So freakin confused!!!

[Sparkle]

Ok, so here is the deal....Whenever I am alone my stuttering goes out of the window...I mean, I can read a 4 pgs paper without stuttering once or I will only repeat one word twice....I can also do an oral presentation alone and be 98% fluent.....i am consider a moderate stutterer...I been going to therapy for the last 2 yrs but my stuttering only improves when I am inside the clinic...sometimes, I am like 100% fluent but as soon as I leave everything goes out the damn window....help....am I the only one suffering from this? I was thinking my stuttering might be a psychological issue because my heart beats fast n my hands start to shake like as if i am having some type of anxiety attack...But then i am not a shy person, I even stutter when I am talking to my sister whom I am very comfortable with...I am taking propranolol for the last two days (10mg but i cut it in half) which doesnt seem to help with my stuttering at all. The only thing it does is reduce my heart rate.....my last question is, is it safe to suddenly stop taking it since i only been using it for the last two days? I did research and it says that it is not safe to suddenly stop taking the drug...it can cause a heart attack....PLZ reply back!!...THANKS:D

[MarkBulger]

I think your situation is very common - which is one of the things that makes stuttering so difficult to deal with, for us and for speech therapy professionals. There's no doubt that much of stuttering is "psychological," though it's hard to say where the physical stops and the psychological begins.

I think it's best to think of stuttering as not just what you'd hear on a tape recording, but everything that's going on in your body and mind when you attempt to speak. When you think anxiously about a school presentation coming up in a week, you're "stuttering." Or at least you're feeling a symptom of stuttering. When you interject "ahhh's" or "ummm's," you're stuttering. When you break eye contact with the person you're speaking to, or twitch a little, or any of the "crutches" you use to get through speaking, it's all stuttering.

The difference between speaking in the safe setting of a clinic - or at home alone - and in public is also part of stuttering. It's not something that happens to your stutter - it is part of your stutter. Other people do the same thing in the same situation, so it can't be an accident. Whatever causes stuttering, causes different levels of speech difficulty in different situations.

I stutter when I talk to myself alone at home, so don't feel bad about your sister. :D I can actually stutter less when talking to strangers some times than when I'm alone at home mumbling to myself.

I've never taken drugs for my stuttering, but here's a few thoughts. It makes sense that anti-anxiety drugs would help lessen stuttering. After all, it's obvious that performance anxiety is a big part of stuttering severity. However, it's not surprising that it just wouldn't be that simple.

I'm old enough to remember when "hyperactivity" and "attention deficit disorder" started being talked about in the media. They started treating kids with drugs and boasting about their success. Then, after a while, you started hearing about side effects, and questions about whether the drug actually worked. So they moved on to the next wonder drug. Success, side effects, questions about long-term success.

I know that kids are still being treated with drugs for ADHD, but it wasn't as simple as it seemed at first. People respond to drugs in different, unpredictable ways. I just wouldn't expect too much from a drug. No drug gets to the root problem of stuttering - they only attack it sideways. The one thing we know is that whatever causes stuttering is deep inside our brain, and it's very difficult to even approach, much less "conquor."

I'd talk to your doctor about dosage - don't get your information from it internet.

[Sparkle]

thank you so much.