Three Years on Lexapro: A Transformative Journey to Overcoming Stuttering

Three Years on Lexapro: A Transformative Journey to Overcoming Stuttering I’m four weeks into Lexapro and seeing amazing results. Most importantly, it took my speech impediment away, almost completely since day 1 (I still stuttered when I got ahead of myself but it became much easier to be aware of that and rebalance myself). It’s almost sad that a single pill can do so much for a condition I have suffered for five years and received little improvement from speech therapies and relaxation practices. I have my experiences with medication to know that I can’t count on it for good and I may grow resistance and my old issues may catch up. But it’s still a relief to know there is a solution that works, for a condition as dehumanizing and helpless as stuttering. So I want to put it here, for those stutters who are searching for comfort and answers online, there might still be hope. I know stuttering is neurological disorder of its own and not caused by anxiety. So not trying to say this is the med for stutters. Just want to share my experience, that before Lexapro I didn’t know how bad anxiety has exacerbated my stuttering. With the help of Lexapro and reduced anxiety, stuttering can be manageable. Knock on the wood. Hope I am not getting excited too early. Hope I don’t jinx it. **Another Update** I’m 31 female. Thank you guys for the kind words, different perspectives and interest in my experience! I realized it will be beneficial to let you guys know more about my background with speech impediment, so you know the whole story. Also can’t emphasize more, everybody’s journey is different. I myself don’t even know whether this improvement will last long. So just personal experiences here and happy to see more conversations happen on this topic! I first developed the speech issues when I was a baby learning to talk. My parents thought it was because I was babysat for an extended period of time by a couple whose whole family are severe stutters. But I think the reasons are more than that. Anyways I spent the first few talking years of my life being known as the kid who stutters. Then I grew out of it gradually as I grew older. But I was kinda always the kid who speaks too fast and stumbles occasionally on her speech. Also worth to mention I feel since very young I have a gift (or a better than average capability) in words and languages, which for me means I learnt languages fairly fast (both my native and second speaking language which is English) and I’m good at articulating my thoughts/feelings verbally when I am not stuttering. Also I found the topic of language and literature interesting and appreciate the beauty of it. Then I had a relapse with more severe stuttering in my junior high years. I can’t really remember the onset. I just remembered times when my friends couldn’t hold their laughter when I stuttered too hard and kept repeating on the same syllables. But it was not a laugh at me situation. More a laugh with me situation. I didn’t care. It was funny to me. And it went away on itself after a semester or so. The most recent relapse happened five years ago. By that point I have been in the states for 3 years. I had no problem living/working speaking English my second language, and actually received some compliments on how I sound just like a native speaker etc. But I always had this discomfort talking in front of people, and this discomfort built up as I started working fulltime on a job that required frequent communication with clients. Now I think that was probably anxiety escalating. So back there I was on a stressful project and I was not particularly happy with it and other aspects of my life. I remembered while standing in a client’s office talking to him, I noticed I blocked on a certain word and substituted it with another. And there launched my most recent five-year episode of stuttering. During this episode firstly I was a covert stutterer for about two years. I would try to push words out or substitute, just so I would appear normal on the outside, but I was feeling so much stress inward. Then I decided to become overt and openly stutter as suggested by many publications. Then it became more brutal. I wasn’t ready for the “public humiliation” brought by stuttering openly. And for whatever reason I couldn’t revert back to being covert. I remembered for a period of time almost on a daily basis after some “traumatic” experiences with speech I wanted to crawl under the table, feeling startled and frozen. For these years, there were ups and downs, good days and bad days, with the help of speech therapy which didn’t change my condition that much but gave me many new perspectives. So about a month ago I went to see a psychiatrist, not for anxiety, but for ADHD, a condition I have had sought professional help for on and off before. I had some bad experiences with the medication I used and the doctor prescribed me a new one. It was a stimulant and it exacerbated my anxiety to another level. I could barely talk with more severe stutter and my shoulders/neck were tense all the time. So the doctor suspected I had underlying anxiety issues that need to be addressed first and hence prescribed me Lexapro. I went through my share of the side effects (lethargy, lack of focus and motivation, sweating, change in sleep patterns etc), but the immediate benefit I saw was related to my improved speech, which prompted my post above. Interestingly but probably understandably, my interest in language and articulation was almost gone during the past few years. I’m seeing it making a comeback with my recent improvement in speech, which I am quite happy about. I’m feeling like the old me again, someone I thought I have forever lost. So this is my experience, a bit long. Just want to be comprehensive and cover the key points that I think mattered. Hope it helps. **Another Update After 3 Years** Good luck to you! I wrote the original post three years ago and in these three years there were some minor relapses of my stuttering issue and I increased my Lexapro dose from 5mg to 10mg. But lexapro still did wonders to my speech impediment. I’m still not the most fluent talker and stumble here and there. But I don’t give a sh\*t and don’t feel bad about it anymore, which for me is the most important thing. I know Lexapro work on people in different ways. I am a fairly small person (110lb 5’3 female) who is sensitive to medication so Lexapro’s effect on my stuttering was almost immediate. But it took me over a month to get over the initial lethargy, a common side effect of Lexapro. Also my stuttering issue has been periodic not consistent throughout my life. Hope the information helps and i believe we will all find a way that works for us! Good luck! **Another Update** Hi there I am on Lexpro for a little over three years now and have increased my dose to 10mg from 5mg. I would say I'm mostly still fluent. Speech-wise, there are good days and bad days. And even on good days, I could stumble occasionally. But for me, the most important thing is that my speech-induced anxiety is kept at a really low and manageable level, and at least I am at a place where I don't need to constantly worry whenever I need to speak, and instead focus on more meaningful things in my life. So I would still say Lexapro helped me tremendously with my speech and still does. All the self bashing intrusive thoughts, mostly gone. I hope you find a way that works for you soon my friend! Let me know if you have more questions. [Original Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/lexapro/comments/ierhks/lexapro_took_my_stutter_away/)