# Laryngitis 3 1/2 years later



## Julia65 (Aug 7, 2012)

I still suffer from laryngitis quite frequently after my TT. Anyone else have this problem? It's something I seem to forget to bring up at my annual check ups. Any degree of a cold or just too much talking will bring this about.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

I wouldn't call what I have laryngitis, but I do have voice pain on a daily basis. My ENT looked at my vocal cords/laryngeal nerves three times with the camera, and they work fine. It's the muscles in my neck (left side only) that help with vocal variation that are the problem. I believe they were damaged during my second surgery, but multiple specialists can't find a solution, so I'm just living with it.

Have you seen an ENT for an evaluation?


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## Julia65 (Aug 7, 2012)

No. Not since right after. I had a paralyzed vocal chord. Now I lose my voice so easily. Just wondering if anyone else experienced this.


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## webster2 (May 19, 2011)

My voice is not the same as it was before, it is kind of gravelly sounding but not all the time. Good thing I work in a library where I don't have to shout.


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## Octavia (Aug 1, 2011)

Julia65 said:


> No. Not since right after. I had a paralyzed vocal chord. Now I lose my voice so easily. Just wondering if anyone else experienced this.


My guess is that you didn't heal 100%, so your voice is "fragile."

Once in a while, we do get someone here on the forum who has voice issues after surgery, but thankfully, it's not very often. Hopefully you'll hear from someone.


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## KeepOnGoing (Jan 2, 2013)

I'm in pretty much exactly the same situation as you - vocal chord paralysis after completion surgery 3 and a half years ago. My voice did improve significantly but it is not the same. I'm a teacher and find that the slightest cold, or just a long parents' evening and my voice becomes strained and sore. You can imagine this is something of a handicap when teaching 9 year olds!

If anyone finds anything that helps, I'd be really grateful too. At the moment I just try to save my voice as much as possible (no shouting!), drink lots of water when I'm teaching and rest my voice when I can. It's significantly better at the end of a holiday and worst towards the end of term.

Sorry, I'm not much help, but I do know what it's like!


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## indigovalley (Oct 9, 2015)

I am also a teacher and suffered a paralyzed vocal cord after a partial thyroidectomy last fall. While my vocal cord recovered within 3 months I have some lingering mild hoarseness. My doctor thinks that some of the muscles that were paralyzed with the vocal cord haven't recovered completely yet--they atrophy to some extent when they aren't being used. That's why there can be some lingering voice issues even when the majority of the vocal cord has recovered.

Like someone posted earlier perhaps there can be some irritation or damage to the vocal cord or vocal cord muscles during surgery itself--either from the procedure or even from the breathing tube that's inserted. So even if you never had a paralyzed vocal cord your voice could be affected resulting in hoarseness or laryngitis?

Also, nerves get cut and irritated during thyroid surgery. Maybe your laryngitis could be related to that?


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