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Victoria Cook

TMV World Legacy Member
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Everything posted by Victoria Cook

  1. Hi all   Thanks for your replies Sorry it's taken me AGES to reply! We've had a lot going on this end - my business has started to pick up a little (yay!) and we've had a poorly cat who needed an op (stressful...we're not really 'kiddy' people, so we have cats instead) and in the midst of it all, I kept forgetting to pop back.   A brief update: the lump is coming and going, and as my mum likes to say 'what's moveable is cureable' so I'm choosing to go with that. Since I seem to be having a problem with post-nasal drip, I'm wondering if it's caused in part by that. Either way, I'm not getting any answers at the moment, so I'm going back to the doctor (again!) on Monday.   Diana - that's very kind of you, thank you. I can't actually call you though, because I'm in the UK, lol! Would you be willing to email instead, perhaps?   Vikki
  2. I'm not going to say it isn't possible, but I do think it's unlikely because the symptoms in my throat keep fluctuating and I haven't used the mouthwash/gargle yet! I don't know...the lump went away for a few days but it came back yesterday. Humph. :0(   Very strange that the doc prescribed you Omeprazole when you have no history of acid reflux, because as far as I know, that's the main thing it's used for! In my case, it's because of excess acid and acid reflux. It's been a problem for me on and off for a number of years now. But I was prescribed it when I began getting a hollow, echoey sort of sensation in my stomach. Like an intense hunger, but not? Anyway, apparently that's a symptom of excess acid. Don't know if maybe that sounds familiar to you at all? If not, then I have NO clue why your doc gave you omeprazole!   That is HIGHLY distburbing! I wonder if that's what happens over here in the UK? I know that the way things work tends to differ quite a lot between there and here, but who knows?!? I hope medicine companies don't sell directly to doctors over here as well!   Thanks, Adolph. It's a bit distressing to me at the moment, I have to say, not knowing exactly what the cause is. My GP said he thought it could be a vocal nodule and that's why I'm here, but apparently the only way to know for sure is a nasoscopy, and they're reluctant to even do that. Every time I go back and say 'yeah...it's still happening', they kind of say 'hmm...well, it's unlikely to be serious, so it's probably just acid or something' and that's the end of it. In the meantime, people keep telling me it sounds like throat cancer or stomach cancer or thyroid cancer and it's terrified the heck out of me!!! Especially when I can't get the doctor to look at it properly. Arrgh!! Haha!
  3. Thanks Adolph.   I actually got switched to the dry powder inhalers when I was 14 because up until then I'd had brittle asthma from the age of 7, and had been in and out of hospital constantly. Literally from the moment I switched over, my asthma almost totally disappeared. Because of that, I'm kind of reluctant to switch back. It's great not having to constantly walk around with my inhaler in hand! And to be honest, I haven't had any problems with my throat, tongue or voice before now until the last few months, which makes me reluctant to believe it is really the inhalers, you know?   Right now, I've been told that it really is just excess stomach acid, but I do still wonder if there's a little more to it. If the new acid meds do their job (it's helping a bit so far) but I still have vocal trouble, they might be willing to investigate further. Just have to wait and see, I guess!   Thanks very much for replying. :0)
  4. Going to move away from the topic of accents for a moment (though I agree completely about Ewan and Billy, and the impact of social background on accents) to say I went back to my GP yesterday afternoon because I'm still having problems with my throat and with my stomach. She's said it's definitely an issue of excess acid and has prescribed me a different medicine to use for it. I started to take the medicine (Omeprazole) yesterday evening so time will tell if that works. Right now, my voice is still horribly hoarse and croaky. I can't hit the same notes I used to, unless I use a different part of my throat to sing them, which I'm not sure is correct. It seems probable that the excess acid is affecting my throat and therefore my voice, but it worries me a bit. It's been a problem for so long now that I'm concerned it could cause/has already caused permanent damage to my voice. Is that possible??
  5. Must admit, I'm not a big Tommy Lee Jones fan, but he is awesome in The Fugitive. I actually did know that about him in it! But only because I read all the trivia for just about every TV programme and film I know and like, obsessively! It's desperately sad, I suspect, but there's so much out there to read about these things! And that particular little tidbit is one I especially laughed at!   Oh Bill Paxton is fab! Love him.   It makes sense, about your accent. People from other countries tend to think that over here in the UK we all have one of two accents - we either sound 'proper cockney, mate!', as if we're all from East London, or we're cut-glass English like Julie Andrews. I'm from the South Coast, so I'm more Julie Andrews (or, as so many people tell me, 'posh') but there are TONS of regional accents. Bristol, Surrey, Mancunian, Northampton, etc, etc. Personally, I love Sunderland as an accent. If you look up 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads', you'll get an example-ish of that.   Accents are an amazing thing. I absolutely love them and always have. Irish, Scottish, American, Welsh, Australian...if I could study phonetics, I would!
  6. Hmm....that all makes sense.   The problem with having a centralised healthcare system like we have is that there is never and will never be enough money to cover everything that is needed by the public from the NHS. We hear a lot about healthcare being 'a postcode lottery', where people in one area get access to the best treatments from the NHS, but those in another area don't have the same benefit. People evade paying taxes, and we give all our money to football players and politicians, so there's never enough for the emergency services, such as the NHS. Nurses and doctors get paid a tiny amount of what they should be earning. To be honest, I'm not sure what the answer is. We're lucky to have non-privatised healthcare because the poorer among us (myself included) wouldn't be able to afford it. But what we have right now is very hit-and-miss. So maybe you'd find it was better to have it, but maybe not!   Oh goodness, I like most of them. I adore Texas (Michael Nesmith has one of the most wonderful speaking voices I've ever heard!) and I adore the deep-south drawls of Alabama and Georgia. Only ones I'm not so keen on, I'd say, are Tennessee and Kentucky. Particularly Tennessee I always find a little whiney! And now I'm dreadfully worried I'll have offended someone!!
  7. Oh blimey, really?! Does that seem like a good thing to you in America, or a bad thing?   And by the way, I would love the accent! Since I was about 5, I've dreamed of going to America. Some day...!
  8. Hi Diana   Thanks very much. I'm in no position to decline an offer of help right now! If you don't mind, then I'd be very grateful!
  9. I absolutely know what you mean! Sometimes, if I'm in the car with someone and a song comes on the radio, they don't necessarily want my warbling at the top of my lungs, so I sing much more quietly. When I do, I find my voice feels less strained and the vocal range is far greater than when I sing more loudly. But because I enjoy singing so much, and because I'm alone for huge portions of the day, I get used to really belting it out, and I will attack songs I haven't a hope in hell of reaching the high notes in, and I NEVER warm up my voice. I never have done because until recently, I didn't know you should! So essentially, what I've been doing is the equivalent of lifting very heavy weights with no warm-ups and no stretching before or after. Which is why I suspect it could be at least part of what is going on.   Having said that, you are right of course, and I shouldn't go assuming it's that, or that it's anything else until I know more. All I can really say with certainty is that I've been resting my voice completely for about 4 hours and so far, the strained feeling in my throat has gone (although the feeling of a lump being in it is still there). Will see what happens when I go back to the doctor (seriously, no mouthwash/throat gargle is going to fix this).
  10. Hi there   Rowns - I sleep on my side every night anyway, so it's hard to say, to be honest! I don't tend to cough very much during the night, but I do feel at times as though the muscles at the bottom of my throat have stopped working properly, and push upwards rather than downwards, like you say. Even if I really concentrate, I can't seem to make them work the right way!!   I went to my GP this morning. He's said that since I'm only 29, have never even held a lit cigarette, let alone smoked one, etc, throat cancer is highly unlikely, but he did suggest a vocal nodule. But, such is the way of the good old NHS, I'm being forced to work through an entire bottle of special mouthwash and gargle to prove my dry powder inhalers aren't causing throat irritation before they'll do anything else! I'm a bit frustrated, to tell the truth. Right now, my throat is absolutely killing!! I can feel it up into my jaw, my neck aches a bit and I still feel as though I have a lump in my throat. Grr. Worst of all, I can't sing!! My voice gets hoarse and airy much lower than it used to. I'm by no means an amazing singer, but because I work from home, I sing along to the radio (LOUDLY) for a couple of hours a day. ANd I talk. A LOT. To my parents, my Gran, my husband, my friend...so frustrating not knowing what is really wrong or what I can do about it!! 
  11. Thanks KillerKu. I'm not sure whether it would cause pain either. I suspect I'm grasping at anything that decreases the fear in my mind of it being anything more serious! I'm a catastrophist and a hypochondriac and that is a bad combinaton when it comes to biological problems.   It feels to me sort of like a cross between what it says about dysphonia and the globus hystericus. It doesn't feel like there's a lump there all the time, as such. But sometimes it feels like my throat no longer knows the difference between swallowing down and bringing back up, if that makes sense? Sometimes, when I try to swallow, I can feel the muscles at the bottom of my throat working in the wrong direction. Or at least, that's what it feels like.    I'm sorry to hear about the problems you've had. It's incredibly difficult when you feel like the medical profession has abandoned you. You've made some very interesting points about it all and been very helpful though, thank you.   When I see my doctor on Tuesday, is there anything in particular I should mention?
  12. Hi everyone   I'm new here and I'm having a problem, which I'm hoping you can help with.   Over the last year or so, I've noticed that it's been easier and easier to lose my voice if I get ill, and it takes longer for it to come back each time. I had flu a couple of months ago and didn't get my voice back for several weeks.   A couple of nights ago, I had a bite of mash and it felt like it got stuck in my throat. Even after an hour and having finished dinner, I still felt as though something was stuck in my throat. I had a bite of bread and butter and it eased but I still feel rather like I have a small lump in my throat. But since then, it feels very tight as well, as though everything is strained and sore. Talking hurts and my voice is hoarse.   Someone (oh so kindly) told me it sounds like I have throat cancer and I should see doctor straight away (thanks for that), so I've booked an appointment for Tuesday, but it occurred to me that it could be nodules/polyps on my vocal cords. I was wondering if anyone has experienced similar problems and if so, if you know anything I can do to ease the discomfort, at least temporarily? Thanks
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