[oh_sigh]

Martin - if you're here, and would want to continue speaking were it not for the physical problems you face - perhaps you should give beta blockers a shot? Side effects are uncommon, risks are low, addictive potential is low, so doctors are generally willing to prescribe them if the patient requests it.

It sounds like you're just experiencing stage fright. Many professional performers get this way, and beta blockers have been shown to help reduce the physical symptoms of stage fright(tachycardia, sweating, etc): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6129674/

I had zero problem public speaking in school, or in casual public speaking (ie addressing participants in a sports league I help run), but I learned when I was 25 that I actually do have public speaking anxiety from a professional perspective. Perhaps it is because school/sports were low-stake activities in my mind, whereas I know that my professional performance is directly tied to my ability to support my family. So now I occasionally take a beta blocker before a big presentation, and they go as smoothly as my public speaking did back in college.

[hogFeast]

Taking medication doesn't make the problem go away.

I understand why people do it if their job relies on it...but the point of taking medication is so you can expose yourself to the fear, and then don't need the medication at all at some point...not using it as a coping strategy.

I have gone through something similar, unfortunately something significantly more disruptive. And I have succeeded and failed more than anyone over ten plus years...medication isn't anything. Your choices are: expose yourself to the situation and hope it goes away, or avoid it totally (and btw, both are fine choices...I think people assume that the latter is failure but life is complicated, sometimes it isn't possible to get over it...choosing not to do public speaking and talk openly about why, imo, takes some guts).

[oh_sigh]

Do you wear deodorant/anti-perspirant? If so, why? It doesn't make the problem go away. Sometimes just managing a condition is good enough rather than trying to solve the potentially unsolvable root cause, if the management protocol is easy/low risk enough

[Wistar]

In the concert piano world, 5mg of Inderal (Propranolol) is a common pre-performance dose.

My doctor, who treated a lot of Microsoft folks, told me that he prescribed a lot of Inderal for those who did a lot of public speaking.

[alexfromapex]

I have tried beta blockers and they really just get rid of the thumping heart sensation but you're still sweating and terrified. I have had some good success with taking full B complex and D vitamins before speaking though.

[IsopropylMalbec]

I've had success with Valerian, it is a quite mild sedative and anti-anxiety root. It's just enough to get over the pre-presentation anxiety and get in to the flow.

[oh_sigh]

Yes, if you have mental problems with public speaking, then beta blockers will not help you. They only mitigate the physical symptoms of stage fright.

[cableshaft]

Sure, he could pursue that...or he could just not do the thing that he hates in the first place, instead of putting foreign substances (with potential risks and side effects) in his body, so he can power through it and keep forcing it to happen.

Not all of us have that luxury, but he seems to.

[oh_sigh]

From my understanding of the article, it appears that he enjoys public speaking, but doesn't enjoy the physical side effects of it.

[nr2x]

https://youtu.be/DW5juaLAg28