yes the small helicopters can be difficult to fly smooth but if you can get a bigger one they fly better. to help you with the panic thing i teach here in the uk and i tell all my students to have a plan in mind for when things go wrong. Like when you fly nose in, thats what we all it in the uk, you at the blade disc and put your stick to the low side that will keep it flat later when you feel better you can start to move it about, but that first time only hover nose in and then spin back to tail in to get back in control try this link to utube its me flying my 90 raptor its a bit out of focus but you can see what i mean about hovering nose in
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2dFsYlmljck