First off, let me say I feel for you. I never had anxiety or panic attacks until this past summer. I am a secondary ed. teacher. I usually teach special ed. I lost my job at the end of the last school year. Happens to a lot of teachers.

I had the tightness of jaw, numbness of face, thought I was having a stroke. I got an MRI and a million dollar work up - that cured my stroke symptoms. I then thought I was having a heart attack and honest to goodness, I went to the ER probably a million times in the span of the summer. I found a dr. who listened to me. He was willing to do all the work up for me. He checked me into the hospital and had them do every heart test available - another million dollar work up. Yep - it was anxiety and my mind was giving me those symptoms. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me. Once I had the news of nothing wrong with me - my anxiety has not returned. I haven't been to the ER in over a month now.

You need to find a dr. who is willing to listen to you and work with you. At one point I left work and drove straight to the dr. office. I had no appt. and he took me right away. I was in full blown anxiety attack. Again - thought I was having heart attack. He kept telling me calm down - did an EKG in the office to prove I wasn't having heart attack....it took an EKG to calm me down and prove I wasn't having a heart attack. He took my bp several times until I was back in the normal range. Got me calmed down. After that he did a bunch of tests through the hospital to prove to me I wasn't having a heart attack. EKG, Stress Test, Angiogram, Angiogram with dye, ultrasound of heart........all of it. Bottom line is - nothing is wrong with me and it was health related anxiety.

The best thing that happened for me was to get the tests - if you have insurance it was the best thing I did in my life. My health related anxiety is now gone due to the kindness and listening and testing of the dr. I found.

The symptoms were so horrific for me...and most of them were like yours. I would go to bed at 6 and lay in bed with a heating pad around the front of my neck. I couldn't swallow, couldn't breath, my jaw and neck muscles were tight - most painful experience I ever had in my life.

Get checked out if your funds allow you. It cured me!