jtsmith

Since I was 13 (7 years ago) I've had a problem with speaking in front of people (before 13 I was actually one of the best at it in school), not sure what triggered this but anyway... whenever I had to do a speech I would shake (not noticably) and feel the urge to swallow constantly even with a dry mouth.

Sometimes I got so nervous I somehow overcame it and managed to speak with no problems (about 10% of the time) but otherwise I just couldn't get a voice out as I'd be constantly trying to swallow.

Anyway I still have this problem, but it's not just when having to give a speech now.. I get the urge to swallow repeatedly even if I'm watching TV with others in the room or watching a film at the pictures, especially when everything goes silent.

I get very concious that others can hear my attempts to swallow which makes me feel even worse and heart starts to race, however again this doesn't always happen.
For example, if I'm watching TV and I'm concentrating on the programme I'll forget about the situation I'm in and will be very relaxed. But most times the silence causes me to think of other things and more importantly, remember the nervous swallowing problem and this triggers it again, and esculates to the extent of me either having to leave the room for a minute or to eat/drink something to disguise it.

Then after a few minutes I'll have calmed down again. Even on my own this problem can occur, if I start thinking about things which cause this to start, writing this now is making me a bit anxious (first time I've fully explained it).

To conclude, it's like the fear of speaking in front of a silent crowd has evolved into me fearing any public event/place where silence happens even for a short period of time which is quite worrying. Plus it's not consistent, but still enough to affect my life in a harming way.

Anyone else have similar problems or any advice on possible medication/treatments?

Thankyou
John