Public Speaking

[browneyedgirl334]

I have started college in September, after a year off of school. I have always been good at public speaking and presentations. In October I experienced a panick attack while giving my first presentation of the year. Heart thumping, hands and voice shaking and progressively escalating, I got through it and hoped it was an isolated incident. In December, I had another presentation and after some counselling, I used a few breathing and focusing techniques to control my symptoms and get through it, but the anxiety was definitely highly escalated. I have another presentation in a few days and I am dreading it. It is in front of a larger group and I dont want the same scenario as the last two to develop. Are there any good natural remedies I can take prior to the presentation to help bring me down a little.??
I think as long as I feel that my anxiety is not visible to the group I will be able to get through the presentation.

[Vicki]

Try rescue remedy or any herbal remedy bought from a pharmacy, and remember that most people are nervous of public speaking on some level!

[qtrhorse]

I'm in college too and I actually went through a similar thing today... and everything turned out alright. Maybe it will help if I share with you my experience, but I promise I'll try to keep it as short as I can ;)

I am a pre-vet student and have watched numerous surgeries and loved them, and then one day over the summer I was visiting my cousin's vet and I had a panic attack while in surgery and had to sit down. I think part of it might have been from the fact that some of the employees there were not fond of my cousin bringing a visitor and that made me nervous... whatever triggered it I don't really know. I was really embarrassed because I felt like the vets my cousin worked with must have thought I couldn't be serious in wanting to be a vet.

I recently started back a new semester and today my anatomy class was doing a dissection in lab. I had a fear of having another panic attack in front of these new classmates for the past week and having the fear of them thinking "she can't seriously want to be a vet." I hated that feeling because a lab like this was something I always looked forward to as a learning opportunity to prepare me for vet school.

But yesterday I went to a health foods store and got Rescue Pastilles (which sounds like what Vicki recommended in the previous post) and I made tea because I feel like that relaxes me. I prayed a LOT because my faith is what keeps me going. I had so much anxiety leading up to lab that I felt like I would have to skip it, and like a half hour before it started, I kept thinking positive thoughts and telling myself this was no different than the stuff I do on a regular basis at my vet where I am comfortable. I know it is really hard, but don't let any negative thoughts in, because one leads to another and another and then you are full of anxiety. Tell yourself you can do this speech. By telling myself I can do it, and not thinking of the bad experience I had this summer, I became surprisingly calm and was able to enjoy the lab and find it interesting like so many other times in the past. And also to my surprise, when I walked into lab, three of my classmates right away said that they were nervous about doing this. I am sure it is no different for others in your class. Your classmates are probably feeling anxiety too... that is natural when giving a speech. But I can completely relate to you feeling that you must have the most anxiety out of them all because that is how I felt.

I've also heard taking a walk, even like a 10 minute one before a speech can help. The night before I also opened up a lot to my mom, which was a massive relief because this anxiety is something I keep inside and tell no one. So, if there is anyone you feel comfortable talking to, I say go ahead and get it out. It feels so much better. Thanks for reading this and I hoped this helped. I wish you the best of luck on your speech. You can do it :)

[danstelter]

St. John's Wort, which you can purchase anywhere where you can purchase herbs can be helpful.

For me, I have found that some pretty rigorous midday exercise like an hour or two before the anxiety-provoking event can be very helpful. You can also see a doctor or psychiatrist who could prescribe you some medication that would help you calm down and that would only need to take when you were facing an anxiety-provoking event.