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Tips, Techniques, and My Experience As a life-long stutterer, it's truly hard to describe the relief to find this subreddit. When I saw it online, my first thought was "wow there's a subreddit for everything" lol. I'm pleased to meet all of you. I would rate my stutter as a 4 or 5 on the intensity out of 10. I know what it's like to freeze up while speaking to a girl. I know what its like to block in an interview, to not be able to say hello when the phone rings and have to resort to "yes, hello" because somehow my brain allows my mouth to articulate that. I know what its like to embarrass yourself at a family dinner when someone asks you a question, simple or complicated in nature. I grew up normal, parents didn't stutter, hell, I didn't even stutter, until I was about 6 that is. My parents responded by bringing me to a speech therapist close to our home. I remember them being expensive, and for the most part useless. #ThoughtsOfA6YearOld. I remember playing basic word games with the therapist, board games, puzzles, etc. I remember having a heart to heart with my parents in front of the therapist. She concluded that I wasn't a "true" stutterer. She said it was so mild that it had to be caused by outside factors; stress, lack of sleep, diet not diversified enough. We stopped going and well, I continued stuttering. I'm now 28 years old. Oddly enough, I stutter less with new people or those I don't know. I can fool someone for weeks, if not months , into thinking I don't have any speech impediment. I stutter at home probably worst than most of you. With my parents, mostly. Deep down I fear they think I'm a friendless loser and that I won't be successful because of the side of me they see regularly. Truth is, I'm very good at hiding my stutter. I've developed strategies and techniques that make it hard to tell I have this problem, until you spend enough time with me of course. It's not one of those things that come and go like a cold. Once you stutter in front of someone, they know you're a stutterer. You can cough and pretend your mouth was dry, but that'll only work once or twice. The secret is out with that person, and the seeds of anxiety are planted. When normal people meet each other, over time they get more comfortable and become closer. For me, its the opposite. The more they know me, the more likely they'll find out I stutter, and so I get less comfortable over time. This is why I'm pretty solid with first impressions, however my anxiety makes it hard to make lasting connections. I clearly haven't found a way to cure my stutter, technically because no one has. However, I know damn well what makes my stutter worse. ​ 1. Porn and masturbation. I'm not suggesting you mutilate yourself or block all adult websites, but this, anecdotally has helped me. 2. Not sleeping on a regular schedule. No all-nighters. Sleep 7-9 hours per night, every night. The regularity helped me 3. Not staying hydrated. Drink tons of water. Being dehydrated stresses out your nervous system, causes me to stutter more. 4. Being angry in a situation I didn't already prepare for. Us stutterers, we plan the verbal logistics of every situation. Being pissed off in a way I didn't expect or plan for makes me stutter. Some tips for those who block. This is one I taught myself when I was around 17 or 18 years old. When you're blocked, simply let out a bit of air and quickly say the word. When you get blocked, the air just stops moving out of your mouth. Its like someone put a wine-cork in your throat and everything just stops flowing, abruptly. I hate it when it happens to me because people look at me like I'm mentally disabled. The trick is to stop trying to say the word, release your throat from the grip of trying to say that word, breath out the smallest little bit, and then use the airflow to say the original word. It'll take practice. It took me years and it still doesn't always work out for me, but it certainly helps. Sometimes I'll have to release air 3-4 times before I can spit out the word. As I'm writing this, my laptop has just notified me that my vitamin b1 and magnesium has shipped. I will try it eagerly when it arrives. Heard some great things about it. Will keep you posted. Again, I'm so glad to have found you guys. I once had a girlfriend who admitted to me on our first date that she stutters sometimes. I jerked my neck to look at her in disbelief. I didn't feel alone, and finding you guys, I have the same sensation. Cheers