I like your attitude, Romany. I too have tried various avenues along the road to recovery, and past experience is so handy.Yoga's deep relaxation techniques are a big help. And a sense of humour.
I agree with Flora, in large part. But I wouldn't call mine a success story as such, as I fully expect it to happen again, to one degree or another.
My profession is high-risk/high reward, and I'm truly terrified a lot of the time. I have to keep those fears hidden, often disguised with a joke or pleasant anecdote whilst I'm madly chipping away at whatever problem arises. Sometimes the the tension gets so high my mind starts working overtime, & my body pays for it. Only yesterday I was bumping my head (gently) against the bathroom mirror, trying to remember how to smile. :)
I know this may sound pithy, but almost every business has a risk management plan - some are a couple of loose pages, others take up entire filing cabinets. In my day to day work/life I'm forever dealing with issues that arise. They're either dealt with immediately and then I can forget them, put on the back burner to deal with later, or even better, delegated to someone else, so I don't have to worry quite so much.
It certainly helps to mitigate anxiety, minimise fears and remind yourself of priorities, bearing in mind priorities tend to change by the second. There are some things which will certainly kill you outright (remember to think happy thoughts here), and others that merely mean you'll reach your bed a few minutes after midnight. :D I do little routines & preparations for various things I'm scared of in order to have a few less things to worry about for whenever I have an attack, in the hopes that my long-practiced movements will be more or less reflexive, and serve to remind me how to get back on track.
It was only after a good night's sleep, waking up to a cool wind on my overheated forehead, a disturbing series of noises from my stomach, and a few minutes mooching around the garden, watering & pulling up weeds that I managed to bounce, or at least bobble back on track.
With me it's always a question of what the trade-off is. Will i risk putting all those blasted fears aside on the chance of getting some decent sleep, or will I continue on at the risk of my hard-earned "safety"? The fears are always there again, but I'm better able to deal with them when well rested. Having a 'fear management plan' in the back of my head has helped me a lot in the last few years. Okay, some of the methods of dealing with them scare me too, but there's always a tradeoff. If I weren't able to set aside at least some of those fears, I'd not only never get anything done, but also never have any fun.
Registering on this forum & typing up my problems helped me a lot this time. Somehow, writing down my various issues in a safe,supportive environment cemented them in my head, gave me focus & helped to bring me out of it. Typing comes much more naturally to me than talking to someone in person, even to my closest friends, funnily enough.
Hope this wasn't too long-winded, and hope it helps. :)