I have endless stories. I remember driving an old boss through a drive-thru (a big fear of mine) and getting stuck with her order. I sat there staring at the ordering station, dripping sweat/shaking, not able to say a single word. These feelings of being sub-human, embarrassment, inferior, worthlessness, pointlessness, bleak, inner shame, etc are hard to get over. I have used different names (I also cannot say my own name). I have lied so many times for the sake of fluency (with things that don't even matter). I have run out of meetings, quit jobs, broke up relationships, physically hurt myself as a distraction, been arrested (lying to a cop), etc, etc ,etc - all because I stutter. I'm 34 now. I stopped drinking 6 years ago when my son was born. After I stopped drinking, my stutter got worse. On the bright side, I found a woman that stands by me. She helps whenever/wherever she can, like introducing me (because I can't say my own damn name). Having a partner helps a lot.