DRUG TREATMENTS OF STUTTERING According to a paper in the June 1995 Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders ("Fluency Changes in Persons Who Stutter Following a Double Blind Trial of Clomipramine and Desipramine", by Stager, Ludlow, Gordon, Cotelingam, and Rapoport): "Only seven chronic double-blind, crossover placebo-controlled studies have objectively measured stuttering behaviors pre- and post-treatment. The medications studied included verapamil and haloperidol. Only haloperidol has met Montgomery and Manceaux's criterion for efficacy...Although this medication improved fluency, subjects did not continue using it to control their fluency beyond short-term treatment studies because the side effects outweighed the benefits." Haloperidol has strange side effects. One person told me that, after a week on the drug, one night his head began rotating slowly 180 degrees back and forth, and there was nothing he could do to stop it! The effect on his fluency had been minor, so he stopped taking the drug. "No significant improvements in percent fluency or speech rate were found for any speaking task under desipramine compared to placebo." Clomipramine improved fluency slightly. In four speaking situations (reading out loud, telephone calls, talking to a speech pathologist, 2 minute extemporaneous speech to an audience), fluency was improved about 20% in two situations (without a change in speaking rate), and speaking rate was increased about 20% in 2 situations (without a change in fluency). 63% of subjects taking clomipramine reported dry mouth, urinary hesitation, and constipation. A variety of other side effects were reported. ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENTS OF STUTTERING According to a paper in the June 1995 Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders ("Results of a Traditional Acupuncture Intervention for Stuttering", by Craig and Kearns), acupuncture on two adult male stutterers had no effect on fluency.