Stuttering
Stuttering
One in 100 adults has difficulty with stuttering, but no one really knows what causes it.
Stuttering is common among young children, but half of the children who stutter beyond age five will continue to do it as adults. It also tends to run in families and is more prevalent among males, twins and left-handed people. If stuttering begins in adulthood, it could be a sign of a neurological disorder or a head injury.
Some researchers suspect that stuttering is habit forming and that stress has a major role in its onset. When a child is learning to speak, or when an adult has to talk in a tense situation, stress increases tension on the vocal cords. As the person struggles to speak, words sputter out of his mouth as if he were trying to start a reluctant car engine on a cold winter morning. Keeping the vocal chords open and relaxed can help control stuttering, experts say. Speech therapy can benefit, too. The natural remedies in this chapter, used with your doctor’s approval, may help stop you from stuttering, according to some health professionals.
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Flower Remedy/Essence Therapy
Flower essences can help alleviate the underlying anxiety associated with stuttering, says Patricia Kaminski, co-director of the Flower Essence Society, a Nevada City, California, organization that studies and promotes the therapeutic use of flower remedies/essences. For stuttering that arises from overexcitement and “information overload” (when the mouth can’t keep up with the flow of thought), Kaminski recommends the California essence Cosmos. For people who have no problem speaking to friends and acquaintances but stutter when speaking in public, Trumpet Vine may help, she says.
Flower essences are available in some health food stores and through mail order (refer to the resource list on page 635). For information on preparing and administering flower essences, see page 37.
Homeopathy
To help stop stuttering or stammering, try one of the following 6C or 12C remedies once a day for a month, says Chris Meletis, N.D., a naturopathic physician and medicinary director at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon. If one remedy doesn’t work, he says to try another one the following month.
Stramonium is the remedy of choice if you are imaginative, red-faced and excitable and your speech is irregular and erratic, according to Dr. Meletis. If you are nervous and tense with a ticlike movement, and if your symptoms are worse when you’re excited, he says Agaricus may help. He suggests Cuprum metallicum if you are prone to spasms in general and have spasmodic and labored speech that gets worse when you’re frightened. General stuttering or stammering is often helped by Arsenicum, he says.
All of these remedies are available in many health food stores. To purchase the remedies by mail, refer to the resource list on page 637.