| Posted by Steph ® , Feb 19,2001,18:57 |
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I'm new here. Hi, hi, hi..
*big smile*Anyway, I was upset about something. I've had voice trouble,fluctuating in severity, for at least four years now. The symptoms lead me to believe I may have SD. I know a woman who is a speech pathologist. Even though she never looked at my vocal cords, she casually said, since it's been such a long time, I may have structural damage. Is it possible?
Steph
Re: Structural damage??!!!AHHH!!!
Hello Steph - welcome to the board!If you have SD it's unlikely your vocal cords/larynx is structurally damaged. With SD the problem in voicing isn't with the vocal cords/larynx - it is with the way the brain operates them using certain nerves and muscles. If you like, it's a kind of signalling problem. Or to use a computing analogy - the software is faulty, not the hardware. Good luck to you. David
Re: Structural damage??!!!AHHH!!!
Dear David,
Thank you for the kind and clear response. That was a relief to hear. She's full of hooey.Also, thanks for the nice welcome.
Re: Structural damage??
I don't mean to be a 'nay-sayer' but isn't it possible that we could be injuring our vocal cords/larynx in our attempt to talk through SD? I had voice therapy prior to getting a diagnosis (and why that voice therapist didn't have a clue about what I had is a different post!) but she felt that if I continued to speak in the way I was speaking, that eventually I would injure my vocal cords. So, to continue the analogy - the software would eventually cause a breakdown of the hardware.As to whether Steph currently has structurally damaged cords - that can be assessed by observation by an ENT, yes? So you don't have to worry about it - just get it checked and go from there. Even though I've had SD for 3 to 4 years and my throat will hurt - my vocal cords "look" just fine (so no structural damage yet for me - and I'm hoping that voice therapy will help me learn techniques so that will never happen.) I hope this isn't a depressing post after David's optimistic one - but I felt it was important to state the possibility. cyberly yours, RAS
Re: Structural damage??
Robin - good point - it's prompted me to add that in the early days of my SD I used to compensate in some situations by whispering, because that allowed me to get my words out fluently. My speech therapist at the time pointed out that excessive and prolonged whispering can harm the vocal cords long-term. David
Re: Structural damage??
It is not depressing, only realistic and I understand where the structural damage possibility can come from. I was worried. However, when I think of damaged voices, the image of a professional singer or professor comes to mind. Even they can usually speak normally. When a person speaks, the apparatus is used for a short period of time. Then the muscles, vocal cords, ect just snap back to their original positions, right? Maya Angelou, after emotional trauma, did not speak to anyone except her brother, for an entire SIX YEARS. Even to her brother, the words were minimal. Now, after some time and practice, but no surgery she's mentioned, she has a rich, full voice. Her voice did not wither away. I'd like to go to an ENT for peace of mind of the truth, whatever it is, but I may not until the summer. I'm in college and it's been hard to find one that's in on weekends/after 5. What's the voice therapy you mentioned, Robin? I don't need ENT supervision for certain excercises. Oh yeah, years ago the "specialists" didn't have a clue for me, either.
They said it was habit-forming and I spent years being mad at myself. Something recognized since the 1800's...hello?
Re: Structural damage? + another answer?
Steph: I'm fairly new to the BB myself, and to this diagnosis. But from what I've picked up by researching on the web and reading the posts here I understand that some people have had success, of one form or another, with voice therapy. I think most of the time the voice therapy is geared towards compensating for the disorder (rather than "curing" it) but in some cases it can go a long way to making the disorder very manageable. There are also apparently a lot of cases where voice therapy did little to help. I'm hoping that voice therapy will help me greatly to manage the symptoms, and certainly help me to use my voice in the correct way so that I don't injure it.I understand that it is important to find a voice therapist (I guess called a speech pathologist) who is familiar with SD and who specializes in "voice" rather than "language" disorders. There is a nice website if you want to self-help with voice therapy - http://hometown.aol.com/jharwick/page/index.htm Ms. Harwick, who has SD, took the trouble of typing up her 12 weeks of voice therapy plus additional information. There have been some recent posts (as well as some past posts) about Dr. Cooper in California who uses a technique he named Direct Voice Rehabilitation that he believes can cure SD. His website is http://www.voice-doctor.com/ I'd recommend that you try out the "search" function of the BB, so that you can take in the past experience of the members. I find that I get a lot of good information that way. I've also collected bookmarks for about 14 other websites relating to SD - if you want I'll post them. Glad I didn't bum you out! I think that the body is pretty amazing and that it can probably take a lot of challenge before it becomes damaged - including the larynx. And of course we have amazing recuperative abilities as well! You are probably in pretty good stead. I wish you well! cyberly yours, RAS
Re: Structural damage? + another answer?
Dear Robin,
Wow that's a lot of information! You really went through trouble and did some research about SD. That looks good, I'll try them. Thanks for giving me those, no need to post others because I'll have enough fun with the ones already there. I heard about Dr Cooper (DR COOPER as Goly said) and he seems pretty amazing. Don't worry about bumming me out, we have to be realistic but you're right, it does recuperate. Thanks for support!
Good luck and God bless, Steph
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