I posted earlier that this protracted voice loss I have was finally diagnosed by the head of the ENT department at U. Miami as muscular dysphonia as a reaction to fibromyalgia pain in the throat. Recommendation was speech therapy to take the strain off of the muscles in the throat. I've now been for two sessions and do feel hopeful. Nothing painful in the sessions. She's teaching me diaphragmatic breathing...seems I talk forcing speech through the muscles of my throat rather than from my diaphragm. That only causes more pain and spasms. Right now I'm practicing the breathing and forcing air from there as I sound a few soft words. This part is basic. Once I get this down....and it's a LOT harder than it sounds....we begin to move on to more sounds and louder speech.
I've not been able to talk, other than a few soft words here and there, since Oct 8 when I had a recurrence of the same problem that plagued me beginning two years into ME/CFS (Sept 23, 1990 was when I was hit with the illness). That time lasted for six years and then , by working with allergies, I still could only talk for a little while spacing those times with long breaks. I had to write notes during that time.
It's been such a loss not being able just to freely talk with friends. I really hope this works.
Pris
8 comments:
i hope so too, glad you are finding good treatment. you are a fighter.
Interesting to read this. Sorry for your pain. I have suffered from allergy, dryness due to medication, and it seems to affect my throat as well. I want to sing, or read my poetry at open mics and its painful. Tea is not an option, not even caffeine free or herbal.
I look forward to hearing more.
Good luck.
I have no idea if this will help, but here's one of the best lessons I ever learned from a singing coach.
She asked me, "When you sing, where does the sound come from?" I gave what I thought was the right answer: the diaphragm, not the throat. Turns out both of those were wrong. The sound itself is produced right outside the mouth. You envision the sound right in front of you.
Hard to explain, but ever since then, I've been able to project much more easily, without feeling like I'm forcing the sound from somewhere else.
If none of this applies ... nevermind. :)
Thanks for the wishes and tips. Cinderkeys, Finding a visualization to make thing work right is important. I'll still practice the breathing but see my voice there.
This sounds like a much more severe version of the problem I have with talking and singing. I only recently put it down to my fibro when I noticed voice loss after a shorter and shorter time talking. I'd been suffering for years with voice loss after singing and had been advised to concentrate on diaphramatic breathing, like you. I really hope the speech therapy works out and will be watching with interest. xx
Hope the therapy moves into
the momentum phase soon, Pris.
Must be like rain on the desert
saying something..
Helpful suggestions. Early interventions seems it can provide those affected with helpful treatments and remedies. Thanks for posting this.
Jim, right now it feels like watching grass grow.
EI...thanks for visiting my blog.
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