Tom
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2005
- Posts
- 51,936
For our Framily singers, this was a bit of a rollercoaster ....
I haven't sung a note in almost 3 months. This started as a sinus infection and post-nasal drip, that really did some stuff to my throat. It then turned to bronchial infection (aka difficulty breathing), which also isn't good for singers.
After several weeks, and 5 courses of antibiotics, I went back to the doc and said "this is something else". He diagnosed laryngytis, prescribed a steroid treatment, and gave me a referral to an ENT doc "if it doesn't get better in two weeks". After a week and a half I realized things weren't improving, and made an appointment with the ENT Guy for last Monday.
He (the ENT guy) sprayed some anaesthetic (two different ones) up my nose, and proceeded to feed his camera into each nostril in turn. I couldn't feel anything in my nose, but I sure felt the camera going down my throat, especially when he kept asking me to make some vowel sounds and clear my throat.
The good news - it's all benign and treatable, whew! There were two things going on:
1. The vocal chords are inflamed, for which he prescribed a steroid in a much stronger dose than my regular doc, in an attempt to "whack" it.
2. Some residual infection that the prior antibiotics (5 courses) didn't take care of. He prescribed a different antibiotic in a stronger dose.
He asked if I get heartburn and, when I explained that I occasionally get acid reflux (while in bed), he said that was the cause of the inflamed vocal chords. He gave me a list of (dietary) things to help avoid the acid. He also gave me a list of other things to avoid, including ceiling fans, which apparently can cause irritation of the vocal chords.
A big relief for sure. I'd been going through all kinds of scenarios in my mind; I thought a lot about my first boss having his voice box removed because of "throat cancer", and how I'd explain it to the grandkids when Grandpa spoke from his stomach. I also thought about the young English singer Adele who had a benign tumor removed from a vocal chord, and she performed at the Grammys (sp?).
Yesterday was the last of the steroids, which had me dehydrated big time; I've been drinking LOTS of fluids, which has meant frequent trips to the bathroom. I sang just one song yesterday, and sang a few more today. I'm still hoping I can close out our uke show with my God Bless America solo.
Edit: Fixed typos and added a couple of things for clarification.
I haven't sung a note in almost 3 months. This started as a sinus infection and post-nasal drip, that really did some stuff to my throat. It then turned to bronchial infection (aka difficulty breathing), which also isn't good for singers.
After several weeks, and 5 courses of antibiotics, I went back to the doc and said "this is something else". He diagnosed laryngytis, prescribed a steroid treatment, and gave me a referral to an ENT doc "if it doesn't get better in two weeks". After a week and a half I realized things weren't improving, and made an appointment with the ENT Guy for last Monday.
He (the ENT guy) sprayed some anaesthetic (two different ones) up my nose, and proceeded to feed his camera into each nostril in turn. I couldn't feel anything in my nose, but I sure felt the camera going down my throat, especially when he kept asking me to make some vowel sounds and clear my throat.
The good news - it's all benign and treatable, whew! There were two things going on:
1. The vocal chords are inflamed, for which he prescribed a steroid in a much stronger dose than my regular doc, in an attempt to "whack" it.
2. Some residual infection that the prior antibiotics (5 courses) didn't take care of. He prescribed a different antibiotic in a stronger dose.
He asked if I get heartburn and, when I explained that I occasionally get acid reflux (while in bed), he said that was the cause of the inflamed vocal chords. He gave me a list of (dietary) things to help avoid the acid. He also gave me a list of other things to avoid, including ceiling fans, which apparently can cause irritation of the vocal chords.
A big relief for sure. I'd been going through all kinds of scenarios in my mind; I thought a lot about my first boss having his voice box removed because of "throat cancer", and how I'd explain it to the grandkids when Grandpa spoke from his stomach. I also thought about the young English singer Adele who had a benign tumor removed from a vocal chord, and she performed at the Grammys (sp?).
Yesterday was the last of the steroids, which had me dehydrated big time; I've been drinking LOTS of fluids, which has meant frequent trips to the bathroom. I sang just one song yesterday, and sang a few more today. I'm still hoping I can close out our uke show with my God Bless America solo.
Edit: Fixed typos and added a couple of things for clarification.