My Dog Is Frightened Of Storms

My dog is a happy, healthy playful pet. We love her like our own child. We play with her, sleep with her and dress her in designer dog clothes and parade her everywhere we go. But she does have one big problem. She is extremely frightened of lightening and thunder. We are not talking about a slight problem here, this is a major problem. She is frantic and sometimes I worry that as she gets older she will have a heart attack during a storm.
As soon as she hears the first little growl of thunder she begins to shake and pace. She won't accept any comfort or cuddling. She has to sit where she can watch and see what is happening. Normally she sleeps under the covers on my bed with me but during a storm she stays on top of the blankets and suffers. Needless to say, we suffer right along with her. She only weighs 5 pounds but she can make the whole bed shake with her trembling and panting. She barks every time the thunder is really loud and close. It is a difficult time for all of us. Nothing we do calms her or eases her fear.
I talked to our vet about the problem several years ago. He gave me some pills he said would help her relax during a storm. I tried the pills a few times but didn't like the results. The medicine made her act as if she was drugged. She couldn't walk and stumbled. I was afraid she would fall and hurt herself. Once I let her eat something and she almost choked to death. The vet had me reduce the dosage and that helped some. But you had to give the pill and it took about 15 to 20 minutes for it to work. I discovered that most of the time the pills were just starting to work and the storm was over. Then you had to wait for it to wear off, watching her closely so she didn't hurt herself. So we stopped using it. Now we just tough it out hoping that her body can stand the strain.
It has gotten a tiny bit better since she is older. She is 12 years old now and maybe she is just too tired to get that excited all the time. She still gets really upset and shakes, pants and barks but the level of fear seems to have lessened a little. The one good thing is that the storm season doesn't last all year long so we just have a few months a year to suffer with her.