coping methods?

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what are some methods you guys use, to cope with panic attacks?

i get panic attacks when i'm around just about anyone; i feel like my senses are all on high alert. i get sweaty, awkward, shifty, throat gets tight.
i'd like to hear how some of you calm yourself down and keep your mind clear.
even if it helps just a little.

i've heard some people use caffeine...coffee, redbulls, etc. anybody else do that? i would think that would do the opposite.

i use to walk around with my music on to drain out the noses of other people and to block out any odd movements of ruddy teenager that cause me great discomfort.

My main method to cope with too much noise is listening to my iPod. I do this all the time, anyways.
When I am at home and annoyed by something, I go to my room and read or play a game on my iPod.
However, when my iPod isn't available, I really have no coping mechanisms that aren't considered "stimming".

I have my headphones, everywhere that I go, except for my job. I find that music helps me, to navigate the world, and It helps me to block out, loud and annoying voices, that teenagers and immature adults like to make. I also sleep with my air conditioner on, to block out the outside noise. I'm considering buying earplugs to wear at night, during the winter, next fall.

I've not had "panic attacks" frequently enough to develop much of a strategy, but I used to get bouts of "paranoid delusional thinking." In those cases, something bad would happen (or just socially negative) and my brain would race into high gear imagining tons of scenarios envisioning the worst case scenario. I would be moody and unable to focus on what needed to get done...usually resulting in my fears being realized. It was very debilitating. It normally went away with a good night's sleep where my brain would "reset," but for the rest of the day I was next to useless.

I learned to cope by recognizing I had this problem and FORCING myself to get rational. When one of these bouts happened, I'd force myself to stop, take a breath and concentrate on what FACTS supported the scenarios I was imagining in my head. I can't say it made the problem go away because I'd still be in a blue funk for the rest of the day, but I did manage to not become so focused on my paranoid fears. In time, this practice started reducing the frequency of the events because I realized that sometimes crap happens and people doing the kinds of things that would trigger these events were often just upset at the bad day they were having and not angry at me for anything I did.