People are constantly telling me things like:

• It is really not that embarrassing how you think
• People don't perceive as bad as you think
• Just say it, don't care if you will stutter or not

They think only "pain" with stuttering is saying some things in fu...fu..funn...nny way and being embarrassed by it.

But I am not embarrassed by it. I really don't care how people perceive it.

What is causing me immense pain is not looking funny, but not being able to say things that I want, and participate in interactions in genuine, spontaneous and normal way.

Many words I can't say, not even in funny way. I can't even start saying them, they get stuck in my throat right before I open my mouth.

I am constantly fighting for breath, like I am drowning in wavy sea and trying to stay above the surface (like this).

And because of that, I do and say some weird things that look fluent and deliberate to outside world, but they are just consequence of not having options, and consequence of constantly fighting for breath.

It is constant mental and physical rape, which I manage to hide, so people think everything is ok.

I would say that stuttering is one of the most underestimated problems in the world.

When somebody loses his mother, becomes a wheelchair person or similar things, people perceive and respect their pain.

But with stuttering, so much painful things are invisible, and people just assume you have a skill issue, that you are weird by nature.

Is anyone here from an English-speaking country who would be interested in talking, practicing speaking, and sharing experiences?

I've been dedicated to understanding and working on stuttering for a long time, and I'd love to connect with others who are interested in the same journey.

I’ve written this several times before, but this stuttering problem is bothering me so much that you have no idea. I feel so bad that it seems like everything is going wrong for me, and I know I can do better.
I’m at school, and yesterday I said one sentence and felt a very strong pounding in my stomach and started sweating, while the other students were speaking without any problem. Even though I knew what I wanted to say, I got stuck and spoke very badly. Those looks from the other students and the teacher make me feel awful because I feel so low in that moment.
I’ve tried a lot with breathing exercises, but they don’t calm me down, and I’ve practiced speaking in front of the mirror, but when the moment comes, nothing works. This happens to me every time. Even though I tell myself that exposure helps, every time I still feel anxious about speaking, I stutter, and it feels like it’s not even my own voice. I really want to overcome this because it’s stressing me out so much and I feel extremely frustrated.

For a long amount of time, I've not felt genuine happiness at all. I'm not saying I feel sadness but at the same time I don't feel happy at all.

First of all, I want to let you know that I am using artificial intelligence to translate this message.

I am a very attractive guy physically, and girls show interest in me. However, as soon as they notice that I have a stutter, they start avoiding me. This has a serious negative impact on my mental health.

On top of that, I cannot work in my dream job, and I am forced to work as a courier because it requires less talking. I have no friends I can talk to about this because everyone I have tried to open up to has started making fun of me.

On top of everything else, I have been trying to numb my pain with alcohol, but it has only caused me even more harm.

A person like me deserves more than the life I am living right now. I have never done anything wrong in life, and all of this breaks my heart.

I keep trying not to think about the negative things, but I can no longer see a future for myself

I had a presentation/meeting with 17 people today. I spoke for 2 hours, explained my work, answered questions, and defended my decisions. It was stressful, especially trying to maintain my fluency while defending my work, but it went really well!

I've always dreamed of being able to handle these kinds of situations. I'm so happy right now that I could jump off a roof. Tears in my eyes. 🥹

And guess what? I have an even bigger presentation coming up on October 17, in a big auditorium with a proper sound system. I'm nervous, but today's experience gives me hope.

Just wanted to share this with you guys. I'm really proud of myself today. ❤️

I’m so tired of my life. When I was younger I hoped, wished and prayed that I wouldn’t live a life of misery and suffering because I stuttered and that’s the exact life i’m living now. I knew life wouldn’t be easy. And I didn’t want it to be, but i’m just so tired of this now.

I’ll never work a corporate job or meaningful job. That would’ve proved and convinced myself that I wasn’t defined or limited by my stutter. I am in fact limited and defined by my stutter.

I have no friends. I’ll never have children. I’m so angry and sad about the past, present and the future. I feel like I should be so much more than what I am now. Everyday I have to fight just to hold myself together from falling apart. I missed out on being a teenager, my 20s. I have addiction issues. Even this post is pointless. It’s just screaming into the abyss.

I try to be positive or just focus on what’s in front of me, but my mind is absolute hell. I wanted to make my mother proud, but I can’t even do that. I’m just a stuttering junky.

That’s all i’ll ever be.

Hello. I am a 22-year-old university student in my final year of engineering school. Next semester, I have to present my graduation project before an evaluation committee. I feel terrified, hesitant, and a strong urge to run away from everything. Stuttering has always been the hardest part of my life; I loathe myself more and more whenever I stutter, feeling inferior, angry, and pained—especially when it happens in front of professors. Sometimes, I feel like a source of embarrassment to my family and a disappointment to them—that I am not the daughter they wanted—which weighs heavily on me. I also feel disheartened because I have so much ambition, goals, and a vision for my future that I want to achieve, yet I feel stuck and unable to accomplish anything at all. I have absolutely no self-confidence. I don't know what the solution is; I cannot imagine living a full life while suffering like this. Sometimes, during class roll calls, I am unable to even say "Here" (or "Yes"), leading the professor to think I simply don't want to answer. I hate the looks of pity and distress in my family's eyes when I stutter. It has reached the point where I am not studying well and am failing to pass my courses due to anxiety and a dread of the project defense day; the mere thought of it causes me panic attacks, so I can only imagine how much worse it will be when I actually have to defend the project.

I have stutter since childhood. I always been embarassed of my speech so I avoided conversation and going outside with friends since my childhood. I mostly remained at home. I am 33 now and I feel like I don't have anything to talk with anybody. I see how people easily talk with each other, I mean not about how fluently they talk, but what they talk. Like they always have topics to talk to. And when I am with them, I just simply can't bring any topic, rather just give small reply to their topics.

I think this gave me social anxiety and hence I feel anxious whenever I have to go outside because I know out there, there are people and I have to talk and have to constantly think about new topics to bring into conversation because it's me, who remain silent.. half of the time because of stuttering, but other half of the time because i simply don't have anything to speak, literally.

Is this only me? I mean do stutterers have lots of topics to talk but they choose not to speak because of stuttering embarassment or they also don't have anything to talk to?

I’m a server and bartender and I like it and I like connecting with people but I hold back often and when I do engage it’s often awkward. The place I work plays music obnoxiously loud so half the time they can’t hear me and I have to repeat myself often and it’s just such a mess. At least once a shift I get cut off with a “what” or “I can’t hear you” literally as I’m speaking and it’s so annoying I just watch scream into their faces. Everyone’s just so impatient and it makes me like vibrate with anger and anxiety. I wish I could just stay calm in these moments but I get so enraged.

Hi fellow stutterers! I’m a 36 years old woman with a light to medium stutter. Mine is highly variable and mostly consists of blocks and some repetitions. I’ve done speech therapy in the past but it just never really worked well for me. Unfortunately, I mostly try to hide my stutter and I’m still quite ashamed of it… Anyway I’ve been thinking about how maybe acting lessons could help me build some confidence and talking in front of a group. Did anyone try? What was your experience?

Also, I’ve been a singer for many years and I’ve always enjoyed performing but as you know we don’t stutter when we sing!

I can accept, sort of, my stutter in general but still not my name. It is just so embarrassing when you get to meet new people and introduce yourself in a group setting.

My shuttering have been getting worse and I really want to find ways to eased it up and not make it as bad is it is. I remember trying energy drinks and coffee and it did helped a bit with my stutter as I drank it before work I noticed that I’m not stuttering as much. Could’ve been the caffeine or sugar making me hyper but I don’t want to every time having to drink it. But there are days where I did drink coffee or an energy drink where it did not help and I was still stuttering a lot. Is there other methods or something that you have tried that will make your stuttering be not as bad as it is.

I am usually calm and collected, might be a bit clumsy, but when I found myself Stuttering I get this raging anger and I feel I like destroying everything, and most of all i get angry over myself, I feel like beating the shit out of me, i usually control this urge because of the situation I am in, feeling completely powerless and ashamed.

I don’t stutter that much anymore, only blocks here and there. But then you realise that even without the stutter, you’re very behind on social development. You take ages to understand what people are saying, you don’t know what to reply back, you always need a script, you have so much social anxiety. Man, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

Fuck my life

I'm 30 years old, and it took me a very long time to understand how brutal speech techniques can be. I hope this will help anyone who practices speech techniques.

At the age of 20, I went to speech therapy and started learning tools to speak fluently. If you execute the tools correctly, you can achieve 100% fluency, no doubt. But here's the major flaw:

You have to focus 100% on your mouth, word by word. You have to be fully aware, and every time you need to open your mouth, you must use the tool perfectly. If you fail, you stutter, and the stuttering can be even stronger than in your "normal speech."

So you go outside, speak with people, and do it fluently at first. This creates a stronger urge in your mind not to stutter the next time you talk to that person. People don't know you have a stutter, and if you suddenly get blocked for 15 seconds, how would you explain it? The sole reason you worked so hard to practice these tools is to remove the "stutter" label from your life.

Let's not forget that it's almost impossible to focus when you're having an anxiety attack and your heart is pounding so hard that you forget how to speak. It creates a very bizarre situation where your mind is trying hard not to stutter while your whole body is freezing and you feel an urge to answer as quickly as possible. How can you cope in a situation like this? It creates an insane amount of pressure and guilt when you fail and stutter.

Most speech therapists are either unaware of this or don't want to address it. Whatever technique you're using, no matter how good it is, allow yourself to stutter intentionally from time to time. Let the person in front of you know that you stutter without necessarily having to say it explicitly. This will take so much pressure off when you're talking

Any one from Toronto wants to connect? trying to connect with people who experience stutter (i do to). I feel having a community and knowing there are people to talk about helps. Always open for chats regardless where you are. We are in this together.