I have a speech disorder that is ruining my life.
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I have a speech disorder that is ruining my life. Hi everyone, (bear with me a little as i don't usually speak in english) Backstory : Had an accident with my jaw during my early teenage year which slowly made my jaws deviate over years. During this period of time, i slowly developped a speech disorder that i believe is due to the fact that my jaws overgrewed and streched my face skin (My face muscle are always sore). People actually tend to tell me that i have a poker face or a resting bitch face. I try to smile more, but it tires me so quickly you wouldn't believe. Few years ago, i had a surgery to correct my jaw position and solve some of the issues i have with it, but none of the issue with my face muscle getting sore even in resting position. Might actually worsened my case on this since, it was a pretty heavy surgery that severed some nerves around my face (nothing major though, i would say that i can do what other people can, but i just get tired doing it and i have to try really hard contracting my muscle). I feel like i can deal with the pain and the soreness (i'm getting used to it), but what i can not deal with is the speech disorder that came with it. I used to be really talkative when i was a child, wasn't the most eloquent, but i was pretty average. My speech disorder only developed later on (at age 15 when i had the accident. Currently i'm 21.), and the worst part of it is how it dictactes my social life. Being aware of that disorder, i spoke less and less to the point where i developed another burden, social anxiety. This is actually the main reason i'm here anonymously, I fear exposing my issues to someone in real life even though i know it's stupid. But I've waited far too long to get my shit together, i'm in a hole so deep i forgot how i digged it, i always try to find excuses not to go out (which is unthinkable as a student. People always ask me how come they never see me outside of class), and I barely speak. Please believe me when I say it is a phobia, not just a casual fear that i can't overpass with only pure will. I feel like this got to be a progressive treatment. I hope i can fix speaking skills first before having to go to a real doctor to expose my other issues. Now back to the main topic with my speech disorder : even during casual conversation with friends, i struggle a lot in order to hide it. I use short sentences, take a deep voice to cover, try to speak fast and low and i pick (yes i pick) carrefully the words i used. There is word combination that i know i have a high probability to misprounounces so i always find equivalents. (That's why i also have to scripted all of my presentation, but for casual conversation it's just not possible). My speech disorder consist mostly in stuttering, unless i focus on every syllable, i will for sure stutter after 2 or 3 sentences. It is way easier when it's reading since i don't have to think, I just focus on pronouncing. Some other major issues are the fact that my tongue is never in the right place (it's linked to my jaw issue) and that i don't know what to do with my lips that i cannot fully sense (due to the surgery). My mouth get also dry really fast and out of breath, and i cannot open my mouth enough to enonciate correctly because it's streching my skin too much. I've tried speaking facing a miror to see what's wrong with my muscle, but other than the fact that i don't open my mouth as wide as other do i cant see anything. I guess issues are mostly internal. I'll conclude by saying that if i have to speak to more than 3 people or if i have to speak to stranger that i never spoke to before it amplifies this a whole lot. I guess it's the fear of a bad first impression. Do you think my case is helpless ? Any tips on how to get better ? Thank's for those who had the courage to read all, i know it is really long but i feel like my case is complexed and several issues are linked.