I used to wake up with these attacks. They were awful. I too took medicine for them but I couldn't take the side effects. I did like you, try to find ways to work through them. Finally they got to be less frequent. I can't say I am totally free of them but I certainly don't get them very often thank goodness. Continue with what you are doing and perhaps they will become less too. I often wondered if the attacks were worse when I had a lot of stress in my life and got to be less as the stress lifted...