Anxiety blues

Make it fun. Just say whatever you want, even if it involves curse words, but skip death threats. None of this will matter and in a few months nobody will remember what you said. In a few years you won't even remember. Just don't take it too seriously.

One day I am hoping there will be a magic pill/cure to this life debilitating illness! In mean while- know this is normal and know you are okay and try to breathe!

Mine is worse! I have symptoms like yours plus I break out in hives on my face and neck !

If you're nervous about looking silly or screwing up in front of someone, realize that your presentation is a passing blip in the audience's minds. They're either thinking of what they're going to say, or spacing out. Plus, when you're speaking, it's waaay more important to be, or even pretend to be, confident in whatever the hell it is you're saying. If you go up there and act nervous, people notice. If you go up there with a controlled attitude and a slight smirk, nobody will care what you're saying. They'll just assume you're doing it right.

God I had this. When I couldn't skive off a presentation my hands would sweat, my knees and thighs would literally shake, my words where stutters and all i could think about was if anyone was noticing and how far away I'd like to be.

I haven't cured it yet, I've just skipped off every presentation I can. Ducked right out.

I don't know if I have improved after being prescribed propranolol & prozac, but to be honest, presentations were such a source of terror I don't want to risk one to find out.

Tickly_Sc*nts offered good advice. Practicing in particular is important, as is confronting your fears head on. If you beat one of them, it will give you A LOT of confidence.

Sharing your nerves is helpful, especially to a person who, will witness your presentation. It's at least one person in the room who is expecting you to be nervous and will not judge you for displaying signs of nerves during it.

Do not take the thing too seriously, try to make jokes, and smile, even it's just a blatantly nervous smile. people will relate to that and be rooting for you.

But the best advice I can give is to take deep breaths. It is hands down the best way to relax you. Take maybe 15 deep breaths before and afterwards, you will feel much better.

Good luck!! you're not alone

I as well have severe anxiety. i just went back to my doctor yesterday, and she upped my dossage of prozzak. it actually helps. i'm not quite as "crazy" anymore. yeah the anxiety was BAD!!

Wow I didnt know so many people had this same problem. I had the same problem as you guys in school. It even effects me at work sometimes.
What I do is just tell myself everything will be alright and just say fuck what everyone thinks because they are all herbs lol.

I also smoked a lot of weed in school which didnt help. I smoked beore school and during and after we would smog the shed haha.

Just confront it head on you are normal.

i should try actually confronting my fears too haha i always ran away.. if we had a presentation in class i would skip till the teacher moved onto a new thing.. i failed most my classes cuz of it but i have always had social anxiety disorder and nuthings really helped i figured its just how i am.. im really self concious and have no self esteem i just kno ill fuk sumthing up so i dont even try, thats my problem...

This is fairly normal but in ur case a bit extreme, i had the same problem as a teen and i realised i had to get over it. I decided to tell my mum i was going to do some afterschool activities tht involved taking part,( telling sumone ur gonna do these things always makes u feel better about it, it also makes it harder to back out and therefore easier to confront ur fears) i suggest u try the same, if u find it hard go with ur freinds :).

I got over it in a year and now am fairly comfortable with it :)

Good luck, THINGTHINGG

The quality of advice on this site is truly awe inspiring.

Nervousness is normal, especially in public settings. Fear of public speaking is the #1 fear, higher even than death. Even the most experienced public speakers get nervous before they present. While I'm no expert on public speaking/overcoming nervousness, I do have some suggestions which have worked for me.

1) If you know that you will have to speak, avoid alcohol and caffeine prior. These (and most) drugs will cause your nervousness to increase.

2) Again, if you know that you will be speaking rehearse your material by yourself beforehand. If you can't comfortably make the presentation to yourself there is no way you'll be able to do it in front of a crowd.

3) Identify what causes your nervousness specifically, and confront your fears head on. If you're scared that you'll randomly be called on in class, raise your hand and blurt something out. Fear is caused by the unknown, you cannot be afraid of something you're willing to confront.

Practice! You will feel much better about yourself if you can overcome this anxiety. Your confidence will increase as well as the quality of your life.

I sometimes feel this also. It is notmal to feel some sort of nervousness, but when it gets this extreme it can cause a problem. I looked it up online and it's called social anxiety disorder. Look it up and you can read all about it. There is not really any magic cure, i wish there was. You basically just have to feel more confident in yourself, find ways to calm yourself down when your feelin anxious like that, and try to speak out in as many social environments as you can. It's almost like the only cure is to practice talking in front of as many crowds as you can to assure yourself and get used to it.

thats how i alwaysss was in school haha well my whole life! one time in class the teacher was randomly choosing ppl to read paragraphs from a book and i slump in my chair and started sweating and shaking and my heart was pounding.. i wish i could get over this but i still dont kno how and im almost 22.. ill keep checkin bak to see if anyone has any ideas! hah