Hoarse Voice

[norcalian]

Has anyone else lost their voice from Wegs? When I got out of the hospital I thought all my hoarseness was from all of the heavy coughing I was doing. After my ENT scoped my throat he said that my larynx has been effected. Anyone else with this? Does the voice ever come back? It's been three and a half months...I've had some improvement, but not much. The same goes for my bloody nose and crusties - some improvement, but not much. The bummer part is that I'm a classically trained singer. not that i do much with it these days besides sing with my kids...but it's always been a big part of my life...it's bumming me out that it's not getting better.

[pberggren1]

Back in 2006 I worked at Walmart for about a month or so and it was so dry in there that my nose and sinuses and throat dried right up. I found it very hard to speak and actually lost my voice for a couple of weeks. I went to see the ENT and he scoped me. He said the larynx was a bit irritated and most likely due to the post nasal drip of mucus drying in that area and me coughing up the dried chunks. I used some so called sugarless candies to help sooth the throat but it did not help very much at all. I also tried root beer and milk, no luck there either. I only got a nice big dental bill from that stuff. It eventually got better but it took about 6 months or so.

[Psyborg]

My voice has been permanently changed. I used to have a relatively higher pitched voice (for a man) and now it's much deeper. It's improved a little, but not much

[Sangye]

My voice is often affected but no one can find a cause. It's a good indicator of my energy. When I'm really wiped out my voice goes, too.

[drz]

My voice was quite impaired by tubes during intubation but that came back rather quickly. Later on there was some change in voice which may have related to irritation in throat from GERD and excess mucous dripping that made it hoarse. I was also evaluated for stenosis of throat at that time too. My bloody crusts seem to disappear as GPA improved and i reached a drug induced remission. I still have scaling and an occasional tinge of blood at times in the nose passages but my doctors tells me such residual signs are common even when you are considered in remission. The nose bleeds and clots came back during my last flare a few months ago.

[Brooke]

That was one of my first symptoms that I remember. My voice would be gone completely, it was soo very very frustrating. It did that on and off for a couple of years. My very first symptom I believe was the coughing, it felt like something was "tickling" the back of my throat. Maybe I coughed too much and that is why my voice went, I'm not sure.
My voice has been back to normal now for the past 4 years.

[Elena]

I'm kind of having the same problem, norcalian. I have a really hoarse voice now, and it's been that way probably for the last 3 or 4 months. The docs said my larynx was red and irritated, so they upped my pred and gave me solu-medrol. (Still about a month until I can get more rtx). It seemed to be helping, cause my voice got a lot better, but then I got more hoarse again (although not as bad as before). Hoping it'll pass soon..

[Sangye]

Thyroid problems can also cause hoarseness.

[Chris G]

I've completely lost my voice several times in the last couple of years from wg, and I've had periods of severe hoarseness, as well. These episodes were sometimes concurrent with a dry croupy sounding cough (which felt like a relentless "tickle", like Brooke described), and other times it occured without a cough, out of the clear blue sky. They were always temporary, and my voice retruned to normal. The last time was a few weeks ago, and it took a slight (temporary) increase in pred to correct.

[ArlaMo]

Yes, my voice changed completely and I am often hoarse. I used to sing (soprano) before Wegs, but I sound more like a tenor frog these days :crying: I keep hoping my voice will go back to normal, especially if I could sing again, but it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

[norcalian]

Thanks for the responses. It sounds like everything else with this disease, it's different for everyone. Although I've some improvement over the past few months, it's been minimal. I meet with my ENT again in a week and will probably get scoped again (good times). I'll see what he says...but I gotta say, I'm not feeling very positive about this aspect of my recovery. I wonder what else this disease can take from me.

However, in light of some recent posts on this forum of some of our really sick members, it could be a lot worse...so I guess I should be thankful for that.

[Dumpy]

I wonder what else this disease can take from me.

You really don't want to know>

[Sangye]

What Dumpy said. :sad:

[Thakator]

Very good, Dumpy, very good!