# Laryngitis



## FreeThinker (Jan 26, 2010)

I developed a cold (with fever) three or four days ago, and yesterday, for the first time in my life, I lost much of my voice.

The fever is now gone, I've been to the doctor, and apparently my lungs sound good (no recurrence of last year's pneumonia, I'm happy to report).

The Mayo Clinic Website page on Treatment of Laryngitis recommends the following:


Breathe moist air: Inhale steam from a bowl of hot water or a hot shower. 

Rest your voice as much as possible. 

Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration (avoid alcohol and caffeine). 

Treat the underlying cause of laryngitis, such as heartburn, smoking or alcoholism. 

Suck lozenges, gargle salt water or chew a piece of gum  this won't help your vocal cords, but can ease throat irritation

I can get through the workday without much talking, but phone communication is necessary several times a day. It's the weekend, however, that has me concerned, as we've got plans to do some visiting, as well as a good deal of singing.

Does anyone have any tips for making this problem go away quickly?


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## Miss Vickie (Jan 26, 2010)

Quickly? No, but I just "graduated" from several months with a speech therapist due to damage to my voice from thyroid cancer surgery. I have to talk a LOT at my job, sometimes at high volume, and it's been tough to manage some of the damage done by using my voice wrong while I healed after surgery.

She recommends all the things you suggest, plus a couple more.

1) Gargle with warm water and a baby aspirin. It cuts the inflammation and helps with the pain.

2) Try not just throat lozenges but mouth moisteners. Hall's makes some really good ones called "refresh" that are used to treat dry mouth. Believe it or not they help tremendously, even better than lozenges.

3) To help supplement your voice, be sure to enunciate well (believe it or not that gives the impression of more volume), don't run out of breath, use your hands or gestures, and stand as close as you can to who you're talking to (appropriateness obviously being an issue).

4) Warm up your voice in the shower making "mamamamamaaaaaaa" sounds at a comfortable pitch, making exaggerated movements with your jaw and moving it in a circular motion. Yes, it looks (and sounds!) silly but it WORKS.

Take care. I know how frustrating it is, but just be careful and don't overdo it or you'll pay for it like I did!


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## FreeThinker (Jan 26, 2010)

Thank you for the advice, Miss Vickie. I'll put it into practice as much as possible.


Best of luck with your continuing vocal rehabilitation.


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## FreeThinker (Feb 2, 2010)

Update:

The voice is all better now, although some post-cold scratchiness and mucus remains in the throat.


I just wanted to add that there was another thing I added to the advised courses or treatment:

Ibuprophen.


Laryngitis is an inflammation of the vocal chords. Ibuprophen (as found in Advil) is an anti-inflammatory.

It seemed logical.



I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on whether the ibuprophen was helpful, harmful, or superfluous.


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## MissToodles (Feb 3, 2010)

i'm not a doctor/nurse but an slp student (so not sure on the ibroprufen) and as vickie mentioned, vfe(vocal function exercise) is very helpful in proper voice usage, it sort of ''bulks up'' (analogous to lifting weights) the vocal folds, rather than straining them. some people may recommend proper vocal hygiene and abstaining from using your voice, but this doesn't work for most as you need to retrain yourself. if you do a search for vfe on google, you can find out more about it.


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## Miss Vickie (Feb 3, 2010)

Freethinker, I'm not sure about Ibuprofen. It's probably at the very least benign and if you have pain, it probably helped with that. It's definitely an anti-inflammatory but usually that effect works best if you take it regularly, around the clock. Most people don't do that. My SLP (thanks Miss Toodles for weighing in on that issue!) is a big believer in gargling with a baby aspirin. Because it's an anti-inflammatory, and it goes right to the target area, it's very effective in reducing inflammation.

I'm glad you're feeling better! Thanks for the update!


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## Vega (Mar 23, 2010)

It's too know you got your voice back. And thanks for the tips, I'll have to remember them the next time I lose my voice which usually happens after watching sports or going to a concert and yelling and screaming too much. I always used throat lozenges to help soothe my throat but I'll be sure to use the ibuprofen too.


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