I’ve been having difficultly with my voice now for the past month and a half (unable to speak for more than 30/45 minutes a day). I spoke with my primary care and was referred to an ENT. I saw the ENT this past Wednesday and they did a flexible laryngoscopy (sticking a camera up your nose and down into the voice box).

The procedure seemed fine. It was uncomfortable but over quickly and I was able to talk without pain later that day. The doctor didn’t find anything so referred me to a speech therapist.

Things went wrong the next morning. I woke up because my throat hurt so badly. It was the worst sore throat I’ve ever had in my life. I spent all Thursday unable to swallow without wanting to cry. I completely stopped talking at this point and spent all day Thursday, Friday, and today (Saturday) not speaking. The pain let up a bit Friday and a bit more today but when I went to try and speak, my voice sounds 100x worse than before. Raspy, hoarse, and breathless. Even before going to the ENT it had never sounded like that.

I can’t help but wonder if there was some kind of trauma done to my throat during the procedure but nothing I found online suggests anyone else has ever had these symptoms. Am I alone in this?

Even though the dude sounded like he was reading the ad for the first time he was still happy to help

Some prompts:

• How's your voice doing?
• What happened at your doctor's appointment?
• What advice did you get from your SLP/voice teacher?
• Got any thoughts you think other folks here would be interested in?

Has anyone here recovered from MTD by resting?

About a month ago I had a vocal hemorrhage from a rough cough. I caught it very early and was given two weeks of vocal rest. I stuck to it religiously, and after those two weeks the doctor said healing went great and I was able to go back to talking. This happened two to three weeks ago and everything was going great. Then, this weekend, I got sick and threw up. This stress caused another vocal hemorrhage on the same cord. Another two weeks of vocal rest is in order. I am mainly worried that even though the last one healed, does having another hemorrhage on the same cord make it less likely for it to heal this time? No surgery has been recommended and if anything I have been told it will be fine, but I’m curious on some other opinions.

Some prompts:

• How's your voice doing?
• What happened at your doctor's appointment?
• What advice did you get from your SLP/voice teacher?
• Got any thoughts you think other folks here would be interested in?

After about a month of hearing a phlegmy or buzzing sound in my voice on certain notes, I went to a laryngologist for an evaluation because my friend who is a speech language pathologist said it could be dyshonia. I had the appointment and they did a flexible laryngoscopy and everything looked great they said. I walked away with no diagnosis but they said it could be Gerd related (though they didn’t even see that in the scope either) my voice is still doing this annoying thing and i don’t understand why. i’m seeing an SLP anyway just to see if they can help. I’m really scared, i love to sing and i don’t want to lose my voice. On my summary notes there was a note that said mild ap supraglottic squeeze. I googled this and it seems tension related but they said in the appointment they didn’t really see any tension at all. what could this mean?

1 year later my ‘normal’ voice is back but if I use it/strain it too much it goes out and it sounds hoarse all over again. Also, yelling/shouting is impossible for me now. Just comes out as a whisper. I’m starting to get fed up and angry. I used to be so talkative and funny, now I’m a completely different person with this new stupid voice. Lost all of my confidence. I’m about ready to clock out

Success! Just wanted to share uplifting news for those of you still struggling/recovering/looking at options. Back story, diagnosed with VFA( vocal fold atrophy) vocal fold pareses after Hyaluronic injection, Dysphonia also. Past 3 yrs I had increasingly diminished voice to almost no voice. I went on temporary disability at work bc I need to speak there. After ENT referral, speech therapy( didn't help) I was put under gen anesthesia for injection, had a complication which caused pareses. Referral accepted and surgery at UC Davis 6 weeks ago. I'm back at work, I'm able to talk to my kids n grandkids, slowly coming out of a shell I didn't even know I was in till late in the game. Recovering from depression that settled in about yr 2 1/2 of this. I just wanted to say have hope, be patient with yourself, and good luck! Happy to answer questions.

Can rest from the activity that caused it heal this?

I’ve been having pain in my larynx (mainly right sided but initially left sided) since January. Scopes are clear.

What caused it is pretty much reciting a holy book daily for over 4 years. I think it was a combination of overuse and maybe some inappropriate technique (it’s hard to believe it was technique because I recite to myself and it’s not that loud and I didn’t have a problem for four years straight)

Anyways, I’ve done some voice therapy over the past few months but it’s done nothing to be honest. The therapists I’ve worked with haven’t necessarily told me to stop reciting. In terms of technique, I’ve been told it could be because of low pitch. But haven’t been show how to change my pitch, and honestly, it feels impossible to change how I recite.

At this point even reciting in a speaking tone is uncomfortable. Day to day talking is uncomfortable. The longest rest from reciting I did is 14 days.

The MTD crowd tends to say rest won’t heal it. But is this necessarily true? It’s quite obvious that what exacerbates my symptoms is reciting. I rested today, and I was able to talk without much pain or have sharp pain.

My question is - is there a chance if I rest for months. Then resume recitation gradually and build up progressively that I find healing?

The pain is miserable, reciting was a huge part of my identity and brought me lots of joy. Now there’s a love hate relationship due to the pain involved, which is destroying my work life and relationships, even family, due to me not feeling like talking so often.

hi folks. 3 days ago, pushed into the top of my range for choir practice on probably too dry of a day or something. spat out some bloody phlegm a few hours later.

I'm absolutely gutted. This has never happened to me. The earliest appointment I can get to see a laryngologist is in 3 weeks.

I haven't been able to go on complete vocal rest since then, and won't be able to for longer than 2-3 day stretches (e.g. weekends) because my work requires talking; I've gotten it down to less than an hour per day for the last few days and have been speaking very mutedly in the bottom of my range without any voice cracking, but I can tell it's still not a good idea to be talking.

Is there any hope for me not making things worse over the next 3 weeks? Or am I just fucked by capitalism?

For historical context, in December 2022, I underwent general surgery for ACDF cervical neck fusion on two levels, from C5 to C7. During that time, I also had a completely severed right recurrent laryngeal nerve, which innervates the right vocal cord fold. Consequently, I lost my voice and experienced persistent pain in my throat for 11 months before they implanted a Gore-Tex surgical implant in November 2023.

Fast forward to today, I am now facing challenges with a torn meniscus and a moderate Baker cyst in my left knee. These issues are a result of the dysfunction in my knee and result in mobility problems and limited range of motion. At 43 years old, I was informed that the meniscus tear is unlikely to heal on its own and that surgery is a viable option while I am still young.

However, the downside to having the surgery is the requirement for general anesthesia with full intubation, which is the same reason why I experienced vocal cord paralysis on my right side during my neck surgery. This fear of intubation has made me hesitant to undergo any surgery that necessitates it, as I am concerned about the potential risk of further vocal cord damage.

Has anyone underwent additional surgeries after a vocal cord implant for Parisis and had successful outcomes?

Some prompts:

• How's your voice doing?
• What happened at your doctor's appointment?
• What advice did you get from your SLP/voice teacher?
• Got any thoughts you think other folks here would be interested in?

I have a long history of not being able to grasp vocal techniques, and lately I am wondering if it is to do with my anatomy. My voice always sounds kind of "dark" and my vowels sound "thick". I struggle to connect breath support to my actual voice (I'm good at the exercises without voice, and am good at lip and tongue trills)- using words also feels a lot more effortful and tiring than I think it is supposed to.

I have a biggg tongue. Laying it flat against the bottom of my mouth, the width of it is more than halfway under my molars so the edges are rippely from scarring, and if I'm not retracting it a little it rests nearly half a cm out over my bottom teeth. As a kid, I had a slight lisp for my 's' sounds but it was corrected early.

Any information, tips or resources are appreciated!

One guttural, anguished scream in mid-August and it's hurt to talk for three months. I've done a lot of voice rest with no improvement. If I talk for just a few minutes in a day, the pain catches up to me a couple days later. If I don't talk at all, I usually don't have much or any pain. No one can tell me how long I'll be on a waitlist, and I imagine my referral probably isn't for a laryngologist—just a regular ENT. I'm going to try to get that fixed, but I'm worried whether there are even any around here. The speech therapy place near me doesn't have an SLP. I'm trying to find one somewhere, but that will be another waitlist. I don't know whether they can help me without a diagnosis.

Given the state of healthcare here in British Columbia, it could honestly be a year that I have to wait, so I'd love some advice (with sources, ideally) as to how I should be using/not using my voice in the meantime? Should I be aiming to speak as little as possible, or should I be speaking a little bit? I've read on this subreddit that total vocal rest is a bad idea. Is that true even in this case, when talking causes bad pain and I can't know exactly what the problem is? Thanks.

Hi everyone, has anyone has vocal cord injections before to help with palsy? I just had mine this morning (ouch) and I am starting to get anxious that it’s just not going to work. I keep thinking that swallowing is going to make the filler come out. I am worrying that if I even make a slight movement with my neck or a slight cough I will ruin it all! 🥺

Did tests for auto immune diseases (came out negative) but heard those aren't always correct, have pretty bad MTD since mid-2022 and my throat is extremly tight and the muscles are messed up after rage screaming. Can it cause recurring inflammation that spreads out into the body?

Worried the inflammation flare ups may be related to something more serious.

From sinuse issues I started coughing… before it happened I had some minor voice strain… Which from yesterday started hurting from cough more deep and deep it is not bad but def can feel it… I have no bacterial or fungal infection….Any remedies…Basically my voice was fine and better during couple days of coughing and after episodes of cold winds going on for next days I believe that will make it worst… Any simmilar exercsises

for reference it sounds very much like this clip (not mine), but probably more severe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSQjCBHP1wE

Ive made good steps towards recovery in the agility of my voice, however a crackling/buzzing sound still remains especially when i do something like "laaaa" at a lower tone near to my speaking range. Its like two different sounds, the crackling/popping sound which i think there has been improvement in but is still present to a degree, and a higher pitched buzzing (maybe an airy type sound?) that is still pretty present in my lower tones.

My higher pitches are much better and sound fairly normal, but my lower pitches sound kind of creaky or something. its hard to describe.

The SLP thinks i have muscle tension dysphonia but im curious if this is actually a possible symptom because its sounds like a structural deficiency

Hello. I'm happy i finally found a Subreddit for this.

I have a Permanent LVCP since birth due to Extreme premature complications that caused it, Along with other things. (25 Weeks + 4 Days)

I never had known if my vocal cord is the one that never fully developed and has a deformity, or if the nerve was so damaged that even with all the speech therapies it never recovered.

Because of that, My voice will never sound like it is expected to sound "normal."

If you cannot change things, You have to learn to live with it.

I want to say it for everyone.

Wathever might be reading this, I only state that no matter what sickness or disorder your vocal muscles may have. Your voice is not broken, Just different.

Edit: I hope I can make people feel more loved with this post.

Some prompts:

• How's your voice doing?
• What happened at your doctor's appointment?
• What advice did you get from your SLP/voice teacher?
• Got any thoughts you think other folks here would be interested in?

I had a raspy voice for a month, went to see my PCP recommended allergy meds and to see an ENT if nothing got better. Went to the ENT, got scoped, and found a hemorrhagic cyst on my left vocal cord. Put me on a steroid, PPI, and voice rest. The appointment was so quick and I felt pretty stunned I didn’t even ask how long my vocal rest was for and there was no real instructions. So I guess my question is how long for vocal rest? Also, as I’ve been googling I’ve been going down a dark path seeing that surgery is the only way to get rid of cysts but the doctor thought that conservative therapy would get rid of it and I would be fine. I feel conflicted in these mixed messages. Someone help me and my spiraling brain. I miss talking! Thank you

About me: I became interested in singing about 1.5 years ago, and I saw major improvements in my range and tone after concerted practice in the early part of 2024. I never felt hoarse after singing, and I felt vocally agile. My singing waned a bit over the summer, but I have video of me singing comfortably at the higher end of my range as recently as July/August.

Recent changes: Beginning in September/October, I would occasionally "scream sing" in an effort to recreate the sound of a popular musician I like. Initially, I wasn't singing enough to notice any changes—though it's possible I was experiencing swelling without realizing it—and I felt generally good about the quality of my voice as recently as the start of October (though was singing too irregularly to fully gauge any changes).

Acute event: Well, a couple of weeks after that point, on October 19th, I was far too aggressive in using this scream style singing. Very dumb of me, I know, but I've always been a loud person with a fairly durable voice, so I didn't worry too much. The next day I noticed fatigue/hoarseness and haven't bothered singing much since then... until the last few days.

Current status: As of October 30th, I noticed that my throat feels tight, and I cannot access a good chunk of my head voice, upper range, and falsetto. Singing in general feels onerous, though I don't notice much impact to my speaking voice, other than the tightness in my throat. Indeed, I probably made matters worse by shouting at a party on the 31st.

I know I should see an ENT, but right now I don't have adequate insurance. Based on the details I've provided, I'm just wondering what the likelihood of severe damage is? Is it possible to develop nodules in such a short amount of time? Are nodules that develop quickly more likely to go away with rest?

For context, the session that I pushed it was probably 45 minutes of overexertion on October 19th. Any similar such screaming/overexertion that had occurred in the prior two months wouldn't have been longer than a few minutes here and there, and certainly not every day.

I had laser surgery to remove a vocal polyp from my left fold and some reactive thickening on my right fold on September 23. My previous post here went through my long road to getting a proper diagnosis, but here's the tldr: im a professional singer/musician and I received an incorrect diagnosis in 2018 that I fought through for 6 years.

Prior to surgery, I had lost a significant portion of my upper vocal range, and my vocal stamina was awful, to the point it was threatening my career.

Now, 5 weeks post surgery, my voice is as good as it was pre-injury. My entire range is back. It actually feels good to sing again. I'll start some speech/singing voice therapy in 2 weeks, but I'm absolutely ecstatic at how much better my voice already is!

hello there,

Today i had most recently been diagnosed with MTD. I was diagnosed by a laryngologist with a flexible fiberoptic video stroboscopy. They video isn't the best quality, but I wanted to see what the next steps would be in this case? Would any SLPs in server be comfortable looking at the footage I took of my videostroboscopy? I'd love a second opinion.

Some prompts:

• How's your voice doing?
• What happened at your doctor's appointment?
• What advice did you get from your SLP/voice teacher?
• Got any thoughts you think other folks here would be interested in?

(F24) Ive been abusing my voice for years now. Smoking juul, pot in various forms, and I would go through cycles of smoking, singing, losing my voice, going bad to normal.. and it would go away longer and longer throughout the years but always return to normal. I recently had a terrible sinus infection and laryngitis and it hasn’t fully returned in months. I usually have a strong belt and large range … I am going to get it checked by an ENT in a few days. So scared , obviously blaming myself. Addiction got the best of me. Scared I lost my voice forever. I’ll never forgive myself. It doesn’t hurt, just loss of sound . Can’t sing upper register at all. I’m a server as well so it will be very difficult to go on complete vocal rest. Just praying and hoping I will wake up from this nightmare 😭 any advice?

I recorded last week on Monday and had a lot of events to go to and talk at the rest of the week. I had a sore throat/was coughing up bloody mucus but wanted to fulfill all my commitments. Today I coughed up what looked like the skin off a blister in blood. It pulled apart like skin. So gross. My throat hurts but I can still talk if I try although earlier in the day it was super croaky. Sang along to some music at home yesterday by accident and range is definitely not what it was. I’m going to an ENT tomorrow just worried. I’ve also been in physical pain for a while and it’s going away so I’m supposed to start exercising again but don’t know if I should now in case it hurts my throat/cords more. Any advice super appreciated

whenever i speak words with a 'r' sound(like reccursion,memory) it does not feel smooth as in it feels like there is a bump in between rest everything is clean also i have bit of a nasal voice if that is in any case related please help me rectify this

Hey everyone,

I’m a 30 year old man diagnosed with Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD) two years ago. I started developing some problems with speaking around 3-4 years ago. The problems are a persistently hoarse voice, and involuntary breaks when trying to pronounce words. It makes my speech sometimes difficult to understand.

I got my diagnosis at an university hospital after an otolaryngologist examination. The vocal cords looked healthy but during speech, muscle spasms consistent with SD were detected, so I believe the SD diagnosis is correct. It’s understood to be a neurological problem with unclear causes. I was recommended Botox injections as a treatment and I took one two years ago. It helped and made my voice work much better for two or three months. But I didn’t like the side effect of losing my voice entirely for ~2 weeks after the injection. Botox paralyzes the vocal cords for this time, before the voice gets better. Therefore I haven’t taken any injections after that, and have just dealt with having the voice problems. Also, the doctor who diagnosed me said that regular Botox injections are the best known treatment, and that speech therapy is not believed to help in cases of SD.

However, I’ve noticed that my voice is quite different when I’m in any company vs. when I’m alone at home. I’ve done some (admittedly few) exercises at home, where I read newspaper articles and other text aloud, or verbally explain something I’m doing to nobody in particular. I find that I’m able to speak quite normally when I do this, and if I recorded my speech it would sound normal with none or very minor symptoms of SD. But when I’m talking to anyone else like a coworker, family member, anyone really, I have my full SD symptoms every time. It’s like a switch flips in my head and causes me to misuse my voice when I know someone’s listening. It happens both in-person and when using voice chat software or a phone.

I’ve read some studies on SD and haven’t encountered any mention of similar cases, where a person is able to speak normally when they are alone. The studies seem to suggest that SD should be a constant issue, and would be apparent even when the person is just recording their own voice alone.

Does anyone reading have similar experiences with any voice issues arising in company, but not when alone? It seems like in my case, this might not be a persistent neurological problem but rather a psychological one, which might be fixable with proper practice of speaking techniques. For the record I don’t have any major anxiety issues that might explain it. I used to dislike public speaking (e.g. in a classroom) a lot years ago, before I developed SD, but I don’t mind it too much anymore.

For now I think I’ll try practicing speaking more by myself and somehow transferring the correct speaking habits to everyday communication.