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You came to the right place. Since you have a few weeks to prepare, I prescribe some type of paroxetine. Since I don't know where you are I don't know the trade name there. It takes about 10 days to take effect. However be wary of blending it with anti- depressants. - A true panic attack feeds off itself. eg 1.) you are worried about x happening -> 2.) x may or maynot happen but you are worried about a panic attack. 3.) This cause shortness of breath and your heart must beat faster. 4.) You now have confirmed a panic attack is happening. 5.) Return to 3 parotextine will help block (3.) Regardz Colin J Davies The most LinkedIn CPian (that I know of anyhow) :-)
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...might help avoid the panic, but giggling during a presentation generally doesn't go over well. And bad weed will make you paranoid, which kinda just worsens the whole thing. It's hard to get the dosages right on most prescription pharmaceuticals without devoting a fair bit of time to it - so unless you really don't have much going on in the next couple weeks, i'd skip drugs altogether. Fierce, blinding anger on the other hand, does wonderful things for focus and communications skills, and is something you may already have experience in using. So it might help if you can kinda psych yourself up before hand, perhaps by visualizing the face of that mean kid who killed your dog in the audience, or maybe doing a bit of VB6 coding. Then walk out, your hands shaking with pure white-hot rage instead of paralyzing fear, and let 'em all have it! Of course, make sure you don't actually write your presentation while in this state, and do not ad-lib - there may be 150 people in your company who'd find a long string of obscenities amusing, but chances are they won't all be packing the auditorium that day.
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Speaking in front of a crowd used scare to bejeezus out of me. Until I had to run a few meetings to explain/sell my ideas and eventually train the 50-ish developers on a new methodology. I was afraid of sounding stupid, forgetting everything I wanted to cover, or maybe my fly would be open. The more I prepared for the class, the more comfortable I got with the material and the more my confidence grew. It helped to discuss parts of the lecture with other developers before hand to get feedback from them on the topic. It helped me prepare for questions that might come up, further building my confidence. Also, it gave me several people to look at during the class who I'd already discussed some of the material with which helped relax me. As you are preparing, don't think about the act of speaking so much as the material itself. In the end people don't really care if you are great orator, they won't laugh at you for stumbling on a word. they are there to learn something from you. Just give them information clearly, which you surely will once you've prepared. Even if you do misspeak, laugh it off if you can, it will lighten the room. It also helps me to get to the meeting room early and feel comfortable there. Breathe deeply and think about that feeling of relief you'll get when it's over. Trick yourself into feeling that you are already done just before you begin. This works for me anyway, Good Luck. BW
Meanwhile, behind the facade of this innocent looking bookstore...
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You've had some good advice so far. I'll offer advice of a different sort. Learn to control yourself. Next time you have a panic attack use your mind to master the matter. Calm yourself down. Convince yourself it's not a logical reaction. Learn to master the attack and it won't happen again. A long time ago I had to learn how to control fear in big ways. Fear is stil there it's present in a lot of things I do. I just recognize it for what it is and isolate it away from the task at hand. My kids life depended on me over-coming a lot fears including her death. The only way I could preserve her life was by not fearing her death. In a practical sense that just means that when her death entered my mind I ran it off and only focused on what I needed to do to keep her alive and that was it. You need to focus on the tasks at hand and isolate your emotions. You'll be stronger for it. This isn't just a speech problem this is a confidence problem and it will hinder you the rest of your life. Vallium will make you a slave to the chemicals released by your emotionally controlled body. Master the emotions, force your thoughts only to the relevant components of the task at hand and stay focused. The details will work themselves out. Experience has taught me it's 1000 times harder to read/speak anything to friends family than it is to a large mixed audience. Stage several practice speeches at home. The goal of which will not be learning your speech. Instead you will attempt to deliver it but your real goal will be mastering your emotions and the distractions those emotions produce. During your practices only focuse on what you *have* to get done and force your mind to stay there. It's easier than it sounds and when you get the knack for it then few things will be a problem for you ever again. Vallium is just a crutch that will make you the shell of a man you once were. Nobody wants that, not over a public speaking engagement. Buck up! Master those emotions you will be glad you did.
Some assembly required. Code-frog System Architects, Inc.
-- modified at 1:56 Friday 30th September, 2005
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...might help avoid the panic, but giggling during a presentation generally doesn't go over well. And bad weed will make you paranoid, which kinda just worsens the whole thing. It's hard to get the dosages right on most prescription pharmaceuticals without devoting a fair bit of time to it - so unless you really don't have much going on in the next couple weeks, i'd skip drugs altogether. Fierce, blinding anger on the other hand, does wonderful things for focus and communications skills, and is something you may already have experience in using. So it might help if you can kinda psych yourself up before hand, perhaps by visualizing the face of that mean kid who killed your dog in the audience, or maybe doing a bit of VB6 coding. Then walk out, your hands shaking with pure white-hot rage instead of paralyzing fear, and let 'em all have it! Of course, make sure you don't actually write your presentation while in this state, and do not ad-lib - there may be 150 people in your company who'd find a long string of obscenities amusing, but chances are they won't all be packing the auditorium that day.
Shog9 wrote: or maybe doing a bit of VB6 coding I'd recommend an installshield session. (This week I "only" had to search a function, add two lines, build, and test five or so scenarios. I spent over an hour cursing like a farting sailorette.
Pandoras Gift #44: Hope. The one that keeps you on suffering.
aber.. "Wie gesagt, der Scheiss is' Therapie"
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygen -
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chimera967 wrote: in front of 150 people I think you need a bit of arrogance for yourself. Who are they, after all? An audience of 15 people could be dramatic but an 150 crowd is just a statistic :)
"tous les sifflets des trains, toutes les sirènes des bateaux m'ont chanté cent fois la chanson de l'Eldorado" rechi+
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Think to the chairs they're sitted on, as toilettes. And "feel" the smell of your freedom in speach. If you can think laughting on this, you'll have no problem. 2 bugs found. > recompile ... 65534 bugs found. :doh:
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Shog9 wrote: or maybe doing a bit of VB6 coding I'd recommend an installshield session. (This week I "only" had to search a function, add two lines, build, and test five or so scenarios. I spent over an hour cursing like a farting sailorette.
Pandoras Gift #44: Hope. The one that keeps you on suffering.
aber.. "Wie gesagt, der Scheiss is' Therapie"
boost your code || Fold With Us! || sighist | doxygenpeterchen wrote: I spent over an hour cursing like a farting sailorette You have interesting friends :laugh: The tigress is here :-D
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wear a sun glass , which is too dark that you will see nothing. [just for fun]. but try bluring your sight if u get panic too much.. and never look at one single person for any gesuture he makeswill directly affect you.. instead you just keep moving your sight around.. one thing what used to suffer was , i used feel very uncomfortable with my hands once i get in front of a crowd.. for where to keep my them!.. and i'd also be able to see my saliva creation process and till it reaches the stomach.. particularly ,when it goes thru the throat, it feels like stone.. anyway i hope u dont have all these symptoms.:-D V
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A dude on a ski lift told me about his friend who had a panic attack on a ski lift and fell off. So don't ride ski lifts. /\ |_ E X E GG -- modified at 23:24 Thursday 29th September, 2005
At least not whilst giving a presentation :laugh: The tigress is here :-D
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Mostly good advice so far, particularly: Breathing: Very, very important to breath long and slow. Fast breathing has a whole load of effects on the body, form blood acidty, to blood pressure. Practise: Get your material right, dont wing it, unless you are a real pro. Feal the fear and do it any way: Dont be afraid of fear, welcome it, and use the adrenaline it gives you to be sharp and focused. Remember, this is the mantra of those extreme sports people. Go for a run 50 mins before hand: This is going to tire you a bit, but will allow your body to relax and breath slowly. Also, the endorphines produced by hard exercise will make you feel good. A glass or two of wine: Alcohol in small amounts is a great confidence booster. When you have finished the speech, you will feel damn good! Nunc est bibendum
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While this is unlikely to help for your immediate situation, it will help long term. Join your local Toastmasters group. It is an international organisation with over 200,000 members world wide. It is an organisation that was set up to help people overcome their fears of public speaking and improve their abilities. It is also great fun. You can progress at what ever speed you feel comfortable. There are various level, the first is CTM (Competent ToastMaster) which is achieved after 10 speeches of upto 7 minutes each. Some people take a year to do their speeches, some people take 2 or 3 years or even more. After CTM there are various advanced stages and there are also leadership courses in which you can help and mentor other people who were once in your situation. So, my advice is to find a local group, go along to it - they won't make you do a presentation if you don't want - My first couple of meetings I just went along and watched and listened - everyone was friendly and invited me to participate but were very understanding when I said I wanted just to watch what goes on. [EDIT] You might want the link to their website also: http://www.toastmasters.org/[^] [/EDIT] By the way, your profile says you are in the US (you might want to change that - it can help people dispense the appropriate advice if it is country specific)
My: Blog | Photos "Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in." -- Confucious -- modified at 7:33 Friday 30th September, 2005
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OK, I think I have relative experience. I am a foreigner living in US. And I have my own company. I have been trying to sell software to customers for a decade now. I also had to deal with investors. So I have to talk to many people sometimes training groups. I also am a DJ at a local university station. When I was a grad student. I also had to deal with groups of undergrad students. In addition my younger son is having similar problems. His concern happens to be sweating too much while he is in school. This in turn puts him into the same cyclical panic like situation. I would like to add my feelings about the subject to what has already been said by many. 1. Plant friends in audience. Who has gone through the speech and can jump in in case of emergency. My teachers at the University always did that. When a grad student gave a lecture and was confronted with a tough question they would jump in from the audience, and answer. Must be done very graciously and. I must admit, they were all very good. Nobody got hurt feelings. 2. Not to be blunt but, don't take yourself, your career, and this speech too seriously. I mean the world does not really revolve around my stupid radio show. That approach is so liberating. I get licence to skrew up. Not that you have to use it. Remember you like what you do. And it can't help but show. 3. Remember the audience statistically is full of dull people whose lives are far less interesting than yours. And The speech that you should not take too seriously, is the most exciting thing they will have done that week. 4. Some people found out that, if you have a good subject and you are ok in what you know, but a bit on the shy, and nervous side, People adore that. I know I do. That however backfires for me when it is pretentious and done intentionally. Finally good luck and come tell us how it went and what you can recommend us. yalcin DJ Turbonado (aka Brown Sugha) Dromedary Express at WCBN FM
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I haven't read all the replies but... 1. Prepare your speech. Don't try to do it off the top of your head. 2. Practice your speech alone in front of a mirror. You will get better at the speech and realize that you can talk and not look like a total moron while doing it. 3. If you can, try to get to the point where you can give the speech from just a small set of notes. For example, write the first sentence of every paragraph in your notes. Try not to read from a paper. It makes for a boring speech. 4. Present your speech to a small group of FREINDS. This provides a friendly environment to try the speech out. 5. Present your speech to a small group of pirates who haven't seen shore for over a year. Just kidding. But I would try to do the speech in front of a small group of co-workers who aren't close friends. 6. "Suck it up princess" and give the speech. It won't be a whole lot of fun but you will make it through just fine. The next time you will have to talk in front of people will be much easier. Tim Smith I'm going to patent thought. I have yet to see any prior art.
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chimera967 wrote: however i've started having panic attacks and i'm scared to death of doing it. Visualize the audience naked. Rather than Valium, look up Dale Carnegie. He has a lot of advice on giving speeches. Good advice. Including how to manage your stress. (Hopefully there's stuff on the Internet. I took a couple courses, so my experience was more "direct"). Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
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Panic attacks are more than just having stress or anxiety. A person that suffers from panic attacks cannot control it by stress-reducing situations. It's a physical response of the body, not a psychological one. Danny
bugDanny wrote: It's a physical response of the body, not a psychological one. But isn't it the body reacting to the psychology of the situation? Meaning, the state of mind induces the physical reaction? Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
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bugDanny wrote: It's a physical response of the body, not a psychological one. But isn't it the body reacting to the psychology of the situation? Meaning, the state of mind induces the physical reaction? Marc My website Traceract Understanding Simple Data Binding Diary Of A CEO - Preface
Marc Clifton wrote: But isn't it the body reacting to the psychology of the situation? Meaning, the state of mind induces the physical reaction? Partially. I don't know a whole a lot about the actual physics of panic attacks, but one of the responses by Colin (I think it's Colin) seemed pretty accurate. The person has a minor stress or fear, and the body has a physical reaction to it with an increase of heart rate and breathing. This is what happens for all of us, but for those with panic attacks they can't control it after that. The panic attack sort of feeds off of itself. The increase in their heart rate, etc., produces more fear and stress, which increases their heart rate and breathing.... Perhaps, just perhaps, if she were completely able to reduce all anxiety, it might not be a problem, but even experienced speakers have a little bit of anxiety before and/or during a speech. I know some of the psychology behind it because my wife used to have panic attacks. Believe me, it is scary to watch. No amount of calming techniques seemed to work to stop or mediate the panic attack response. Thankfully, it does seem to be a thing you can grow out of, in some cases! :) Danny
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what you want to make his situation worse? LOL
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Panic attacks are more than just having stress or anxiety. A person that suffers from panic attacks cannot control it by stress-reducing situations. It's a physical response of the body, not a psychological one. Danny
Your answer is partially true. However, panic attacks are brought on by the neurological activity taking place within the brain. That technically means it is psycholocial in nature which manefests itself physically. Essentially, it's a brain chemistry bug. Been there, done that!
Paul Lyons, CCPL
Certified Code Project Lurker