Hi, fellow stutterer. I'm kinda in the same circumstance. I talk, love to talk, and although I don't have a severe stutter the thought of it coming out scares me to death. My family says my speech isn't any different from anyone else but they don't know the internal hoops I jump through word substituting, etc. I think we have a condition called covert stuttering. We are able to keep it hidden most of the time but dread it when it rears its ugly head, especially when people haven't ever seen me stutter. I have an appointment on Saturday with Dr. Gerald Maguire, the world’s most expert in the stuttering field. I almost feel like an imposter today because he phoned me to confirm my appointment and I'm totally fluent on the phone and his time is so precious. He's the expert who successfully uses medication to treat stuttering. He's an MD, a psychiatrist and he is also a stuttered from a family of stutterers. I'll keep everyone posted about my appointment. You sound like your stuttering is causing you the same speech anxiety as I have. Gerald A. Maguire, M.D.is Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at UC Riverside School of Medicine. Maguire came to UCR in 2014 from UC Irvine, where he served as the Kirkup Endowed Chair in Stuttering Research,residenchy training director in psychiatry, and Senior Associate Dean of Medical Education. He has been named as one of the Best Doctors in America every year since 2009 and he is recognized as the world's authority on the pharmacologic treatment of stuttering. Dr. Maguire has published his research in several leading journals and has delivered hundreds of presentations nationally and internationally. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He previously served for four years as chair of the National Stuttering Association and as vice chair of the International Stuttering Association. Dr. Maguire recently completed a six-year term on the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Psychiatry.