postr/StutterFebruary 14, 2020

Has anyone here noticed a decrease in the their stuttering with anxiety medication?

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Has anyone here noticed a decrease in the their stuttering with anxiety medication? Hey, so I have a mild to moderate stutter and about a month ago I had a conversation with a former high ranking military vet who told me about how he used to stutter the same way I do when he was younger. The thing he told me outside of speech therapy that was the biggest help for him was managing his anxiety. I've been working on it over the past few months and I have definitely seen a huge improvement with my speech. I wouldn't say that anxiety triggers my stuttering but it definitely plays a big part in it. As I've been forcing myself to talk more in uncomfortable situations I have also realized that a decent amount of the time when I would decide not to speak because I felt a stutter coming, it was actually anxiety and fear of stuttering , and when I would force myself to talk after getting the first couple words out I could finish my sentences decently fluently. One thing I've realized over the past month is that if I'm having a fluent conversation, something like a mental timer goes off in my head basically saying, "you've been speaking too fluently these past 10 minuets, its only a matter of time until you screw up" and then my throat will seize up and I won't be able to speak somewhat normally again until I can get my self and my anxiety back under control. I also get this same crippling anxiety when I'm trying to get myself ready to speak in class and sometimes I can get the thought out fluently, but other times I have to make myself stutter through what I wan't to say or significantly shorten up my thoughts because I no that I'm not going to be able to convey everything I'm thinking. I still stutter some when I am relaxed and I basically always stammer through orderings of food, but I basically stutter 100% of the time when I am anxious. I'm happy with the progress I'm making so far and I also plan on seeing a speech therapist for the first time when I get home from my freshman year in college at the suggestion of the vet I talked to, and they may have some ways to deal with this. But I'm also wondering if anyone has experience with anxiety medication and if that has made there stuttering better, not helped or worse, because in my experience smoking (which is supposed to calm you down) has always made my stuttering significantly worse. Thanks for listening to my little spiel, if anyone of you guys have any answers or other general advice that might help me out it would be greatly appreciated 😁

Themes

Emotional ExperienceCauses & VariabilityIdentity & DisabilityCoping & Advocacy

Subthemes

Anxiety & Social JudgmentStress & Fight/FlightStigma & BullyingFluency Techniques