I am a 43 yr old married white male. I'm in good physical shape, don't smoke, don't drink in excess, and watch my diet. I have been a professionally trained musician for many years. I have sung for many years in many bands and now as I'm a Pastor in charge of the music at church, I sing as part of my job several times a week...or rather I try to sing, but I cannot sing like I used to. This has been going on for who knows how long, I thought about about a year ago that I should just push thru it...after all I know all about breathing and the right way to sing and take care of my voice. No luck.
I finally went to an ENT. He scoped me and even though he only had the scope in for 1 minute he diagnosed me with partial vocal paralysis, and ordered blood work to test for any viruses and a CT scan to check for any tumors pressing on the nerve. Everything came back clean and normal. I saw him again several months later and he re-scoped me and saw (again in about 1 minute worth of scoping) that the vocal chord functionality had returned but it now looked weak and ordered me to go to vocal therapy. I did vocal therapy for a while and still no improvement. I went back to the ENT a 3rd time, was scoped a 3rd time, with the vocal therapist (who commented again how quick he scoped me and wondered how he could see anything in that short amount of time...). ENT then said he was out of ideas and referred me to a super-duper specialist who only did voice.
I went to see the super-duper specialist voice-only ENT who, to his credit, took time to listen to my story and scoped me for a long time with a high def camera and recorded it. This new ENT said the former ENT was nuts to say I had paralysis, as there was no way and he noticed some excess mucous and 1 small spot of red irritation on the chord and declared I have Laragneal Reflux and gave me a list of all my favorite foods that I can never eat again and put me on prescription prilosec.
I'll be honest, I tried to follow doctors orders but didn't stick with it as I was seeing zero improvement. This new year I made an honest attempt for 2 solid weeks + and saw not one bit of improvement.
The best way I can describe it is that I feel that when I sing I'm trying to blow up a balloon with a straw that is nearly totally blocked. I attempt to sing and use proper diaphragm support, head position, and breathing and when I hit many notes and tones literally nothing comes out and I feel that my throat is closing. After the breath runs out I feel out of breath and as though I may pass out - picture this for several sets a week. Not fun. Beyond not fun. So frustrating and embarrassing.
I was intrigued to read your article on reflux and wonder if there is another cause of this and what I can do to finally end this super frustrating saga. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Mike Ruel
Unfortunately, what you describe with both your general ENT and your superduper specialist who diagnosed reflux are both all too common. If you are having an impairment your voice, there will be a visible impairment in the vibrations of the vocal cord. It will not be a problem of color, it will be a problem of movement. Additionally, since you tried to follow their advice and there was no change, that also suggests that the diagnosis is not correct. Really the only thing you can do is obtain another opinion and hope to obtain it from someone who will be able to view your vocal cords from a mechanical perspective. They should be able to explain to the cause of hoarseness in language that you understand and makes sense. Best wishes.