what is happening to me???

[poshbiker]

Hi all, I spotted this forum, while looking around the net trying to figure an answer to some recent problems I have been having,

Here goes:

I'm a 45 year senior level director for a large corp, I have always had a stressfull business life (and personal!) but have never had probs in the past.

the nature of my job involves presenting to small and large audiences, this has never been an issue for me, i would never make it as a professional speaker (god forbid) but i always done ok and could always cover my subject happily..... that is until recently.... about 6 months ago I was presenting to a group I know (40 people) my own subject, 45 mins no problem, toward the end I started to stumble and started loosing concentration - i suddenly felt feint and had to lean on a desk.... questions came and i felt that if i answered i would slurr words and garbage would come out.... i excused my self quickly and exited. i went to the loo and talked to myself in the mirror, asking " what on earth's the matter with you... pull yourself together..... i went back and "limped" along till the end.
I thought it must be tiredness, flu or something, it happened again a couple of months later in a small 8 people meeting. now it's every time i present and I now do anything possible to avoid presenting, which is damaging to my role. I wondered if anyone recognised these symtoms?

thanks for reading.... any help would be really appreciated.

best wishes to you all

Regards

 

[redwine]

I can´t help you but I want to tell you this.

If you could do it in the past you can do it now.
The only problem is in your mind, you are the same person.
You may think.."ok, it´s so easy to talk when you are not inthe situation" and you are right, but I just wanted to tell you anyway.

 

[Guest]

To poshbiker,
l live in a very stressfull life, my husband is terminally ill( and doctors tell us to live day by day), my 13yr old son is ADD( what a pain he can be )and l have two kids who are pretty good( kep your fingers crossed).. but we have been living this life for ten yrs now and are used to the hard times.. until about 6/7 months ago, l said to my huddy it feels like l have a brick on my chest, like you l guessed flu or somthing.. until the next morning where l was convinced that l was having heart attack they rushed me to hospital. They sent me home about 3 hours later telling me lm extremly stressed and having anxiety attacks.. l didnt beleave a word they said..The problem got worse from pins and neddels all over head aches, sounded like l was drunk when l spoke, still cant read properly or write9 so please excuse me) lol...dizzey heaps more l thought l was going to die every day to the point where l wrote all my kids and husband good bye letters9 and trying to find some where good for my kids to live( as we have no family or friends to speak of) this made things a lot worse..
l keep going back to the doctors haveing blood tests, heart ultra sounds and so on nothing!...then they put me on antie depressents and valuin to helpme sleep, l took them for about 4 months,, but it was like the lights where but no one was home( and l need my wits about me to look after my family as like you do with your job) so its very scarey at 1st you think your losing your mind,, and going insane really freaked me out!!
l found this forum which l found HELPED heaps more then the doctors as they dont explane a freaking thing to put your mind at ease... l got off all med's and are doing ok still not back to my old self,but talking helps , try find some time to your self(somthing l dont have) lol.... doing somthing you like to do.. but most of all dont freak out your not alone.. and its just your body saying back off a bit ....lets have some fun!

 

[poshbiker]

thanks for you notes

thanks all for your messages,

fluffy, your experience is interesting(!) i mean awful but there are similarities to the way I have been feeling.

I have two children, 15 and 10 so I understand the home bit and how stressful that can be... I have also had a great deal of personal stress (marriage) over pst year so it maybe that has decided to come out on me now. (delayed reaction)

I feel like i would like to try to face the situations in practice mode but that's always difficult where other people are involved.

I am very sorry about your husband that is a shocking thing to be dealing with as a family - and probably explains a lot of things for your 13 year old too. my 15 yr old boy kept his feelings to himself over past few yrs and walks a very narrow line between on and off the rails (he's a great lad though) it is good to swop experiences.

I hope the sun shines on you and your family - and you can feel the old "you" real soon. and I hope your Husband is as good as he can be.

best wishes

 

[GettingThere]

poshbiker,
If your problems are basically limited to public speaking - and there are cases of social phobis/scoial anxiety disorder which are limited to this - then you may consider joining toastmasters.

 

[ConfidenceClub]

Poshbiker,

Your experience isn't unique by any means. I suspect you experienced an adrenaline dump. This would explain the physiological signs you experienced. However, do visit your general practitioner to rule out any medical problems.

It's important to recognise that standing up in front of 40 people isn't natural. Our ancestors left us with a valuable legacy of fear responses to dangerous situations (spiders, heights, open spaces, exposure to strangers) which can sometimes get out of hand. Untreated, this experience will leave you with a residue of anxiety whenever you are in a similar position, but the good news is that you can get back to normal - and even become a more relaxed presenter than you were originally.

I can recommend hypnotherapy for this situation. Typically, 2 - 4 sessions should resolve the problem, although your therapist will be able to advise you after the 1st session as everybody is unique.

You may also wish to visit the Confidence Club website, where some of the causes are discussed in greater detail.

Good luck with resolving this problem.

 

[ConfidenceClub]

Oops

Oops - forgot the URL :

www.confidenceclub.net