Basically my question is: Will my eleventh grade AP English teacher, in your opinion, accept the fact that I have panic attacks as a legitimate excuse from reading oral reports and memorized poems aloud to the class? I would tell her this as well as have a note from my mother and, hopefully, my pediatrician.
Background info about the situation (if you’re interested, to help you answer the question. If not, just answer the question above, or skip down to the last little paragraph that reiterates the question as well as expands, slightly, on it):
I’ve heard from my older friends that we have to do "a few" oral reports in the class, as well as memorize and recite to the class aloud a poem written in Old English. I heard about this a few weeks ago and it has since ruined any free time that I’ve had because I worry constantly about these oral reports and poems. I’ve always been nervous and I’m becoming increasingly convinced that what I’m feeling are, in fact, panic attacks and not just normal nerves.
My symptoms are: difficulty breathing because my chest and through feel increasingly tight (only shake-y, shallow breaths are possible), lightheadedness, shake-y feeling in my legs and hands, I feel the need to swallow but then I feel like I can’t, like I need a drink of water, and really horrible consistent "what ifs…" (like, "what if I can’t get through the speech?" "what if I pass out right now?" "what if I never make it through this?" "what if I mess up in front of everyone?" etc. throughout the entire time, over and over again.) Oh, and I also get hives (rarely) that I have a prescription for. But I think that the hives are unrelated, although a concrete sign that I do have high anxiety.
Also, panic attacks and anxiety run in my family. My mother has frequent panic attacks and a high level of anxiety. My father has anxiety and I suspect that he gets panic attacks as well. My mother’s family definitely has a lot of anxiety prone people.
My mother is very understanding and wants to write me a note to get out of oral reports because she’s worried about me. I’m going to get a physical soon, too, so I was hoping I could also get a note from my doctor. Although, I’m not sure he’ll write one because I’ve never been treated for it before. I’ve never been treated with medication before because I’ve always been too embarrassed to tell my parents that I suspect that I have panic attacks (I basically had panic attacks about telling people that I have panic attacks!) I’ve finally told my mother and she really understands. I’m a really hard working student and am more than willing to write extra amounts to make up for it as well as write up the poems or recite them to just her (like before or after school) in place of reading them orally to the class. Even being a very hard working student (NHS, honor roll, expected to get scholarships for college), I’ve taken zeros, pretending that I forgot to do an assignment so that I would not be forced to read them aloud. Furthermore, I took Acting class (a class that you can use as your required Speech credit), in the class there were only two other students and I was STILL almost having panic attacks when reading aloud for a scene we would practice (however it was much better than taking Speech class, OH MY GOD. The thought alone makes it hard to breathe!)
So, my final question is, considering I’ve never been treated with medication for panic attacks, do you think a reasonable person would be understanding of my condition? Or do you think the teacher (assuming she’s a normal, reasonable person here) will expect me to "get over it" and will force me to present my paper and poems aloud to the class?
I’d love to here your opinions. Thanks, guys. As you may be able to tell, I’m practically having a panic attack just thinking of the situation!