explains is that when you have had a panic attack, that's it, your body CANNOT produce symptoms that are any worse. She says there is a limit to the adrenaline effects the body produces, and if you've had a full blown panic attack then you have most likely ALREADY experienced the worst that will ever happen to you. This alone brings relief. Often mid-panic it's easy to be scared that things will get 'even worse' - THEY WON'T, it's not possible for your body to do that.
So, what you must try to do, even if it's only for a few seconds at first, is to try to relax INTO the panic and not stoke the flames. Dr Weekes explains this in terms of 'first' and 'second' fear. First fear is the instinctive feeling that EVERYONE gets - it's the instantaneous feeling of fear when a tiger jumps out at you, and as such is not really controllable. Second fear however is the fear that WE AS HUMANS ADD AFTER FIRST FEAR HITS... in other words, it's the "oh no here it comes again!" type of thought/feeling, which immediately dumps more adrenaline into the system, and so begins the fear-adrenaline-fear cycle. The key is controlling this second fear via complete understanding of the body systems and what is happening to your body at the time. So as I mentioned, when you start to feel an episode beginning, you MUST try to relax into the panic by firstly understanding that:
a) what is happening is a normal bodily reaction and it will not harm or kill you.
b) it's the addition of second fear that will cause the panic to get worse.
So, when you feel the shakyness, or when you feel the weak feelings, or the racing heart, try relaxing into them (as incredibly hard as it is at the time!!). Accept that they are there and they will not harm you. As mentioned, you may only be able to do this for a few seconds at first before full-blown panic resumes - accept that and ride it through. Then, next time try the same thing again. Think 'oh here it comes again, but so what, let it come, let it do its worst!' 'There's my heart beating fast again, and there's that tingly feeling again, but so what, let my head/lips/body tingle, they are still good lips/head/body!'. THE KEY IS NOT TO ADD SECOND FEAR! This is the first step and with practice you will find that the symptoms reduce in severity massively. Then, after a while (maybe weeks, maybe a few months) you will no longer fear them at all, simply because you understand THAT THEY ARE ONLY SILLY FEELINGS/SENSATIONS AND THEY HAVE NOT HARMED YOU IN THE PAST, AND THUS WILL NOT HARM YOU AGAIN THIS TIME!
Also, notice that you already have had numerous panic attacks, yet each time you come through - interesting isn't it? At the time you think you're dying, or you think at least there must be something severely wrong with you... but did you die? Nope, you came through just fine. Acceptance is formed on the back of this level of understanding. You are NOT trying to accept the feelings and thus 'live with them' (that's not correct at all), rather you are accepting the feelings that are coming to you at the time, which automatically reduces their impact on you. Following Dr Weekes method does NOT mean you learn to 'live with this', that's not what you want at all. Rather, it eradicates it completely by making you immune to any future recurrence via lack of fear of the symptoms you currently try so desperately to avoid.
So have a go tonight. If you feel tingly, or shaky, try accepting that feeling for what it is. Just think 'Ok, I feel a little shaky, but I can still do everything I need to do! I can still wash the dishes, I can still sit here and watch TV, I can still read this book, WHAT MATTER IF I AM SHAKING! (replace with whatever the symptom is).
And bear in mind that this is certainly not learning to become pig-headed, or the usual advice of 'pull yourself together' (the single WORST bit of advice to give to an anxiety sufferer!). I understand EXACTLY how hard this is to do (as does Dr Weekes, crucially, because she is the expert in all this), but with gradual steps you will get there. The final one of her steps is 'letting time pass', and that's exactly what has to happen. Ridding yourself of panic will not be an overnight process, and you must allow as much time to pass as necessary. Be patient with yourself and you'll be back to your old self very soon (however far away that may feel right now).