I am not totally sure I understand parts of your post, but I want to address your eating out issue. If you were choked as a child - was it a person who choked you, or was it on food? If it was on food, you certainly have every reason to be concerned about it happening again, however, HAS it? If you use the rational thinking approach used in therapies, ask yourself do I ALWAYS feel like I am going to choke while eating in a restaurant, or is it more like "Sometimes I feel like I might choke in a restaurant?" If you think ALWAYS, perhaps alot of this has to do with your thinking. Major question I would pose, do you ever feel like you are going to choke on food when eating at home or when alone, or only in a restaurant? If it is only in a restaurant, I might suggest it is more of a social anxiety than a panic issue. Being afraid of choking and embarrassing yourself, more than the actual true fear of needing assistance to dislodge food. WHen you said you feel the need to get the food out, do you mean out of your mouth, or purge to get it totally out?

You seem to have totally overcome the being pushed underwater, to the point of acheiving great accomplishments. Therefore, I would rationalize that you overcame that, therefore you have the ability to overcome the eating issue.

I was unable to eat in public for many many years. I will not go into why, as it is suggestive, and people can easily pick up others reasons to compound their own. WHen we are prone to a certain phobia/avoidance it is very easy to "adopt" others issues who have the same phobia/avoidance.

You are certainly correct in feeling you need to keep your breathing calm, stay calm yourself, and try to enjoy dining out. With that being said - it is not easy. I might suggest that you use rational self talk when you are in a restaurant (to yourself of course), and not use words like "I MUST stay calm, I MUST remember my proper breathing techniques etc, and replace it with "I CHOOSE to remain calm, I CHOOSE to use proper breathing" and take control back from the "phobia/avoidance". So much of anxiety/panic is our "stinkin thinkin". One thing to think about when eating out is "IF eating out is the cause of my discomfort, why isnt everyone else uncomfortable eating out?" It truly is not the eating out, its the thinking that is going on when eating out. Be good to yourself, and give some thought to HOW you think when you are about to go out to eat and while you are there. It might help !!

Good luck - THERE IS LIFE AFTER PANIC!