Plus, I can't giggle like a schoolgirl either

December 7, 2006 5:54 PM

I think I may have seriously screwed up my voice. How do you know the difference between a temporary weird voice and long term damage?

So I was in London about two weeks back. I got there and amidst the rain, the damp and the coughers on both sides of me on the plane, two days after arrival I get fever, chills and a cough.

Additionally there was a little raspiness. And some chest congestion that produced some stuff that, in my entire life, I haven't seen the likes of.

The day after that, my voice goes away. Now, I'm a talker. And this was my very first trip to England. While ostensibly a business trip, I came to see the sights, drink some beer AND to hook up with a hot indian girl with an english accent. And I was gonna be damned if this kind of voice was gonna keep me from making those dreams come true.

Well damned I got.

Because my voice loss got progressively worse to the point. Probably from doing the needed talking for work. Possibly from drinking alcohol. And even from trying to flirt with a Bend it Like Beckham-ish cutie at a coffee shop. Though that seems unlikely. There I was going for low and soft.

Though at that point it was now a strangled Harvey Firestein. Minus the gay overtones.

The whole thing devolved on an exponential scale to the point that, not only couldn't I flirt with the locals, but if I raised my voice above a certain level, it was like someone's punching me in the adam's apple. Long story short? I got my voice back the day after I got home to LA.

But not all of it.

Yesterday in the car a favorite Frankie Valli song came on. I sang along. Or tried to anyway. Because it seem like my entire upper register is completely gone. No falsetto, no high pitches, not even a "whooo" ability at this point. It kinda threw me. I had a great day. I couldn't go WHOOO! to commemorate it.

So my questions are these: what did I have, what did I do and will it fix itself or no?

Admittedly, if worse comes to worse, I'll just make do with the gravelly lower remnants of my vocal register. But it's gonna be hell on my verbal coloring and my karaoke act is going to lose fully half its repertoire. And that's not just a tragedy for me, but for the fans. So any ideas you have would be well appreciated

posted by rileyray3000 to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

Give your voice a break for a few days, no falsetto for you.
In the meantime, try some throat coat tea. It works magic.
posted by idiotfactory at 6:05 PM on December 7, 2006

It will come back. Try some nonverbal methods of communicating for awhile. It can be both fun and educational.
posted by chickaboo at 6:07 PM on December 7, 2006

Try some Thayer's lozenges. Your voice will come back! Give your voice some rest, try not to talk too much, or stress too much. Get some sleep - and drink some tea. Throat coat works really well.
posted by pazazygeek at 6:11 PM on December 7, 2006

Rest your voice. That means no talking, no wispering, no sound, no clearing the throat, nothing. Rest

Your chords are inflamed (the name laryn-gitis, swolen larnyx). If you keep using them they are going to keep being inflamed and the inflamed chords are going to rub against each other (thus the harvey firestein voice). If they keep rubbing they may form scar tissue or polyps, that's not good.

I realize you just want to be loved and that's not so wrong, but give it a rest. For the fans at least.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:13 PM on December 7, 2006

OH, IANAD, I am just someone who has had a lot of throat problems (including a polypectomy) over the years.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:34 PM on December 7, 2006

I used to get laryngitis every winter as a kid. Don't worry, your voice will come back eventually. You need to give it a bit of a rest and not strain it too much by stretching for those high ones. If it's not back to normal in a few more weeks, or it gets worse again, then I Am Not Your Doctor.
posted by muddgirl at 7:25 PM on December 7, 2006

Avoid whispering--that can be hard on your voice too. And if this doesn't clear up soon, go see an ENT specialist--you may have developed polyps/nodes.

IANAD.
posted by stray at 7:26 PM on December 7, 2006

this happened to me after a triple-whammy: a voice-intensive few weeks, a bad cold and a lot of my downtime spent with smokers- and my job relies on my voice, so i was terrified. here's what fixed it:
most important: get 8 hours of sleep a night.
don't whisper, don't yell, and don't sing til it's better.
talk quietly in a hot steamy shower for a few minutes each morning to "wake up" your voice gently (maybe recite a poem a few times).
don't breathe *ANY* smoke. (first-hand, second-hand, smoke machine, etc)
lay off the booze for a bit (it tends to make you talk louder)
drink lots of room-temperature water and non-dairy tea.
eat honey and drink honey-lemon tea on days that you have to talk a lot.
if you can manage it without feeling like a 1940s film director, wear a scarf all the time, and definitley if it's cold (keep your neck warm).

i did these things and just waited it out, and my voice came back perfectly within 2 months.
good luck! hope you're belting out karaoke in no time.
posted by twistofrhyme at 9:34 PM on December 7, 2006

This has happened to me. One day, talk-talk-talk, the next, voice gone, BAM. I also thought my voice was going to be gone FOREVER. But two weeks later it was back exactly as it had been. Stop talking, it will make it worse, but don't worry too much about it.
posted by Anonymous at 11:14 PM on December 7, 2006

Take care of what kinds of over-the-counter throat stuff you might use. I personally find that menthol/euculyptus kill my voice. Break out the honey and lemon instead.
posted by Goofyy at 11:30 PM on December 7, 2006