I conducted a 5 day event that involved talking all day (16-17 hours per day) for 5 days - by the end of the second day my throat was starting to hurt at night when going to bed as well as when waking up, and I did gradually lose my voice over the next three days, the fourth actually being worse than the fifth. Hydrated lots and had many lozenges and have been on full vocal rest since I ended Monday night (so a full 5 days...).
The first few days my throat and ears hurt so much (unlikely to be an infection due to lack of exposure and no other symptoms of sickness). Today my throat still hurts albeit less, though uttering one word makes it start a bit.
I've been too scared to speak let alone sing, but I'm concerned by how long these symptoms are taking to clear up - I've spoken for less than five minutes a day and although my voice sounds 'back', my throat hurts still and it feels raspy to me even though the sound quality is supposedly fine.
Have i screwed my vocal chords up or does this fall within normal voice use? How long does it take too recover one's voice after using it so much? When do I see a doctor? When i do eventually need to speak are there good exercises too warm back up into it? Getting a bit concerned with how long it's been going on for...
Also i understand that Reddit cannot provide medical advice - being in the US it would be helpful to have an idea of various timeframes (recovery, when to see a doctor etc - as Dr is costly and also takes time to schedule etc etc) and what i can best do at home to take care of my voice in the meantime