dinorh
07-02-07, 22:20
Hi! I'm brand new to this forum. I have a stressful job working for a big American multi-national with a facility in the UK. I supervise a team of engineers and, like many of my peers, often need to make or lead presentations and teleconferences. Does the experience I'm about to describe sound like you? If so I'd be really interested to know if/how you resolved the problem.
I can give stand-up presentations, not my absolute forte, but I can give them. A bit nervous at first but this soon subsides. Often though we use the style of presentation in which we sit around the table and I talk through a hand-out; it's less formal and needs no equipment. Strange thing is that I find this terrifying! It goes something like this: we chat informally first as people arrive and this is no problem. Then, when it's my turn to lead off and the room goes quiet, I get this surge in my heart-beat, my throat closes up and my voice becomes erratic as I struggle to breathe and not swallow. It's a mild form of panic which I become extremely self-conscious of which then feeds back to feeling even worse until I either just get through it or a distraction such as someone asking a question triggers a gradual calming and then I'm absolutely fine thereafter. Last week I actually had to leave the room on the pretext of a full bladder because I couldn't think of any way in which I could control the situation. It was all the more ridiculous because the meeting was very safe - I knew all the people round the table well. Anyway, the same thing happened today and now I am acutely conscious that people are beginning to think I can't handle simple presentations. Yes I drink coffee and things right now are a bit more stressful generally and I have also had marital issues but I need to sort this demon out and break out of this cycle.
I have been taking propanolol 40mg when I know I have a biggie e.g. senior management presentation and it works fine because it stops the heart racing and psychologically I also know that I have taken my special remedy. I don't want to rely on it because you can't always take it discreetly, it takes 30 minutes to kick in and you sometimes don't get 30 minutes notice.
My next step is to consider hypnotherapy because I think there are other issues such as low self-esteem, child-hood factors and so on that might be a major influence on this condition. The ridiculous thing is that I am very experienced in what I do, am well respected and so have no obvious reason to have this problem.
Any thoughts out there?
I can give stand-up presentations, not my absolute forte, but I can give them. A bit nervous at first but this soon subsides. Often though we use the style of presentation in which we sit around the table and I talk through a hand-out; it's less formal and needs no equipment. Strange thing is that I find this terrifying! It goes something like this: we chat informally first as people arrive and this is no problem. Then, when it's my turn to lead off and the room goes quiet, I get this surge in my heart-beat, my throat closes up and my voice becomes erratic as I struggle to breathe and not swallow. It's a mild form of panic which I become extremely self-conscious of which then feeds back to feeling even worse until I either just get through it or a distraction such as someone asking a question triggers a gradual calming and then I'm absolutely fine thereafter. Last week I actually had to leave the room on the pretext of a full bladder because I couldn't think of any way in which I could control the situation. It was all the more ridiculous because the meeting was very safe - I knew all the people round the table well. Anyway, the same thing happened today and now I am acutely conscious that people are beginning to think I can't handle simple presentations. Yes I drink coffee and things right now are a bit more stressful generally and I have also had marital issues but I need to sort this demon out and break out of this cycle.
I have been taking propanolol 40mg when I know I have a biggie e.g. senior management presentation and it works fine because it stops the heart racing and psychologically I also know that I have taken my special remedy. I don't want to rely on it because you can't always take it discreetly, it takes 30 minutes to kick in and you sometimes don't get 30 minutes notice.
My next step is to consider hypnotherapy because I think there are other issues such as low self-esteem, child-hood factors and so on that might be a major influence on this condition. The ridiculous thing is that I am very experienced in what I do, am well respected and so have no obvious reason to have this problem.
Any thoughts out there?