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My voice needs quick help!

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rofleren

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It seems like the two doctors I've been at, both have indicated that my tongue bleeding and me not being able to sing is not connected, as in if it was pure coincidence that it happened at the same time. Mabye it's right, mabye it's not; but the fact is that I overused my voice badly, singing a style that I'm not very good at, with a technique that didn't feel right, when my throat was already tired, trying to learn to sing that song, and all the stress that the exams gave me. I want to active rehabilitate instead of just waiting, but I don't really know how.

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Something is still not checking. I am not a fan of manipulating the tongue like this, but Its clear that the problem happened during the practice that lead to your sore throat. So what happened there and how does it check against your coach orientations? Which I understand is Jaime Vendera, correct?

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No, I've trained with a CVT teacher for around 8 months, but the season is over now, so can't really talk to her before next season. But I wont, since I'm going to find a skype teacher with affordable prices. I just found his warm-up and thought it was a nice way of stretching the face.

I think I just overused my voice badly :( now I need to find out how to rehabilitate. I drink warm water all the time. I boil water and put it into a bowl for steaming my throat twice a day and I do lip bubbles when it's comfortable

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rofleren, water and rest man. forget the bubbles for now. If you can, do not even speak, complete vocal rest. 2 or 3 days should do it. If I remember correctly you are quite young and your voice is somewhat heavy, you will probably not have any consequence from it, but for now rest.

And man get a grip of the trainning. Find a coach that can demonstrate what you are after, and that can provide you a solid program that you can follow.

I simply cannot compreheend how after 8 months of trainning you still could damage your voice to this point. Its more than enough time to have resistance, comfort and by all means know and respect the limits you currently have.

If I remember correctly you aim to use your voice at a very high level of demand and to perform live. You will need to take your time and train until you can do it, work hard, work with a goal and with someone that can do it him/herself. Simply trying to do things on brute force will accomplish nothing.

8 months and you had to search the internet for a warm up routine, do you agree something is not right?

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I took a 3 days complete vocal rest, but I didn't really make any difference. That was right after my throat began to hurt. I'm 20 years old, been singing since 16-17. With three different teachers, a classical one that I didn't like, Tony O' Hora whom I liked, but he set his prices too high in the end and then the CVT teacher. Yes, I want to be able to sing power metal! I'd love that.

"8 months and you had to search the internet for a warm up routine, do you agree something is not right?"

Haha, I can see what you mean. That Jaime Vendera warm-up is mostly for the stretching-the-face-part. I know a lot of exercises that different people says are good for warming up, and sometimes they've been working for me, and sometimes not. Mabye it's because of my acid reflux that some things work sometimes and other times not.

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Rest a few more then, you probably did a lot of damage, there are some mints that have active anti-inflamatory components, as well as anesthesics, used when healing from larynx infections to aliviate the symptoms. It may help. Ginger is a nice idea also, a tea of it is nice.

Just dont even think of using the drugs and then trying to phonate on top of it. And by rest, I mean sleep hours. Its during you sleeping that the fold tissue regenerates.

Take it easy, a month is a very short time to wait. If you rest a few more days, and your voice still show no signs of recovery, go again to the doctor and get a scope. If your spoken voice is ok, its probably technical problems that are getting on your way right now that your larynx is not 100% normal.

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I'll try to find something anti-inflamatory for the throat tomorrow at the pharmacy. I have honestly not even thought about the existence of those. Thank you :)

I'll be going to bed now for some delicious recovery. See you!

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I took a 3 days complete vocal rest, but I didn't really make any difference. That was right after my throat began to hurt. I'm 20 years old, been singing since 16-17. With three different teachers, a classical one that I didn't like, Tony O' Hora whom I liked, but he set his prices too high in the end and then the CVT teacher. Yes, I want to be able to sing power metal! I'd love that.

Hi, rofleren.

Sounds like you need just a little rehabilitative voice therapy. Here is a way to approach it:

First, take the break that your doctor mentioned... a couple weeks without singing or speaking loudly. Get lots of sleep, hydrate, Enjoy life.

Second, when you are ready to resume singing, take a few steps back and re-establish your onsets and then on to some semi-occluded voiced consonant sirens in the mid range and mid volume. Work 20 mins two times a day for 2 weeks, and then you can add 1 more session if you want, for a total of 1 hour. Repeat that each day for 2 more weeks.

If, at any time in this, you feel vocal discomfort, extend your senses to determine the location of the discomfort, and then STOP singing that day. Practicing in a manner that produces discomfort does not built your voice... it sets you back.

Once you have resumed... let us know how things are going.

I hope this is helpful.

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rolferen - you mentioned you have reflux? You may have LPR and if you don't have that taken care of it could cause the issues with your singing. I was out of commission for 2 months before being able to sing again due to LPR (caused by reflux). Make sure you rule this out. The way to take care of this is to take prilosec for a while, and modify your diet a little and make sure you don't eat right before you go to sleep. Done right (not the way I did it) you should be back in shape in just a couple weeks.

If it's LPR or not I would follow everyone's suggestions of taking significant time off. Steven's rehabilitation schedule looks great. Putting Days of rest inbetween short practice sessions.

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Hi Steven, thank you, that sounds real good! I'll begin to do those exercises in about 1-2 weeks, when I feel like I'm ready. I might as well try to get the best foundation now that I have to re-learn it :)

In the mean time I'll get a straw :D

Geno, do you take medicine for reflux? I used to, but then I stopped, since it wasn't so bad for a time. It mostly kick in when I do breath exercises and when I work out my body.

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rofleren - no I don't. I just took Nexium for a couple months, and then Prilosec became over the counter so I bought it. But once I cured LPR, and realized that eating spicy foods right before I went horizontal for sleep was the problem, the LPR went away completely. It never bothers me anymore. What my ENT said was that my vocal cords looked great - but the surrounding tissue was red. I couldn't sing, my speaking voice was cracking all the time, I was constantly hoarse. That sounded like your story. My ENT diagnosed me as having LPR and prescibed Nexium.

Nexium and Prilosec - you've got to take that on an empty stomach. Also - this stuff is NOT good for you in the long run. It prohibits the production of stomach acid which is necessary for digestion. Without it, you don't break down the food which deprives you of enzymes that are needed.

Thing about LPR is that the valve between your stomach and esophogus opens up a little when horizontal and stomach acid can leak up the esophogus and get up in your larynx area, causing imflammation of the muscles in the larynx. This screws up your voice.

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i've tried moving off the prilosec, and the more natural methods but as soon as i do, i get heartburn right back again. so i have no choice till they come up with a safer drug.

lpr can drive a singer inexperienced with lpr crazy, because there are oftentimes no symptoms.

lpr gone unchecked make you more susceptible to poylps and nodes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, two weeks have passed since my last update:

It's slooowly getting better. I've accepted that I will not sing before I take the time that my voice needs.

Though, today when deadlifting in the gym, a lot of tension went straight to my throat, just as when I've been singing. Weird. Working out has never done that to me before. And- I hadn't been to the gym for weeks before and after the accident, so it's most likely not related to that. I think that my throat is stressed from something. I'm considering to get a massage to get fully relaxed. Mabye that would help.

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I'm pretty sure I don't do that. I did that 3 years ago, but maybe it's coming back without me even realizing it. I'm going to check that out tomorrow!

My voice is slowly coming back, though the tension in my throat is still there. I'm going to do what Steven Fraser suggested around the 23th. I feel I'm close to actually being able to rehabilitate :)

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Hm, Owen, I might think that you are right. I've begun having a hard time breathing properly. Hm, I got to find out how to get rid of that. I'm having a hard time exhaling without force at the moment, and I think it's because of the anxiety the "loss" of my voice gave me. I feel like I'm curbing all the time, and I can't let it go.

I never lift my shoulders when I breath though

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Oh right, of course. Haha.

I take a breath at the start and exhales at the top, where I take a fast breath again and exhale when I'm down.

rofleren: What I think you should be looking for is whether you are holding your breath at the larynx during this exercise. If you close your glottis during the lifting or lowering, you are holding back air pressure. For strength-building weight work, its much easier on the throat to deliberately exhale while the lift is being done.

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rofleren: What I think you should be looking for is whether you are holding your breath at the larynx during this exercise. If you close your glottis during the lifting or lowering, you are holding back air pressure. For strength-building weight work, its much easier on the throat to deliberately exhale while the lift is being done.

Cool, thanks Steven! I'm going to try that at my next workout (around 11 hours from now. Time to sleep).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Let me get back on the soapbox, again, just for a moment.

Do what it is that your voice can do and do not do what it cannot do. That is a direct quote from several famous singers. And from me. For I injured myself doing something I should have stayed away from. Twice. Because I thought I did it wrong the first time and tried it again. After the second injury, I realized it was better to be called lazy and "not doing enough with your voice" than to risk having no voice at all. So, I had to change my mind about what to do with my voice. And that is mental.

Find out what it is that your voice can do without pain or discomfort and stick with that, regardless of what others say.

Okay, that was probably 1.32 moments. I'm a bad man.

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Let me get back on the soapbox, again, just for a moment.

Do what it is that your voice can do and do not do what it cannot do. That is a direct quote from several famous singers. And from me. For I injured myself doing something I should have stayed away from. Twice. Because I thought I did it wrong the first time and tried it again. After the second injury, I realized it was better to be called lazy and "not doing enough with your voice" than to risk having no voice at all. So, I had to change my mind about what to do with my voice. And that is mental.

Find out what it is that your voice can do without pain or discomfort and stick with that, regardless of what others say.

Okay, that was probably 1.32 moments. I'm a bad man.

I've barely been singing at all for like 2 months. I had my first vocal lesson where I allowed me to actually sing, instead of just humming very comfortable ranges. And it was fine there, but two days after when I tried to sing a medium challenging song, my throat felt swollen. I am not going to sing again before I've either seen my doctor or my vocal coach. But, even when I do breathing exercises the swollen feeling in the throat can come. But it doesn't come always. It's the randomness and uncertainty that's annoying.

Actually my mentality seems to have changed. I've been OKAY with the fact that I couldn't sing. It has been annoying, but I mean - it's not like these are the only years of my life where I'll be able to sing. It'll come back, and I'll conquer the world.

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