All my life I have had a weak, raspy voice. I always assumed it was because I was on a venilator for 5 weeks when I was born but come to find out a few weeks ago I went to the ENT who said I have a paralyzed vocal cord. He also mentioned a surgery called thyroplasty that would help to improve my voice. However, after reading up on it I have heard that you have to be awake for the surgery and it really freaks me out so I would like to know if this is true. I would also like to know what the recovery time would be like or if my voice will even change that much. Thanks!

Hi frenchfri
YOU MIGHT HAVE 2 OTHER SOLUTIONS WHICH ARE NOT SO DRASTIC!!!

if you search "vocal cord" on these boards you will see a fair amount of posts in ENT board , Thyroid board and Spinal cord injury board.
On the internet there is precious little info on recovery and therapy.

I am 90% recovered from vocal cord paralysis (right). Mine was a result of having spine surgery where they go thru the front of neck to get to the spine. They use retractors to push esophagus aside and unfortunately damaged the nerve that controls right vocal cord.

Some "experts" had a dim view of my recovery 6 months out and I was told that if by 6 months my cord was paralyzed I would have to consider the thyroplasty operation. I read everything you did. I was well past 6 months and still struggling.

My Paralysis occurred in Oct 06.
Dec 06 I had a surgical gel foam injection to move my vocal cord midline, I knew going in it could last 10 to 20 weeks. What a miracle! But it only lasted 12 weeks.

I had 2nd surgical gel foam injection end of March 07.

All the while I was doing conventional speech therapy exercises and not getting a lot of results from the therapy.....until I found a speech therapist from Yale University Hospital (via internet) who was kind enough to email me back and then followed up with me by phone and fax a NEW way to treat vocal cord paralysis with different exercises. The new exercises and the gel foam implants have my voice almost normal again!

The new exercises are primarily using words with m's and n's. Those sounds force the cords to work. I saw my vocal cord played back on video not moving at all, so I know this works!

I did 1/2 an hr am and then 2 more 15 minute sessions daily. I printed out a list of words and phrases in giant bold type and practiced in the car driving.

You can hum "mmmmmm "in scales then "nnnnn" in scales.

I had a list of phrases with m and n words

"Mama made some money. Mama made some jam. Mama made money maling lemon jam. Many men on the moon (and on and on) Nuns make notes.
Moon beams make me swoon." get inventive and have fun with it!

I made up a ton of these and practiced in varied tones.
And it worked for me!
I urge you to look at my posts you can click on my name and anything I have posted will come up and you will read my struggle and my success!

I wish you best of vocal health

Julyg

july,
Thanks for the information! I'm still trying to decide what route to take but those are definately options I'll look into! Are the injections a surgical procedure and do they hurt? And I'm just curious before your recovery did you get winded really easily? That's what's been happening to me and up until now I've blamed it on my asthma but now I'm not so sure! Thanks again!
frenchfri

Hi
Injections are a very short surgical proceedure. You are out about 20 minutes.

I read where some drs will do in office while you are awake (NOT FOR ME!)

Winded? Are you kidding? I had no air! Your vocal cords control breathing, swallowing and voice.

Immediately after my surgery that paralyzed vocal cord, I couldnt breath! I was reamitted to another hospital thinking that I had a pulminary embolism during surgery. They ended up releasing me 5 days later with drugs for athsma and COPD. (Totally wrong diagnosis) Noone knew I had a paralyzed vocal cord until 2 months later when after searching the internet I suspected it and demanded to be tested.

My breathing and energy levels are almost 100% now.

That sounds exaclty like me!! haha! I have to take tons of breaths when I talk...Also, after I eat, I start coughing and gagging, do you think this could be related to my vocal cords too? I didn't start noticing it until about a week ago but now that I have its really annoying! I'm just full of questions, huh?

Yes, the coughing and gagging is definatly a symptom with liquids. Try to avoid cold liquids, drink room temp or warm or hot liquids and you wont have a problem. My ENT said cold liquids cause chokking and possible aspiration.

I stopped cold liquids immediately and it helped tremendously.

What do you think about trying the ms and ns?

It sounds like a really good idea! I've been making up ones in my head but I haven't tried saying them out loud yet...the injections sound like a good idea too but the only thing I'm not too sure about with those is the fact that you have to have them done repeatedly but if they work I'm sure its worth it! I go for a second opinion in April so I have a while to decide what I'm going to do and until then I can try the m and n thing you suggested!

Do you have any suggestions for hot drinks that are good?

You may not need them done repeatedly. Some fillers have long lasting residual results. Also combined with the speech therapy it may reenergize the nerve causing function.

Are you relying on a local ENT or a university hospital ENT? How many paralyzed vocal cord patients has your Dr treated? How mant patients has he done a thyroplasty. The reason I ask is we are in a very small group and I wanted a Dr who had done the injections a good number of times with significant results.

I drank noncaffeine drinks at room temp or warm.

Um...well rite now I'm seeing a doctor near where I leave but in April I'm going to Children's Hospital to see the head of the ENT department because the one I went to the first time hasn't seen this a lot in adolescents (I'm 17)...so I'm really not sure about the second doctor but I'm guessing the first hasn't done a lot of thyroplastys on teenagers if at all...

I've only been to the first doctor once and since he doesn't know a lot about this in teens he just basically said what options I have but he's going to leave it up to the doctor at Children's to decide the best route

I guess it really all depends on how comfortable the doctor is with doing the procedure because I don't do well under general anesthesia and what he thinks is best...

Hi Frenchfri

Glad to hear you will be seeing head of the dept. I am sure you have a parent very involved in this treatment.

I would gently suggest you find an expert (defined as great expertise in vocal cord surgery) if you decide on surgery.
When I thought I needed a thyroplasty i did a good amount of research and found Mayo clinic in Jacksonville fl. I was already planning it out in my mind and as it turns out, needlessly.

Again there may be less invasive ways to treat your paralysis.

I'll be looking to see if you post what your new Dr. says. ;)

July

Ya I love my parents they're so supportive but they're letting me make the ultimate decision as to what I want to do (with their input of course)

Hopefully we can find a great doctor because I don't want to trust my voice with just anyone...

Definately I'm going to talk to the doctor about the things you suggested and thanks again for taking the time to suggest them! I'll keep you posted!

Hi
So it sounds like you are on the right path. I just wanted to share my story with you. I was also intubated at birth for two months. I have a paralyzed vocal cord for my entire life. I am now 29 years old, it wasn't until my mid twenties that I was diagnosed. I have gone through three surgeries over the last 6 years. 1st was a Montgomery Thryoplasty, Second was a fat injection and third was a revised thyroplasty with arytenoid reduction. My case has many up and downs. My vocal cord amazingly started to move again a year ago just a little. This is unheard of. My last two surgeries were performed by a expert in the Otolaryngology field - specificly in voice disordres. I have had limited improvement in my voice. I hope you have more success. These surgeries depend so much on the surgeon and the individual characteristics of the vocal cord paralysis. I have accepted the fact my voice is my voice and it makes me who I am. I still have my bad days in dealing with it, but I am trying. I think it would be great if there were a national support group for us having to deal with this disorder - but as of right now I haven't been able to find one. I wish you good luck and hope you have the great success!

Hi July
I am in a similar boat but have already been through three surgeries. They have adjusted my paralyzed cord to midline as much as possible. I am looking for anything that might work to improve the quality of my voice. I think the surgery options are pretty much played out. I would love to learn more about the "m" and "n" therapy that you used. Can you post more details on the process of the therapy?

So sorry I Have not looked here ia a while, am usually on spinal injury board which is how my paralysis happened. OK mmm and nns There is an amazing speech therapist at Yale University hospital Ms Acton who was kind enough to reply to me, first via e mail then by phone!!!!!

She faxed me the exercises however the faxes came out blackish so when we spoke on phone I told her about the 14 pages of speech therapy I was doing and she urged me to try m and n sounds as they force the vocal cords to work and I KNOW she made the difference. At first I added the m and ns to my 2x daily routine 1st speech therapist gave me and than I dropped the old exercises and focused on m and ns. So I'll do my best here. Make up your own material.....

I would start with scales of me me me me and nee nee nee nee up and down at last ten times slowly.
Scale with no-nay-noony-na-na 1 up, 1 down do 10 x
Than go to silly rhymes with projection and going slowly, sipping water with a straw when your voice catches
Silly rhymes were ....

Name me many moons, nuns make notes , mama made jam, mama makes money, mama made men;)
mama made money making lemon jam Nicky makes lime mate, many nuns make nine, juney moon and mommy, many men on the moon. Mandy is a mime. minny met miny (like tiny) mounds.

than I would repeat sound 10x like moon, bong, ring, ding, sun , men
mine, adjusting pitch as I spoke them.
I came up with my list and printed them in huge print so i could easily refer to them while driving, kept a copy in my office, and 1 taped to bathroom mirror.
I did this over and over as my voice is my income.

Try them! you can't lose anything except sounding silly to others but who cares! I drove to and from work doing this.

I work in s. florida and my clients this past season couldn't get over how well my voice has recovered.

If you try, let me know how you are doing. Just post with vocal cord paralysis in new thread and I'll find you!

July

Hey frenchfri,

I am thinking about you with your upcoming surgery. What a miracle you will havewith your new voice.

Post when you can.

July