It is weird I know. I can start a sentence at a perfectly normal pitch but by the time I get to the end of the sentence it’s almost a whisper. It’s like turning the volume down as I speak, and I’ve no control over it other than to give a little cough to waken it up again
I guess in the mean time, there’s lots of youtube videos for sound production treatment, apraxia and even for singing exercises you could try to retrain your voice, it’s what any therapy is going to have you do anyway and it’s going to take a lot of time and practice. So the sooner you get started the sooner you get back into it.
@Flamenco I’m the lead singer and keyboard player in my band and am one year since stroke. It took three weeks after hospital to swallow again (feeding tube was put in and now out thank goodness). Since then I suffer from hoarseness at times and yes it is hard to hit the high notes, but during our practice sessions, my voice warms up and gets back to normal. Just sing as much as you can everyday.
Like exercising your muscles.
My voice, then, is much like yours. The doctors did not consider this as a stroke issue although swallowing is still a problem as well. They attributed the cause as possible vocal cord damage from ventilator. I don’t know, but I do know the ventilator made my throat burn for about 6 weeks afterward like the worst strep throat one could possibly get. Inflamed and burning, but I was no food or drink at that time, so no relief.
I was never on a ventilator, so all just stroke related. I had difficulty swallowing, chocked even on my own saliva Anyway, it’s all good now…though still have to be a mite careful with swallowing, and still have a permanent tickle at the back on my throat which can drive nuts at times
My situation in 2018 was arriving in Newcastle for a social weekend with my choir friends (yes, same choir) on a Friday evening about 5pm. Going up to the hotel room and my wife asking me why I was talking in an Irish accent. Didn’t think I was but she quickly decided she wanted assistance. Phoned down to reception who phoned for paramedics who arrived within 10 minutes. Took me to ambulance and blue lighted into RVI where I had an MRI and then almost immediately a clot buster injection “this costs over £1k so you’re getting every drop” next day had another scan - all were amazed that the (large) clot had almost shrunk to nothing.
That was Friday night. My wife was brilliant and was in and out every day till they let me go on Monday. Monitored every hour and given the all clear. Very, very lucky.
My son’s wedding in Budapest was coming up the next month. I made that, thankfully.
Thought I’d got away very lightly, and I know other people have had different experiences.
So a bit selfish to want the choir thing, but it has been so crucial in my life, it feels important to want it back, if I can get it.
I completely understand! It is something that must bring you joy to do it all these years. It is not too much to ask. I am certain we all with nothing but the best for you, no matter the differing number of affects to us, or the scale of those affects. We are here to help each other and ourselves, and support one another. I will send some good energy your way, or vibes, or prayers (all the same to me, but whichever you prefer).
Yes! I choke on my own saliva often, and still need to slow down and remember to tilt my chin forward, etc… Swallowing pills is easy peasy most of the time, until I don’t think carefully, or think too carefully, about it. LOL. In other words…the choking still happens, along with the hoarseness, can’t sing at all anymore, but doesn’t keep me from trying.
Perfectly understandable and not selfish at all. In my view it’s more selfish to give up on life after every effort has been made by so many so that you can live, regardless mind to cost. That’s selfish
My father-in-law was is a choir too, after he developed Alzheimer’s he still couldn’t give it up, managed to stay with it until about the last year of his life.
@DeAnn @EmeraldEyes
I was told to watch out for aspiration pneumonia. Even now, after a year when I casually swallow things like nuts, cereal, grains etc. If I don’t drink a beverage afterwards, I can choke a bit after eating these things. I have excess saliva at night and have to sleep on my side.
That is helpful information! I was told the same about aspiration pneumonia. I have a recent diagnosis of COPD but I am suspicious of it and have not started using the inhaler. I tried it a few times, just makes me cough. I read COPD is very often misdiagnosed and it is dangerous for other conditions to use the medication if one does not have it. I believe I may have aspiration pneumonia. The pulmonologist did not do an x-ray, used an old CT scan from when I had actual diagnosed pneumonia, and the scores from my testing were in the normal range. So diagnosis is based on that old CT and my complaint of fatigue. I could be wrong, but honestly believe he is.
If you have COPD and an inhaler you should use it. The last few years my inhaler was changed to a mild steroid based one to be used morning and night, as a preventative medicine. It seems to work well. Book an appointment with the asthma nurse at your GP surgery. You might be using the wrong inhaler. Regards.
Hi @Flamenco
Wanted to add my welcome to the forum to those you’ve already received .
We put together some initial stuff in this Welcome post tap here
I guess you need speech and language therapists (SALT) to help with your challenge.
You’ll face a complication if trying to look up any self-help - of which there is probably plenty distributed across YouTube & the internet - because singing is often used in salt as a exercise to bring back muscle control. Searching here with a magnifying glass above is also worthwhile. There are little nuggets scattered everywhere on this site
you’ll find plenty of help the other way around easily - IE using singing to improve speaking. Together with almost everybody here I’ve not got any medical training so don’t know the ins and outs of it enough to state the opposite regimes!
Just looking casually on YouTube I found lots of post-stroke vocal exercises, tongue exercises etc. Extrapolating a little from all other exercise basis I’m going to suggest that having a strong core of basic movements will be the starting point. These are going to contribute to your discretionary muscle control. It’s quite possible there’s also a cognitive element involved in the sound processing maybe you will need to look for sources on neuro audiology?
Something with all of us, to a greater or less extent weve found is that you have to be your own recovery director - that involves researching aspects of your condition and integrating across the different disciplines so you can direct the health professionals about the help that you need because they’re not very good at visceral understanding of ‘whole person’ needs.
Another place to look would be one other research sites such as academia.edu, Google scholar, Microsoft scholar, researchgate, Et Al.
@DeAnn , music both singing and playing was a huge part of my life before stroke and my operation. Afterwards my speaking voice improved but I could do little more than croak like a frog when it came to singing. It will be a long time before I can play again and my voice is still not like it was but yesterday I took a big step and I went on stage and sang with my band mates. Don’t give up trying, keep working on it and your voice will listen and return. Best wishes.
And thanks for sharing we all need to know when our friends and peers make progress because it stands as a reminder that we are making progress to even though we can’t see it every day
@Mrs5K Thank you, I certainly did enjoy myself. When I said I’d like to try it my band mates encouraged me to go along with them to the gig and take part. At one point I had resigned myself to never being able to do it again. I now feel motivated to work even harder at getting back to playing.
