first thread

[bostitch]

hey guys, whats going on? i lurked on this site for a long time and i finally decided to join the site. i havent posted much (or all for that matter) but i thought id ask you guys for some advice.

so im 19, college student, etc etc. i havent ever really talked about my stuttering with anyone so bear with me.

i think i stutter moderatly, like only around my immediate family or strangers. i feel like im almost totally comfortable around my close friends and everything. i found out most kids begin to stutter when they are young, and sometimes progress out of that phase. for me it was just the opposite. aroundd my sophomore year of high school i developed a stutter. and its gotten worse and worse over the years. back then i could go by and only stutter on a few words, now it seems like i stutter more and more often. its the worst around my immediate family, i have no idea why. im pretty sure i have moderate anxiety as well, however i told my mom and she just blew it off.

man theres so much more i want to say since ive never talked about this, but ill try to keep this as short as i can.

ive been taking xanax pills every so often (my moms ironically) and i guess those seem to help. but overall i dont think thats gonna help because i dont want to rely on pills or anything to get over this. its frustrating because i cant remember ever having this problem a few years ago and now it bugs me every waking moment.

i try to practice my speech and stuff and any time im alone, im fluent. i have no idea why. it seems as though i stutter in a quiet enviorment more than say if i am sitting in a group of people. thats why when im at home on the phone, i tend to turn on some music or something so i can speak over it. why is that? i dont want to sound like a jerk, but i was pretty popular in high school. mostly because i was somewhat of a smartass and people took a liking to me for that. that and i never used to stutter around kdis my own age. this whole post is lacking structure but theres just so much i want to say after reading all these threads. i recently took a journalism class because im thinking of minoring in that and it was okay. i stuttered a little bit at first but when i got comfortable with the settings, i was reasonably fluent to the point where people didnt really notice (or seem to notice).

i know i havent posted a difinitive question here yet so i guess i might as well put it here. at my current job, i need to talk to suppliers all the time on the phone. its terrible because its so quiet here and my stutterign is worst when im in a quiet, unfamiliar place. this makes me tend to use email a lot more. i hate doign this because i know sooner or later im gonna have to pick up the damn phone, stutter my balls off, and everyone is goign to know. i want to go see my doctor about this but im scared of stuttering there too. why does it seem like i stutter around important people?!

also how can i get my mom to take me seriously when i say i might be suffering from anxiety? she just blows it off as though its a totally normal thing. i just want to scream my head off and put it through a wall when that happens.

and ive been hearing about something called , i guess its a program that allows you to talk online with other people? id be down as a clown to try that out, i think ill download it when i get home. is there any database on here that shows who is a member and what their name is? i really think it would help seeing im fluent when im alone, but once i get in front of people i dont know i get nervous as hell.

i think thats it for now, ill update this thread if i feel like i left anything out. sorry for the lack of structure, feel free to ask any questions of your own to help me clear shit up.

thanks

[nate]

Buy an I-pod, stick one in your ear and hold the phone to the other ear. It doesn't have to be quiet.
I have the same thing to, i speak better when I'm screaming to be heard over loud music.
Yet another reason why i love bars.

[gongfu]

i have the same problem,i will pay more attention to my speech and try to avoid the words i stutter on when talk to stranger，so i make my speech more fluent.but,when i talk to my mother or my sisiter who are my most close person,i will have a really bad behaviour，it make me fell frustrating！like you ,i am a college student too,in another city far from my hometown,and every time when i must to give a phone to my mother,i can't accomplish even a whole sentence! i have so many words that i eager to talk to her ,but when the time come,i come to be a mute
！my god,i pray you give me a normal speech,i would rather cut 10 years of my life for it……

[Asusag]

How long have you been at your current job?

I can honestly say that it'll get easier with practice... usually. At least it did for me.

Like I posted in a previous post, when I got out of high school, I purposely put myself in jobs that required phone and face to face interaction. I struggled at first. The job I took out of High School was a conference operator... not only did I have to answer calls, but I had to host conference calls, give introduction speeches(scripted) over the phone, and coordinate with my coworkers. For quite a while, I screwed it up. Stuttered, even called in sick a few times because I didn't have the courage to do it that day.

Over time, I got more comfortable with it. Memorized the scripts I was supposed to read, which helped a lot, and just got a bit more confident and less anxious. The job was a great tool for my fluency improvements.

Stick with it man.

[LIfE]

Originally Posted by bostitch

so im 19, college student, etc etc. i havent ever really talked about my stuttering with anyone so bear with me.

Wow, we're pretty much in the same exact boat - we're even the same age, lol. I know exactly how you feel, i do the same thing when on the phone - i usually turn up the volume on the tv. And my mom also denies my problem, she says it'll eventually go away and work itself out. But since i've never really 'spilled my guts' about my stuttering, i can't blame her - she couldn't possibly know how bad i've had it.

But anyway, idk what to tell you. You just have to relax and kinda distract your mind from your stuttering. If you don't think about it so much, it won't happen as often. It sounds like your stuttering isn't very severe, so you're lucky. Just remember that you can't anticipate conversations or rehe anything, that'll only increase your anxiety. I just take life second by second, and so far it's doing me a lot of good.

Be spontaneous