Lets put our heads togather!

[Jimmy169]

I really wonder if I feel the same way most of you do. I don't have a severe stutter I don't think, lately anyway. I hear there are those of us with severe stutters, and those with not so severe, yet we have so much in common, like we have the hardest time saying our name's, severe stutterer or not, we have a harder time on the phone, etc.

Yesterday, I was talking on the phone, well about to actually, the phone was ringing on my cell, and as I am walking outside, I see 2 elderly folks walking towards me, immediately I feel my throat tense up, my stomach kinda sink, kinda like my nerve's or...well...I felt more nervous, almost like anxiety came over me, I walk away a bit and I relax and feel fine. And it's like what could have been a bad stuttering moment was averted. I swear it made me think this has to be all in my head! People blame it on nerve's, but as stutterers a lot of us think otherwise, but sometime's I wonder...aspecially after yesterday, I wonder what make's us severe or less severe than the other, is it cause one may be more nervous than the other.

Maybe more calm and at ease with his life than the other? I mean how is it I felt that anxiety coming to me as someone was approaching while I was on my cell, then I move away from them to where I feel they can't hear and everything is fine, it really made it seem so much like it's all in my head, but it's extremely hard to control when I get anxious and when I don't, or when I get nervous I mean and when I don't. I could move away, and feel better, but I could move towards them at the time, and feel like I wasn't gonna stutter. I thought of it at the time, I thought hell if I could move away and feel better why can't I just convince myself that moving towards them won't be any worse, but I decided the hell with it and moved away, lol.


So what do you guys think, is a lot of it in our heads, what is the difference between a mild stutterer and a severe one do you think? I know it's a million dollar question, but why could it be, why is one more severe than the other, it can't hurt to put our heads togather and ponder this I figure...

[Ayman]

when i talk to my self or when i read out loud i dont stutter

its the anxiety so i think its all in our heads, just need to relax and forget what other people are thinking

sometimes it might be physical, but i got my vocal cords and my throat checked out by a surgeon and im fine so i blame my anxiety

[Jimmy169]

I'm curious if there is any real difference between a stutterer. I mean I hear of one being more severe than the other...is that true or does it all depend on the day, and our anxiety level.

[Ayman]

um i think each stutter is different, like they each have thier own way of stuttering and on different words/vowels/places/peopple that they stutter on etc depending on past experiences that triggered the stutter

[Jamus]

For so long I always thought my stutter was purely physical. Now that I know more about it, experiences like your story Jimmy, I believe it to be part psychological. That we condition ourselves to fear speaking around others b/c we've gotten so used to stuttering and dealt with the humiliation and shame that some of us feel along with it. Hence, b/c we are used to that we tend to want to run whenever we feel we are going to have to speak to another person a lot of the time.

My $.02

[Derek181]

i think its a bit of both. i have a friend who stutters and he said his speech only got better when he decided to change his outlook on it.... he said just to desensitize himself he would go out somewhere and purposely put on the most violent stutter ever!!!! and sooner or later he began to accept it and his speech improved. i think that if everyone just didnt give a shit about their stutter , it would improve.

[Jimmy169]

Does everyone get that same sinking feeling in their neck when they are about to do it? Kind of a warning inside of you that, oh here I go I'm about to stutter on the next word? And I've even had it where I could probably say what ever other word around it, but that one word it's like something inside me wouldn't let me say it, but when someone asks for me to repeat myself sometime's I say it fine. And to the contrary, sometime's when I say a word fine and someone asks me to repeat it, that's when I'll stutter on it, that actually happens more often than not. It's as though it's not the actual word that's the problem, but something in my subconscience.

[Derek181]

yah i know what you mean jimmy. where you say it fine and then they ask you to repeat it and you stutter horibly. but whats even worse is when your stuttering saying something and you feel the perspiration all in your face and your struggling to say the word and after you finally get it out they say what and then you go through the struggling all over again hahaha. i must say that these days though my stutter is very mild. i dont think everybody in my college class even knows i stutter i think maybe only 1 because i told him!!!! the guy i talk to lots just thinks i talk slow, i should tell him one of these days that i stutter hahaha!!!! but the funny thing about stuttering is the enviroment makes a big difference. i find that when i go back to my hometown where i grew up my whole life i find myself trying to hide my stutter so much and worry about it and what not and then when i go out to the city i just talk and really focus on using fluency skills and stuff.

[Jamus]

Does everyone get that same sinking feeling in their neck when they are about to do it? Kind of a warning inside of you that, oh here I go I'm about to stutter on the next word? And I've even had it where I could probably say what ever other word around it, but that one word it's like something inside me wouldn't let me say it, but when someone asks for me to repeat myself sometime's I say it fine. And to the contrary, sometime's when I say a word fine and someone asks me to repeat it, that's when I'll stutter on it, that actually happens more often than not. It's as though it's not the actual word that's the problem, but something in my subconscience.

This definitely happens with me, too. It's definitely not the words, but something, a moment, the situation, that we place emphasis on, and as a result we end up building up tension until it comes out on a sound or word. When that block passes, we can say it again without a problem b/c the moment we put on that pressure, has been released. lol I'm just speculating of course.. trying to make sense of it.

But I know for sure that it isn't just mentally but physically as well. That's where my breathing exercises help.

[Jimmy169]

Today I noticed when I stuttered, it was like anxiety, it wasn't one word, but every word that came after I worried I couldn't say, after getting the sentence out and having a moment to breath it got better, I've learned not to dwell on it and that always helps, but now I'm ok with my stutter enough that I'm able to look back, it does effect me still, thinking about it right now make's my stomach go in and I feel like I would stutter if I talked to someone now, just dwelling on it, BUT, I am thinking about it because I want to find another remedy. Like I said I really wish we could all put our heads togather, because I think we arn't looking outside the box enough with the remedies given to us by speech therapists.


When I stuttered today, again I noticed it was my enxiety taking over, I worried word after word like I normally do, but looking back, I think I was wasting my time! I think had I focused more on calming myself, not so much the breathing techniques to get the word about, but just thinking inward, not of the next word but of calming down. So I tried it, I was on the phone, felt I was gonna stutter, and instead of worrying about the word and how I'd get by it, I put my attention towards my chest, kinda feeling my heart and how fast it beat, and tried to calm it down by just thinking about it, and it sort of worked! Normally, when I get stuck on one word over the phone, I'm screwed for the rest of the sentence, lol. My anxiety goes up and every word after is harder even if I don't stutter on it, it just seems like it take's so much effort, I'm breathless when I'm done with the sentence, even if I didn't stutter much on the rest of it. So I'm starting to wonder if it's my heart beating so hard, my anxiety, that's making me breathless.

I'll keep trying this, but my advice right now is, to calm down when you stutter, I know it's hard as hell, but maybe it is a better focus point than to worry about the next word and the word after. All our techniques seem to tell us to get through the next word, to breath, I think subconsciously this does in fact relax us, but why not go directly to the root of the cause. So idk how good this will work, I tried it and still struggled, but I'm just trying to think outside the box, I'm sick of worrying from word to word, I'm sick of thinking in my head oh I'm gonna stutter on this next word, ya know, and bam there it goes. I think it might be better to figure out the root of the problem, and right now for me everything points to anxiety. Idk how it come's about, but everytime I get this anxiety, that feeling in your stomach, your neck, your heart feels kinda like it's being closed in and your breathing feels a lot worse, I wanna figure out how to releave that.

This is gonna be easier said than done, because the more I think about it the worse it gets, lol. So idk how much this could help if it forces me to think about it more...in any case I'm just shooting out idea's, I think if we could all figure out exactly what we have in common it might help, and hopefully a scientist stumble's up on it who is working on a stuttering cure and it may help him/her, lol. Yeah I know that's really reaching for the sky...

From what I'm reading, physically, you guys are as drained as I am from a stutter depending on how severe right, it's like it drains your energy right, take's your breath away...

[Jimmy169]

Cliff note's to that huge reply of mine above, lol, what I am trying to say is I guess maybe we should be thinking about how to relieve that pressure when we stutter, instead of trying to figure out how to get the next word through, and then the word after, maybe better to consider how to get rid of that pressure altogather once we come to a stutter. You know what I mean?

[Jamus]

I've been taught, through therapies over the years, that when you block you should stop immediately - take a breath - and start it over again. This helped me at one point but no longer.

I focus on my breathing first and foremost when talking. This has probably helped me the most out of everything I have tried over the years. And what's more important, I came to this conclusion myself pretty much. Through breathing exercises and slowing down the way I do things in a lot of aspects in my life, it has gotten me used to performing tasks in general, more deliberately. And being in that frame of mind has transferred over when I talk. It's made me approach speaking with more more ease. It's a lifestyle change to a certain extent, changing the way I approach doing things.

My speech has been quite severe over the years. At my worst it would look like I ran a 20 mile marathon afterwords. Out of breath, red in the face, sweating all of over my body... feeling utterly defeated. It wasn't pretty :o

[Jimmy169]

I've been taught, through therapies over the years, that when you block you should stop immediately - take a breath - and start it over again. This helped me at one point but no longer.

I focus on my breathing first and foremost when talking. This has probably helped me the most out of everything I have tried over the years. And what's more important, I came to this conclusion myself pretty much. Through breathing exercises and slowing down the way I do things in a lot of aspects in my life, it has gotten me used to performing tasks in general, more deliberately. And being in that frame of mind has transferred over when I talk. It's made me approach speaking with more more ease. It's a lifestyle change to a certain extent, changing the way I approach doing things.

My speech has been quite severe over the years. At my worst it would look like I ran a 20 mile marathon afterwords. Out of breath, red in the face, sweating all of over my body... feeling utterly defeated. It wasn't pretty :o


Yeah, you know slowing down has always worked the best for me. Sometime's just telling myself inside as I stutter helps. Today I really focused on what goes on when I stuttered, as I stuttered on the phone, I took a breath, but it didn't help, my whole chest tightened up and the breath didn't really untighten it. It's as though I was subconsciously tightening my inner muscle's from my chest up and I couldn't relax it. I'm kind of isolating what goes on, but haven't found a way to undo it, I'm gonna try telling myself to slow down next, that may help me relax, thanks for reminding me how much it used to work before.

I gotta stress though my stutter really hasn't been "that bad" lately at all because I just never really let it bother me after the stutter the way I used to. It almost feels relaxing after i stutter, I feel all the tension free up and I think to myself, hell I'm fine now and I can talk just fine now. But before I would dwell on the stutter so much even after I stuttered the tension wouldn't let up. So I will try to remind myself to slow down as I'm about to say the word I'm stuttering on, and I'll continue not to dwell on it even if I still stutter, oh well life goes on, lol. It's kind of fun lately trying to figure out what I can do as it's happening.

This may probably be hard to describe in words, but what kind of breathing exercises do you do and when?

[Jamus]

I meditate. Everyday I try to take about 2 minutes, usually in the morning before I start my day, and take 10 full breaths. I close my eyes, and inhale to almost the full extent of my lung capacity, and then exhale. But I do this very deliberately and slowly. Especially while exhaling. I exhale out of my mouth very passively. Like I was just regularly breathing subconsciously - that's a passive breath.
Something I find important that I have learned that I do, is force the air out when I talk. Actually it's what most people do when they talk. But with us, forcing it out works totally against us. We start talking and we want to push the air (sound/word) out forcefully, and that's where I tend to stutter the most is that first sound or word. I try to take a breath exactly like I described above before speaking, and on passive exhale, I slowly ease into the first sound or word. Most times after I get that first word out my first instinct is to speed it up and talk normally - forcing the other words out. It's very difficult to make it into a habit but it works when I get into a rhythm.

Sorry this is so long and if I'm not making sense :)

[Jimmy169]

I meditate. Everyday I try to take about 2 minutes, usually in the morning before I start my day, and take 10 full breaths. I close my eyes, and inhale to almost the full extent of my lung capacity, and then exhale. But I do this very deliberately and slowly. Especially while exhaling. I exhale out of my mouth very passively. Like I was just regularly breathing subconsciously - that's a passive breath.
Something I find important that I have learned that I do, is force the air out when I talk. Actually it's what most people do when they talk. But with us, forcing it out works totally against us. We start talking and we want to push the air (sound/word) out forcefully, and that's where I tend to stutter the most is that first sound or word. I try to take a breath exactly like I described above before speaking, and on passive exhale, I slowly ease into the first sound or word. Most times after I get that first word out my first instinct is to speed it up and talk normally - forcing the other words out. It's very difficult to make it into a habit but it works when I get into a rhythm.

Sorry this is so long and if I'm not making sense :)


Thanks for sharing, one of these days if I remember and don't rush out of the house like I always do, lol, I will try it.

[Jamus]

Takes getting used to. Like any therapy/techniques it requires lots of practice :)

[nerrad]

Stutterers have higher dopamene (spelling?) levels than the average person. I guess severe stutterers such as myself have even higher dopamene levels. If dopamene affects anxiety, which it possibly could, then yes anxiety plays a role. But the biggest role is dopamene levels because they affect our timing of speech too. They are producing a medication to slow down dopamene levels so maybe there will be an easy cure after all. I learned all this on a show called "the doctors" yesterday.

[Jamus]

Stutterers have higher dopamene (spelling?) levels than the average person. I guess severe stutterers such as myself have even higher dopamene levels. If dopamene affects anxiety, which it possibly could, then yes anxiety plays a role. But the biggest role is dopamene levels because they affect our timing of speech too. They are producing a medication to slow down dopamene levels so maybe there will be an easy cure after all. I learned all this on a show called "the doctors" yesterday.

I wouldn't jump the gun and call it an actual 'cure'. That would be way too premature. Right now there are several new drugs and they are all theorized to "help" in the lessening of stuttering, along with combining other things such as therapy, breathing exercises and a better diet. I wish it could be so easy as to pop a pill and poof, stuttering is all gone.

Dopamine levels are certainly a factor in each person who stutters, but again, I wouldn't as far as to say they are the main reason there is stuttering. There are many factors. I just need better convincing I guess. Happen to have a link to that show online?

[sst]

I've said before, I think each other our stuttering is unique, because we've all experienced different things in our pasts that have shaped the way we view life and stuttering. But we do all have common thoughts and experiences, just because most people react to us the same and we've had to do a lot of the same things. I probably get anxiety over things that most of you think are simple, and vice versa. My cell phone has sort of made talking on the phone easier, since I know who is calling.

If only our lives could be forever changed by a simple pill. That kind of thinking isn't very helpful, but it sure makes us feel better.

[nerrad]

The pill I'm talking about is used only by stutterers. I'm not talking about pills for other problems. I don't think those pills are healthy so you'll never see me take one of those. And I know just taking this drug isn't going to completely eliminate stuttering, but it will drastically help severe stutterers like me. I'm aware that you'd still need to incorporate techniques because were basically trained to stutter; we just won't have to work as hard.

[Jamus]

I'm aware that you'd still need to incorporate techniques because were basically trained to stutter; we just won't have to work as hard.

Let's hope! For severe stutterers like you and me, then a little help can bring a lot of relief :cool:

[Blueberrypie]

Yeh I always get confused about whether stuttering is more to do with anxiety or something physical. The thing that annoys me is that most people sees stuttering as only a nervouness thing and therefore almost sort of blames the stutterer themselves for being so nervous and threfore stutter. -_ -
I always beleived that there is more than just the mental side of things, but nevertheles, the mental side does play a huge part. Still, I'm not really sure whether I'm right or not.