Am I doomed to stuttering my whole life?

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Today in church I was feeling extra anxious because it was more crowded for Easter. Someone who I knew well greeted me and said Happy Easter. I said hi back, but couldn't say "Happy", unless I stressed myself, breathed a certain way, and made a silly facial expression, and looked like a complete idiot. I walked away in shame. Am I doomed to this for the rest of my life or can it be fixed, somehow? Speech therapy helped little when I was younger, and I stutter more under increased anxiety. It's the second most "disability" I have when it comes to socializing, the first would be anxiety. There are times when I can talk fine, other times when I can't.

Unfortunately, you will probably stutter your whole life Your best bet is to finf hepl adapting your social skills and life coping skills to minimize the negate impact stuttering can have in dealing with others.

Kind of like social skills, if a person is afraid of making mistakes and second-guessing themselves, that can lead to a downward spiral.

Or when I struggled with OCD as a teenager (still struggle with it some, but now have considerable more skills), I would worry about the possibility of getting a new worry, which sounds just crazy, that's part of the downward spiral. So now, I just try and be middle-of-the-road on the health and safety stuff, maybe I'll go to the doctor, maybe I won't. Usually, either one of those are okay. I don't get so much into that second order stuff.

Speech coaches might be able to work wonders, that combined with a zen (?) acceptance that perhaps sometimes you will stutter. I still remember this classmate who gave one of our valedictorian address at my high school (way back in 1981!). He was talking about the importance of empathy and doing what you can. [pause] "I seem to have lost my place." [pause] "I did not really lose my place, rather it was a rhetorical device . . . " He went on to say, you know that awkward feeling, that's a good thing. So, if you do make a mistake, paradoxically, people might like you more for it.

I have a voice with higher than average nasal qualities. I have taken speech therapy at various times, with some success, might do it some more. (Therapists I have seen as an adult seem so much better than who I had in elementary school and junior high.) It is personal. It does make a big difference (sometimes) in how people respond to me.

By the way, you are not alone , just look at this list:

http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=128

I remember seeing a film clip of an occasion of when Winston came to the states during the war. He was walking along the street some kind of parade or maybe some kind of just impromptu walk. He holds up his bowler on the end of his cane, and the crowd really loves it!

Jeez, don't give up. My neurologist put me on amantadine, and I've not only quit stuttering but become less argumentative. I don't go nearly as easily into rocking, and it controls my pedantic speech really well. Before that, though, there were a lot of false hopes and setbacks, and just like everyone I've had to deal with arrogant quacks who still think psychoanalytic is viable and those horrible crooks who are essentially licensed drug dealers. Just keep trying and searching, though, and you will find the thing you need to help you.

I have a really weird stutter....

I had absolutely ZERO speech issues as a child, aside from my Texan southern drawl.
BUT----
Beginning in early March of this years I have had a series of anxiety attacks, meltdowns and outbreak of intensive tourettes tics accompanied by basically a degradation of my speech. I have NEVER stuttered before! Now, I am almost CONSTANTLY getting caught up in my words, stuttering and stammering to the point that the stuttering causes more stress which snowballs into even more anxiety issues. Is it normal for this to occur at my age (32)? Or am I having one of those "one-in-a-million" freak incidents? Or is it possible that I am completely wrong path looking for answers? So far the (free clinic) doctors I've seen seemed more interested in getting me out of their office than giving me definitive answers....