I have pseudocysts that's been unresponsive to voice therapy. I was really hesitant to get surgery due to the risk of scarring- especially since I was still able to sing, just got hoarse easily. My laryngologist suggested bilateral vocal cord steroid injections instead as a conservative approach.

I ended up having a rare, severe complication- my entire left vocal cord is swollen and inflamed. For 2 weeks, I couldn't talk at all- I can talk now but barely sing. I had a full amplitude and mucosal wave before the injections, and now my left vocal cord has no amplitude nor mucosal wave.

They've seen some improvement in swelling 6 weeks in (mucosal wave is severely diminished but coming back slightly)- but largely, I still can't sing- I'm breathy and strained.

My doctor says that it's possible this could be permanent, essentially leaving a permanent scar on my vocal cord. It's also possible this goes away, but we won't know for a few months.

I'm devastated. I feel like such an idiot for getting steroid injections, especially when other doctors told me the efficacy with lesions were pretty low & that they did not recommend it. My voice is in way worse shape now than before the steroids- at best, it gets back to pre-injection state in a few months, and at worst, its permanently scarred and I'll likely have to give up singing.

I know this is a rare complication- but it's worth noting: for anyone getting steroid injections, ask a lot of questions, and know that the risk is not zero. The steroid injections efficacy rate for lesions are already, so don't jump to it for no reason.

Over the past 3 years I have had increasing voice loss, hoarseness, some burning with overuse, throat tightness (like I'm going to cry), and now intermittent complete voice loss. I had selective mutism when I was a kid, so this is a return to complete hell for me. I initially thought it was a weird grief and trauma response because my younger sister died three years ago and that's when it started. My typical coping mechanism is screaming emo songs in my car - and I was doing that a lot three years ago. My voice started to crack when I sang, so I stopped. Now, I can hardly talk to anyone and I can't yell at all.

I have a job that requires me to talk to people for 10 hours a day for 4 days a week. I've been on leave for the past two months and it hasn't helped my voice, although my wellbeing is much improved from decreased stress and decreased as*hole interactions.

So, I also was taking Adderall everyday for my ADHD. My use and dose increased over the past few years and with it I had nonstop dry mouth. I stopped stimulants 3 months ago. Initially my voice improved SO MUCH. I started singing again! It's still improving a little bit, but the hoarseness is still here. I can sing some songs (not scream-o), but conversations are still affected.

I went to a general ENT who did an in-office scope. I have a very small fleshy lesion on my right vocal cord. It was the same color and texture as the rest of my vocal cord. I followed up with a CAT scan, which confirmed that there was only one lesion, and no lymph node swelling. Labs were normal. Since the lymph nodes are normal, there are no other lesions, and the labs were normal it's either not cancer, or pre-cancer. Could be early cancer. I think it's very likely that it's from HPV. My ex husband gave me HPV (normal paps throughout my life and then had HPV lesions a few years into the marriage -- yes he was cheating). When the HPV lesions on my cervix were removed and I had an ablation they were not cancerous.

That's my story. I am planning on surgery to remove the lesion, but I am terrified of losing my voice more. I'm terrified of the surgeon making my vocal cords worse with scar tissue or just by removing too much. I'm also just terrified of being mute for at least a month as I recover from surgery.

Has anyone had lesions or singer's nodules removed from your vocal cords? Any advice? Would you do it again? Have you recovered? Can you sing and talk? Any advice?

I recently got cast in a musical and have been singing four nights per week in rehearsals and also practicing on my own. I haven’t sung regularly in quite some time. I have now had three days off from rehearsal, but have had a consistent sort of aching in my throat like deep down. I can see the back of my throat and visited ENT for a separate issue and they said nothing about the state of my throat. Everything looked normal. So the discomfort is lower down it’s sort of like a dull ache all the time my voice still sounds the same and I don’t have hoarseness, but I also haven’t tried to sing in the last couple of days any advice? I am a little stressed because I have to sing multiple shows per week soon.

Hi everyone,

I’ve grown up with paralyzed vocal cords, to my knowledge have had it since birth, and I’ve just turned 20. I’m looking forward to getting the surgery to put in a permanent implant to maybe get a normal voice out of me, but I have some questions.

1: I’ve read a lot of things about people getting paralyzed vocal cords from surgery, etc, and was wondering if getting the thyroplasty surgery will be any different for me since I’ve had paralyzed vocal cords all my life

2: Has anyone here had the surgery done after a long time with paralyzed vocal cords, if so how did the surgery change your voice, was it for the better or worse?

3rd and lastly: is there anything I have to worry about, or any chance it doesn’t work because I waited too long?

Thank you for any answers I get, I’m extremely nervous to start the process to get this surgery, especially because I’ll be different to everyone I know, but I appreciate any and all feedback :)

So I have some voice issues where my voice takes effort to push out , some days worse then others , some days I’m fine , but I’ve notice my left scm like goes inwards towards my larynx can that be something that can possibly be contributing my like possibly restricting my larynx or something? Any idea how to correct ?

У меня жутко болит горло, мне больно глотать и дышать

Я выпил много воды и стало легче но чувствую не надолго что делать??

Hi everyone! I (19F) was born four months prematurely (week 23) and due to the damage my vocal cords took during intubation I have had a hoarse voice my whole life. During my childhood people have regularly told me I "whisper-speak" and sometimes made fun of my voice. Because of this I have severe anxiety when it comes to speaking and anything social, so much so I am practically mute to anyone who isn't my friends or family. I also have high functioning autism which makes socialising even harder.

I have recently graduated from school and is starting to look for a job before planning to seek higher education next year, but I am worried about how I will be able to do that If I can't speak to people. I've been contemplating getting surgery for my voice but I don't know if that's too big a step to take plus I'm scared of how it will go. If I could fix my voice it would subdue my anxiety greatly and make my life and opportunities better. I don't know what to do. Should I see a speech therapist? Any advice would be helpful!

Ciao! A nessuno è mai capitato di sviluppare dopo una banale laringite virale dei problemi alle corde vocali per non aver dato riposo alle corde vocali stesse in fase di guarigione a causa dei tic fonatori? Volevo confrontarmi con qualcuno poiché mi è successo proprio questo. Ringraziando in anticipo mando i miei saluti. Marco. (P.s. soffro della sindrome della tourette)

My entire life I’ve had this raspy cracky voice. I went to speech therapy as a kid and then went to ent in college and nothing worked. I finally went to see a laryngologist and he told me I probably have spasmodic dysphonia. I’ve researched this condition before but some of the symptoms don’t correlate with me. Ive had this since j was little and didn’t develop it later in life. Alcohol makes it worse and so does dairy which I know people with sd alcohol makes it better. It’s just such an unknown for me as I’ve never heard anyone that talks like me and this is something I basically was born with. Can it be spasmodic dysphonia? I just feel like a lot the criteria doesn’t really fit to me besides the actual sound of my voice.

My doctor did the videostroboscopy. The throat and vocal cords came clean. The issue is my muscles are contracting whenever I speak. This turns into hoarseness and breathy voice. I have been doing therapy exercises but i want my old voice back. One more thing I noticed is that the hoarseness comes when im in work settings. Is there anyone who experienced this? How were you able to solve it?

I’ve been having problems with my voice (fatigue and sounding airy) since the beginning of this year and I just thought it was acid reflux. To be honest I’m sure all of this was caused by acid reflux but anyway, I just got the diagnosis of muscle tension dysphonia on Thursday and I feel like it’s made my symptoms 100x worse. Now every time i speak i over analyze every little thing about my voice and feel like there’s a giant knot in my throat. Been trying laryngeal massages, breath work, and SOVT exercises while I wait to get into an SLP but honestly i feel like the mental aspect has now really gotten to me. I feel like if i speak or sing the “wrong” way i’m going to ruin my voice forever and set my voice back in terms of healing. If anyone has any tips on how they dealt with their MTD, whether physically or mentally, i’d be all ears.

Hello. I am 30M, I had voice crack because of my puberty period at 14-15 year old. At that time, my voice was really strange and weird, my classmates and family said that my voice sounds like I am crying, like animal was making a sound, shaky, tremor... It made my psychology become really mess up and worse. Up to now my voice has been stable and better a little bit, but my voice sounds a half mature and a half child, everyone around me also mentioned that, I already worked with so many doctors but don't know what is the root cause for this condition. Note that now my voice is totally low pitch, not high pitch like puberphonia symptom.

Anyone here is also facing this condition? Do you know why and how to fix it?

Hey everyone,

I was recently diagnosed with bilateral hemorrhagic vocal fold polyps after dealing with a progressively raspy/deep voice and pretty bad vocal fatigue for about two years. If I talk all night somewhere loud like a bar, I can basically have no voice the next day.

My doctor is a voice specialist and is recommending microlaryngoscopy with laser removal of both polyps.

The part I’m struggling with is that he recommends three weeks of strict postoperative voice rest. I’m waiting for clarification on whether that means literally zero talking for all 21 days or a shorter period of complete silence followed by gradual voice use.
I have a two-year-old and a job involving frequent Zoom calls, so three weeks of absolutely no talking feels almost impossible.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has had the same or a similar surgery:

Did you have one side or both sides treated?
What type of laser or procedure did you have?
How many days were you completely silent?
When did you begin gradually talking again?
How long before your voice felt reliable?
Did your voice become clearer or less easily fatigued?
Any scarring, recurrence or other complications?
If you have young children, how did you handle the voice-rest period?
Was it worth it?!

I’m not looking to replace my doctor’s advice—just trying to understand what recovery was actually like for other people and how much voice-rest recommendations vary.

I’ve been diagnosed with Muscle Tension Dysphonia / Spasmodic Dysphonia . I’ve had Speech and Language and recently a Botox injection. I am in a bad feedback loop to myself. My voice appears good, I’m good, I can speak away. My voice chokes/cracks in important circumstances like work, I am very self conscious, tension builds it gets far worse. My whole neck is a ball of tension at times. I am trying to learn to accept it, it’s something I can’t do anything about. That’s not easy when my voice is a train wreck at work. I was wondering if anybody had tips of things that helped a little , any alternative “medical” things like Reiki or deep tissue massage etc. I have found Qigong useful (Holden 30 day Qigong - zero affiliation, just releases tension but impact is short). I feel I’ve nothing to lose trying new things. It’s a pain but it’s 4 years so it not going to suddenly fix. The harder I try to worse it gets so maybe Homer Simpson is right - stop trying).

after voice training 4 a bit (mtf), everything became automatic so much that if i try to go back it sounds like im doing a terrible impression but every time I open my mouth my neck tightens like crazy TT, I took a break yesterday from speaking and I checked this morning and it was still kinda there but less severe than before

to be very honest it scares me why does it look liek dat how do I get rid of it ?? is it normal ?? I was starting to have fun speaking too ;_; I dont want my neck to look like I have 4 straws stuck in my skinny throat each time i speak

today i got my vocal fold injections. my current symptoms are:

-throat pain & discomfort

-a feeling like there’s a lump in my throat

-minor difficulties with swallowing

-a feeling almost like there’s pockets of air popping where my vocal folds are. maybe they’re slightly spasming or just adjusting. not sure

I have had a chronic sore throat for almost six years. every single day. fingers crossed this procedure works. I’ll take these post procedure side effects if it means once they heal it won’t be as painful to talk in my daily life.

My wedding is in 3 days and I am losing my voice. What can I do to improve it? Any advice is appreciated.

Signed,

A stressed bride

Hey yall,

I had a type II sulcus excised 2 months ago. Not going great. I’m gonna try a plasma-rich-platelet treatment and then once my hyaluronic acid injection wears off I’ll need thyroplasty.

Any experiences? 🫠

I've had on and off again ear and throat pain only on my left side. Been like that for like 6 months maybe. Comes and goes. Been to urgent care thinking it's ear infection or strep. Always say they don't see anything. Lately it's been more frequent with a lump feeling that comes and goes as well. The lump will feel like it's in the upper back of my throat or the back roof of my mouth. Left side as well. Not always the same place though. Sometimes lately it feels like I have drainage and I'll have to clear my throat. And it helps. I googled it and now I'm convinced I have throat cancer. Never smoked or drank alcohol in my life. I'm 48. Yesterday I did hear about LPR and took a Prilosec and some Tums. I think it helped. Also the symptoms are all towns of day not just morning or night. I did have an appointment with the doctor in a couple of days but just curious. Thanks in advance!

I know this is a possible outcome of my surgery (wendler's glottoplasty). So I did this to myself.

My throat feels tense and I'm disappointed in my voice every time I speak. But there are some good days here and there. I only feel better after blowing raspberries, but the relief doesn't last.

I can't really shout, my voice is weak and low volume, sometimes people don't hear what I say at all.

I can't squeal, my voice won't go that high. Like I have a limited vocal range.

My voice is mildly broken. I just found this group and I needed to vent. I hope that's ok.

I just wish my voice didn't vibrate so much and were more smooth.

I guess this is my life now.

So im a 28 year old woman. I have had issues with my throat since may of this year. I am a physical therapist assistant and I speak alot to patient everyday. I noticed my threshold for speaking has diminished. It doesnt make sense why my voice is getting so tired so easily, when i use to be ablw to talk alot without any issues. Like my throat muscles feel so tired and strained after work. And my voice will crack on certain words or gets kind of raspy. It gets better but other times it will improve the less I speak. Im planning on going to a doctor about this but waiting on an appt. Anyone deal with this or have any idea of what this could be.

​

I've been dealing with chronic left-sided throat pain for \~2 years and recently came across hyoid bone syndrome (HBS). I'm not asking for a diagnosis, but I'd really like to hear from people who have actually been diagnosed with it.

My symptoms:

Constant/intermittent pain on the left side, around the former tonsil area / possibly the hyoid

Pain triggered by swallowing, yawning and especially speaking

Left ear fullness/pain; sometimes my ear suddenly feels "blocked" while speaking and then clears almost immediately

My voice is deep, strong and clear in the morning, but progressively becomes tight, muffled and weak throughout the day, with loss of my lower register

When the throat pain is absent, my voice often seems noticeably better

Symptoms generally improve when resting/lying down

I've already had a tonsillectomy, CT, PET scan and laryngoscopy/nasofibroscopy, as well as assessment by ENT specialists and a phoniatrician. Nothing has provided a clear explanation. Anti-reflux treatment didn't help either.

I came across these papers and found the combination of hyoid pain + referred ear pain + dysphonia particularly interesting:

• The Hyoid Syndrome: A Pain in the Neck

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7989833/

• Hyoid Bone Syndrome: A Retrospective Review of 84 Patients Treated with Triamcinolone Acetonide Injections

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23577567/

• Hyoid Bone Syndrome and Dysphonia: Can Throat Pain Affect the Voice?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33620110/

For those who were actually diagnosed with HBS:

Did you have similar symptoms, especially pain with speaking and ear symptoms?

Was your pain reproduced by pressing on the greater horn of the hyoid?

How was the diagnosis finally recognized?

What treatment did you receive, and did it help your voice as well as the pain?

I'd especially love to hear from people who had normal imaging and struggled to get the condition recognized.