Recover From Stuttering - Does Your Stutter Influence Your Life?

Have you ever resorted to asking someone else to make a phone call for you? Have you ever made excuses for not attending social gatherings? Have you ever sat at a restaurant table with friends and said, "Yeah, I'll have what she's having," just to avoid the stutter that would inevitably happen when you'd try to say, "fillet mignon please, rare thanks". That's what you really wanted to order, but hey, if you can only say 'ffffffillet', what is the point of even trying? Everyone would just look at you, they'd be embarrassed, you'd be embarrassed, they'd think you're an idiot, blah, blah, blah. You know as well as I, all those negative destructive thoughts that flash through your mind. The whole thing just goes on and on. Some people who stutter have a circle of negativity that surrounds them the whole time, all they can think about is the next time they have to speak.

Worry and avoidance patterns are often set in place way back when the stutter appeared. Oftentimes a child in the playground who has shown signs of dysfluency may be bullied or picked on by his or her peers. This can happen simply because he speaks differently or perhaps can't answer a question quickly. Many negative thoughts PWS have in adulthood originate in childhood. We all know children can be cruel to each other one moment and the best of friends the next. Very often childhood verbal or non-verbal interactions involving psychological cruelty are forgotten immediately, but not every time. Some criticism of physical disability by children towards children can stick and be carried forward through life. By the time the affected individual turns thirty, that simple and innocent criticism at the age of six has been blown out of all proportion. Guess who blows it out of proportion, we do! No one's tougher on ourselves than us. We stutterers are very good at pulling ourselves apart. "I can't do this, I can't do that, people think this... about me! I'm hopeless!" You know the sort of stuff I'm referring to. If I had a dollar for every negative thought I had about myself when my stutter was holding me back, I WOULD BE A MILLIONAIRE.

Recovery from stuttering all gets down to positive thinking. Give it a go, shoot for the stars, just do it! This thinking will set you on the right path. Don't worry if you falter along the way. Keep at it. Maintenance is the key!

If you can honestly say that your stutter is not affecting you and your life in a negative way then, fantastic, you keep on keeping on. But for those of you like me, who have struggled for a long time battling your dysfluency, don't fool yourself. Don't allow this thing to rule your life any more! Don't let it push you around.

There is an excellent home-based program out there that will support you for life. Accept that you need to do something for yourself, something that, with effort and perseverance, will change your life in many ways, not just control your stutter. Join me on that fantastic road to fluency.

Common Questions about Migraine

How do I know whether this is migraine?

This is the most common question most people are unsure about diagnosis of migraine. Though all migraines are headaches, all headaches are not migraines. There can be many causes like high blood pressure, cervical spondylosis and poor eyesight being a few. So every one with headaches should not think he is suffering from migraine. The broad criterion of diagnosis is if you have two or more of the following symptoms during a attack it is probable you are suffering from migraine:

a. Throbbing headache, often on one side of the head only.

b. Visual disturbances (blink spots, distorted vision, flashing lights or zigzag patterns) these symptoms are often called aura.

c. Nausea and vomiting or diarrhea.

d. Increased sensitivity to light.

e. Increase sensitivity to sounds.

The second general rule is that if a headache and other associated symptoms prevent you from continuing with daily activities it could be a migraine.

What are the common triggers?

Migraine is believed to be caused by release of a chemical called serotonin or 5HT into the bloodstream from its storage sites in the body, resulting in changes in neurotransmitters and blood vessels in the brain. Exactly what causes this to happen is still not clear: However certain factors have been identified which can trigger attacks in susceptible people:

a. Emotional stress, e.g., anger, worry, shock, depression.

b. Physical exertion like over exertion / tiredness change in sleep patterns and traveling.

c. Hormonal changes like menstruation and pre-menstrual period, puberty, menopause.

d. Environmental like light, loud noise, intense smells, change or climate or smoking

e. Diet like lack of food or infrequent meals, specific foods like chocolate, citrus fruits, cheese, alcohol, especially red wine.

f. Other triggers like use of sleeping tablets high blood pressure, toothache or other dental problems, eyestrain, congested nose and sinus problems.

Migraine triggers are numerous and varied and occur in combinations peculiar to a individual. For most there is not just one trigger but a combination. These can be tolerated individually but when several occur together, a threshold is passed and an attack is triggered. Identifying and avoiding personal trigger factors can help.

If one of my parents suffers from migraines, is it necessary that I will also have it?

Though it has been seen that migraine does run in families, it is not necessary that children of migraine patients will also have it. Nor this is true the other way round. People often say that since nobody in family had migraine, they cannot have. This is also not true. It is possible for people to have migraine even when nobody in the family has it.

Migraine is difficult to cure?

Migraine is very much a curable disease as any other disease.