vocal chord damage

[kamill]

Hi guys I am opera singer and I fucked my vocal chords drunk yelling in karaoke bar.

It has been a month a my voice is still raspy.

Is here any singer who went to similar thing . Now I am trying to go speechless for whole week a see what happens.

Do you guys have any other tips ?

[IDressMyDog]

What have you tried so far?

Obviously, as an opera singer you have a good daily vocal hygiene?

[kamill]

@IDressMyDog I tried vocal rest, drinking sage tea, I dont drink alcohol anymore, popping penthanol capsule

I tried those vocal exercises on Yt for vocal damage but it did not work. 

Being quite helps the most but the hoarseness still doesnt go away 

[IDressMyDog]

What sort of vocal exercises have you tried, SOVT etc.? And have you been examined by ENT? If not, and it's been a month, please do that. Do the stroboscopy and look at your chords physically. You won't heal with sage tea after such a long time.

Of course, continue hydrating, perhaps steaming them, doing any SOVT or relaxation exercises, but DO see the ENT.

[kamill]

I saw ENT and she said everything is Ok and I can start signing and I was like wtf I can hardly talk. I told her I do not thing I can start singing a she said she is not singing specialist and that she specialize in normal speech voice not singing voice.

So now Iam going to another ENT who specialize in singing voices.

Thank you very much.

[kamill]

I did SOVT but it just irritates my voice even though i did it in such a low volume.

[IDressMyDog]

In terms of sovt I wouldn't try anything different than this kind of stuff:

https://youtu.be/JNPOAgGMK9o

So yeah, good luck, see what the ENT says.

[vindicated erudite]

Use a water mister with warm water to soften the vocal chords and do vocal exercises then.

[Michael569]

A herbalist once swore to me that liquorice tincture does wonders for vocal chord inflammation but I've never tried it..still might be worth looking into it. Just be aware of the potential pro-hypertensive effects of the herb (or get DGL free) 

[mmKay]

@kamill 

Watch this.

Be very careful. The vocal chords are just 1 to 3 cm long and the chance to seriously injure yourself and need surgery is very real. But mostly because of improper use and unconscious dysfunctional posture habits.

Notice how babies can scream all day long and they're absolutely fine. 

Aparently the capacity to do vocal fry is a clear sign for vocal health. 

For the future: study Alexander Technique. It's a holistic posture technique that will bring your vocal health and vocal skills to the next level. 

Much vocal damage occurs because of the Mouthbreather pose. To combat this, keep your sternum tall ,push your chin in with your index finger and then imagine someone pulling you from your crown up with string from the ceiling.

Rotate your head forward and up. That's the gist of it. You have 15ish kg of weight balancing up there, you can imagine the ripple effect in terms of tension and posture. 

 

Some of the highest quality material for you:

Alexander Technique Intro

Source : teaching myself vocal skills for the last 2-3 years. I still have much to learn. Cheers!

 

Edit: this herb is known as " Singer's Herb " . I gifted it to my singing teacher when she told me she had chronic faringitis. No clue if it worked though lol i swapped teachers

Edited February 8, 2023 by mmKay

[Rigel]

@mmKay Do you mean the ability to do vocal fry is a sign of good health or bad health? What about sub-harmonics? They're like vocal fries on steroids. 

[Applegarden8]

Has general body/neck stretch or yoga helped you, does humming hurt? I would try to hum very softly for like 15 minutes a day and see if it helps.

If that didn't help i would try to honey fast for a week. I know, quite extreme. Hope you will find a solution.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Applegarden8