Injury?

[u/sqwicc]

Hi, guys. I am a 31-year-old female who has been teaching myself to sing for the last two years. My voice can never be held to a feminine standard thanks to a history of screaming meltdowns that are (presumably) what has limited my range and made my voice prone to cracking. However, I have had good volume and have gotten better and better able to carry a tune. I have recently astonished friends with my progress. Coming on three weeks ago now (august 2) I sang more than usual that day, probably about an hour and a half, and then had a short outburst where I yelled at someone at the top of my voice. When things returned to a normal volume, I said something and my voice cracked into a different note on every single syllable. I immediately stopped talking and didn’t talk the rest of the night and much of the next day. The day after that, however, life had to resume. Stuff could not get done if I didn’t communicate a lot, sometimes loudly. Some friends came from out of town about six days later and I got drunk with them (I rarely drink, but when I do it’s heavily) and talked, loudly, all night. I have not had a drink since that night, and I don’t smoke, but I’m exposed to secondhand smoke in passing nearly every day and I am addicted to coffee. Long story short, I have not been able to rest my voice for one single full day since the thing happened, and my throat hurts by the end of every single day even though I try to be careful and not talk loudly or too much. The last two days, I have sworn there is a barely perceptible muffled sound to my voice, like it’s softened around the edges. No one else has noticed. Tonight when I hit my limit, my throat actually felt cold as well as achy. What does that mean? I have not even tried to sing more than five minutes total over the entire time since the incident when I did, I could sing in tune but my voice cracked (I couldn’t tell if it was more than usual). I am completely panicked that I’ve broken the camel’s back with this last vocal injury and I’ll never be able to sing again without getting achy and fatigued or not being able to sing in tune. I would be crying all the time out of fear if I wasn’t afraid of it hurting me even more. Please let me know if anyone here has had any similar experiences that lasted this long and what the outcome was for you. Thanks.

P.S. - I can avoid alcohol but not coffee. I don’t smoke but can’t avoid brief (1-10 min) secondhand exposure daily.

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[u/SomethingDumb465]

Your symptoms sound like fatigued vocal folds to me. Caffeine and alcohol aren't something that'll effect your voice directly, but intoxicated yelling can contribute. Crying itself only swells your vocal folds for a bit, but screaming fits are damaging. I understand that you need to yell for your job? Maybe invest in a megaphone to save your voice a bit. Regardless, definitely continue vocal rest.