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Neurology (Expert Forum)
Need some sort of help with my stuttering...
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Need some sort of help with my stuttering...
by jetskiier, Mar 28, 2002 12:00AM
Hi, I am a 21 year old male and I stutter, I have been since I was 12. It all started when I had to give a science project presentation in 6th grade and the problem never went away. My dad and my brother stuttered at that age also but their problem went away. It could have something to do with the fact that I moved here from Poland when I was 10 and had to learn english. Everytime I am about to talk to a person and have to think about what I am going to say, I get all tense in my vocal cords and I stutter on every word. I was looking into Paxil and how maybe the social phobia might play a part in my situation, but on the other hand I think that might just be because I don't want to stutter when I talk to anyone cause it's embarrasing, and inturn I am afraid of social gatherings. But Paxil and other drugs like that come with a lot of "baggage" that I don't want to deal with. I heard of tranquilizer injections, how they can inject them into your vocal chords and it would relax them for a couple of hours, would that be an alternative? Is there any relaxing drugs I can take, maybe ones that isolate certain parts of your body ex:vocal chords. Would paxil or another drug of that type be a good choice? I tried speech therapy and hypnosis and nothing seems to help, I really need help, I am handicapped with this disability to communicate, any information is greatly appreciated. Please help! Thank You!
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT, Mar 28, 2002 12:00AM
Sorry to hear about your symptoms. It sounds like you have developmental stuttering with some kind of genetic factor. 50-80% of patients do grow out of it. With persistence of the problem however, it can cause great anxiety and affect your life socially and in the workplace (as you well know). The best treatment for it is speech therapy and there are different kinds. Other treatments include medications such as clomipramine (an antidepressant that is felt to directly help the stuttering rather than the social anxiety), ripseridol (an antipsychotic not for any mental illness, but again for the stuttering) and botox injection of the vocal cords (which also comes with "baggage" including expense and significant risk of side effects, but should last for about 3 months).
I know you've tried speech therapy, but it may be worth it to try again with a new therapist as there are different methods. Some therapists work with counselors for behavioural modification and counseling in concordance with the speech treatments. You could also try the Paxil though it may be killing two birds with one stone if you tried the clomipramine which is supposed to help with the stuttering as well as depression/anxiety. Best of luck.
I know you've tried speech therapy, but it may be worth it to try again with a new therapist as there are different methods. Some therapists work with counselors for behavioural modification and counseling in concordance with the speech treatments. You could also try the Paxil though it may be killing two birds with one stone if you tried the clomipramine which is supposed to help with the stuttering as well as depression/anxiety. Best of luck.
I also suffer from depression, and take Prozac for it, and I have found that my speech improved substantially.
From what I have read, Paxil is worth a try.
There is a new drug being tested, named Zyprexa, that you may want to check into.
From what I have read, Zanax might help stuttering. But check into its side-effects before trying it - "the cure may be worse than the disease.
Neither of which i'll discuss here.
Mail at (***@****) and we can discuss it further.
Regards
L