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My voice is jacked... ideas? help?


Strike911
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So a day ago my throat felt a little dry. I was like "Meh, must be allergies." Another day passes, and I sound a little hoarse, but I'm okay. So Now it's about 1 AM, 3 hours ago my voice transitioned into, I kid you not, the movie preview guy's voice. The octave dropped dramatically.

I'm not sick, I feel fit as a fiddle, I'm pretty healthy, I watch what I eat, I exercise an hour a day, but out of nowhere, this thing hits me. The exact same thing happened to me four months ago. I haven't strained my voice recently, I've not been sick recently, and I don't have a sore throat. My throat does feel dry and yesterday I felt like drainage might have been causing it... but I'm not sure now.

My biggest problem is that I have to present a huge final project at my university Tuesday afternoon, and with some possible vocalists here at OCR (hopefully), maybe I can find some remedies for a jacked voice. It's just really really dry and low. The pitch is low and airy. It's ridiculous, and once the novelty wears off from saying "In a world" over and over again, it's really very annoying.

I know there is no magic pill that will fix everything instantly, and that resting (and not speaking) is probably the best option, but is there anything else that I can do to perhaps assist the healing process, assuming nothing is seriously wrong with my throat?

I know this might sound ridiculous, but I'd appreciate any advice you can give me.

*sips hot tea*

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*sips hot tea*

Gargle with hydrogen peroxide, and then with warm apple cider vinegar . Helps when I get sore throat or Strep...usually cuts recovery down to 2-3 days tops, also "Fisherman's Friend" lozenges really soothe the throat...and are rather potent.

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Take a 1000mg Vitamin C supplement along with a 500mg L-Lysine supplement 4 times daily. Taper off to three, two, and one once you're healthy. Lysine boosts the immune system. It's an amino acid, so take it on an empty stomach.

More importantly, sleep ~10+ hours per night.

If you get congested, boil some water and breathe the steam through whichever air passage is getting the congestion, or both.. for at least 10 minutes, twice a day. This remedy would put OTC decongestants out of business if more people did it.

I personally have a theory that exercising also helps you get better, because if your body temperature rises, it's difficult for bacteria to survive.

But it really sounds like your throat is just swollen from allergies or something. It doesn't sound like an infection to me.. or perhaps a very minor infection.

But hell, who knows. You may very well end up with a fever tomorrow.

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This may seem like a no-brainer, but you didn't mention what your water intake has been lately. This is probably the most important thing to do for your voice — keep it hydrated. Especially if, as you are saying, it is feeling dry.

You and others on this thread have already commented about using "vocal supplements", such as tea, honey, lemon, gargling, etc. These will be soothing for your throat, but do not actually do anything for your vocal cords. A nice way to soothe your vocal cords is to breathe steam — you can get a steamer (not a vaporizer) at a local pharmacy for fairly cheap.

I also suspect that you are getting sick, or are already sick, and this is the only symptom. It would be very rare for a voice drop like this to happen completely disconnected to anything else. I would suggest using a nasal saline spray; saline is a great preventative tool, you do not have to be sick to use it.

That's my two cents. I am a professional singer and voice teacher, but not a doctor.

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I once lost my voice in the middle of a debate tournament. That was probably the most fun I ever had during all my years of speech and debate. More recently, during a bad cold, my voice went down into the ultra-raspy area--which sounds like where you are (though sans the cold).

First, if you can, check with a doctor to see that it's not some kind of infection, or serious. Usually (in my experience) this kind of thing has passed in 3-4 days. You may even be fine on Tuesday.

Second, rest your voice completely! No talking--use notecards and hand signals. And this:

Don't talk at all, and DON'T WHISPER! Whispering is one of the worst things to do to your vocal cords, because it passes air through them when they aren't actually vibrating.

Third, hot drinks should help. If you're drinking tea, don't make it too hot, obviously. You may want to stick to herbal or non-caffeinated tea (rooibos, spearmint, e.g.). Though, all my evidence on that is anecdotal, so at this point, do whatever you feel comfortable with and just give it time.

Really, the most important thing is (1) and (2). Good luck. If it persists after 4 days then... well, you should be good by then. KF

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What a mystery. I think we should call Dr House here.

Nah, Dr. House would make your friend drink your pee and drill a hole in your skull.

Then you'd find out it was all because of a broken bone that didn't heal right.

kidding:

Take a vicodin and call him in the morning.

/kidding

Kizyr is right about the non-caffeinated tea. Caffeine is a stimulant and that'll just make a sore throat worse. According to my doctor and two nurses.

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