Reducing SD by using voice

I have adductor SD , but I still teach a four day course in my engineering specialty twice a year - once in Europe and once in the U.S.
I begin lecturing at 8 AM and go to 5:30 PM each day with two 15 min breaks in the morning, two in the afternoon and an hour for lunch.

By the end of the first day, the voice has improved markedly. The second day, its better still, and by the third day its back to normal. If only I could keep it when I'm not lecturing constantly.

Dr. Izvesky (UCSF) thinks this phenomena is because the vocal cords get tired and are less susceptible to spasms.

Dr. Cooper thinks that with constant use, you find the right pitch and mode which eliminates the S.D. This is what his exercises are suppose to accomplish, but unless I practice 8 hours a day, I can't maintain the quality there either.

What dosage of Neurontin are you taking and when?

Yes! It's the same way with me. If I'm in a situation where I really need my voice to be strong and I am confident and put in the effort then my voice is usually fine. However, if I am tired or sick it's very difficult to talk.

Talking about factual info easier than opinion! Don't debate well, or argue anymore! except on the keyboard(:. Down hill from there. Bad at 10 p.m.,, even reporting school events to family members is a struggle.

I already told you that at the onset of my SD I spent a whole year in denial, refusing to believe my SD was just psychological, and I was sure it had to be neurological because I couldn’t control it, and I had trouble speaking even when I wasn’t nervous at all. But believing it was neurological and thinking I couldn’t do anything about it actually made my SD got worse. Only until I accepted that it could be a learned reflex that I could identify and unlearn, I realized that I could do something about it . I was able to heal myself at that time, after a very hard work in self-monitoring breathing and tension (along with meditation, prayer, positive thinking) thanks to my speech therapy knowledge, but mainly I think because I allowed my own body to reform itself .

Now I know SD (at least in my specific case) is not neurological but neither psychological. It is functional and mechanical and in many cases it even begins after a real organic problem like an upper respiratory infection, because of the additional effort needed for talking.

Although stress may have played an important role in the development of SD in many of us, once our body has learned it, it turns into a physical and very real disability and is not under our will power to control it. But obviously, SD creates lots of additional stress and this additional stress worsens SD and the cycle goes on.

During the last five years in which I worked intensively in identifying the many components of SD and finding the way out of it, I can say my SD was better in the mornings, due to the relaxation and rest during sleeping but was even better after speaking if I had been able to find the “channel”. But in many instances I could get all confused, even after doing my breathing and relaxation exercises, while practicing alone in my home, and my voice was terrible.

So I agree with Dr. Cooper in that with constant use, one may find ( by making a conscious effort), the right pitch and mode which eliminates SD. But the reason we can’t maintain that quality is because we don’t know precisely the changes required . I’m making progress in this direction and will be telling you about soon.

Anyway, I don't think any of that is inconsistent if you think about the physiology of SD. Clearly the signals originating in the brain and being transmitted through the neurological system have a number of triggers. And, similarly, there are a number of "tricks," exercises, voice pitches, etc. that for some reason tend to diminish the misfired signals causing the spasming.

It's very helpful to hear everybody's experiences. Thanks.

Marcia