r/mildlybrokenvoice

Hi everyone! I (19F) was born four months prematurely (week 23) and due to the damage my vocal cords took during intubation I have had a hoarse voice my whole life. During my childhood people have regularly told me I "whisper-speak" and sometimes made fun of my voice. Because of this I have severe anxiety when it comes to speaking and anything social, so much so I am practically mute to anyone who isn't my friends or family. I also have high functioning autism which makes socialising even harder.

I have recently graduated from school and is starting to look for a job before planning to seek higher education next year, but I am worried about how I will be able to do that If I can't speak to people. I've been contemplating getting surgery for my voice but I don't know if that's too big a step to take plus I'm scared of how it will go. If I could fix my voice it would subdue my anxiety greatly and make my life and opportunities better. I don't know what to do. Should I see a speech therapist? Any advice would be helpful!

Hey everyone. I’ve had posterior glottic stenosis for about five years and it is wearing on me hard this week. On the lookout for some hope and solutions.

I’m posting here because this seems to be one of the more active airway stenosis communities, although I understand posterior glottic stenosis (PGS) is different from subglottic stenosis.

Mine was caused by intubation/ventilator trauma, and my airway is currently only around 10 degrees open. I have significant difficulty with exertion. I’m constantly wheezing, short of breath. Been a long half decade!

I visited a doctor in summer 2023 and was told my three options were to cut the vocal cords, put a string or something in there to pull the vocal cords back, or do a trach. From what I understand, a solution like balloon dilation is used for stenosis lower down and isn’t really an option for PGS. My options seemed quite awful.

I know this community is for subglottic stenosis, but if anyone here dealt with posterior glottic stenosis and found solutions…

What treatment/surgery did you have?
Did it significantly improve your breathing?
What type of specialist did you see? I’m now finally trying to book something with Mayo Clinic.
Are there any particular airway/laryngology specialists or centers you’d recommend?

I’m mostly just looking for some hope. It’s been a long stretch of time being unable to breathe and I’m a bit over it.

Hey everyone,

I was recently diagnosed with bilateral hemorrhagic vocal fold polyps after dealing with a progressively raspy/deep voice and pretty bad vocal fatigue for about two years. If I talk all night somewhere loud like a bar, I can basically have no voice the next day.

My doctor is a voice specialist and is recommending microlaryngoscopy with laser removal of both polyps.

The part I’m struggling with is that he recommends three weeks of strict postoperative voice rest. I’m waiting for clarification on whether that means literally zero talking for all 21 days or a shorter period of complete silence followed by gradual voice use.
I have a two-year-old and a job involving frequent Zoom calls, so three weeks of absolutely no talking feels almost impossible.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has had the same or a similar surgery:

Did you have one side or both sides treated?
What type of laser or procedure did you have?
How many days were you completely silent?
When did you begin gradually talking again?
How long before your voice felt reliable?
Did your voice become clearer or less easily fatigued?
Any scarring, recurrence or other complications?
If you have young children, how did you handle the voice-rest period?
Was it worth it?!

I’m not looking to replace my doctor’s advice—just trying to understand what recovery was actually like for other people and how much voice-rest recommendations vary.

I’ve been diagnosed with Muscle Tension Dysphonia / Spasmodic Dysphonia . I’ve had Speech and Language and recently a Botox injection. I am in a bad feedback loop to myself. My voice appears good, I’m good, I can speak away. My voice chokes/cracks in important circumstances like work, I am very self conscious, tension builds it gets far worse. My whole neck is a ball of tension at times. I am trying to learn to accept it, it’s something I can’t do anything about. That’s not easy when my voice is a train wreck at work. I was wondering if anybody had tips of things that helped a little , any alternative “medical” things like Reiki or deep tissue massage etc. I have found Qigong useful (Holden 30 day Qigong - zero affiliation, just releases tension but impact is short). I feel I’ve nothing to lose trying new things. It’s a pain but it’s 4 years so it not going to suddenly fix. The harder I try to worse it gets so maybe Homer Simpson is right - stop trying).

today i got my vocal fold injections. my current symptoms are:

-throat pain & discomfort

-a feeling like there’s a lump in my throat

-minor difficulties with swallowing

-a feeling almost like there’s pockets of air popping where my vocal folds are. maybe they’re slightly spasming or just adjusting. not sure

I have had a chronic sore throat for almost six years. every single day. fingers crossed this procedure works. I’ll take these post procedure side effects if it means once they heal it won’t be as painful to talk in my daily life.

I have a performance upcoming on Saturday in 2 days, so I’m gonna need your guys’ emergency vocal routines!

My voice is strained right now. Overuse at parties, acid reflux, and dehydration. Range is intact, voice sounds fine, but burns at high belts.

I’m drinking copious amounts of water, avoiding acidic foods, resting my voice, taking antacids, and steaming.

What other tips do you guys have for an emergency vocal routine?

My wedding is in 3 days and I am losing my voice. What can I do to improve it? Any advice is appreciated.

Signed,

A stressed bride

Hey yall,

I had a type II sulcus excised 2 months ago. Not going great. I’m gonna try a plasma-rich-platelet treatment and then once my hyaluronic acid injection wears off I’ll need thyroplasty.

Any experiences? 🫠

I've had on and off again ear and throat pain only on my left side. Been like that for like 6 months maybe. Comes and goes. Been to urgent care thinking it's ear infection or strep. Always say they don't see anything. Lately it's been more frequent with a lump feeling that comes and goes as well. The lump will feel like it's in the upper back of my throat or the back roof of my mouth. Left side as well. Not always the same place though. Sometimes lately it feels like I have drainage and I'll have to clear my throat. And it helps. I googled it and now I'm convinced I have throat cancer. Never smoked or drank alcohol in my life. I'm 48. Yesterday I did hear about LPR and took a Prilosec and some Tums. I think it helped. Also the symptoms are all towns of day not just morning or night. I did have an appointment with the doctor in a couple of days but just curious. Thanks in advance!

So im a 28 year old woman. I have had issues with my throat since may of this year. I am a physical therapist assistant and I speak alot to patient everyday. I noticed my threshold for speaking has diminished. It doesnt make sense why my voice is getting so tired so easily, when i use to be ablw to talk alot without any issues. Like my throat muscles feel so tired and strained after work. And my voice will crack on certain words or gets kind of raspy. It gets better but other times it will improve the less I speak. Im planning on going to a doctor about this but waiting on an appt. Anyone deal with this or have any idea of what this could be.

So around January 2026 I got a viral cold that was going around that nobody really knew what it was. It lasted for nearly 2 months and near the end of that two months was when I started to lose my voice because the cold was so bad that I coughed for about two months straight. I’m pretty sure I severely strained my vocal cords in doing so or I’ve done something of the sort. Safe to say that even now, all the way in August, I still have a very horse voice I work with the elderly and the hard of hearing so my voice is pretty much always gone by the end of every work week it only ever recovers a little bit. I never have fully gotten my voice back ever since I lost it from coughing continuously in January February, and the beginning of March so since then I’ve just sounded pretty much sick or like I’ve been screaming all day and night for weeks.

My question: will I need to go get surgery for this? Is it possible for my Voice to go back to normal? I don’t even remember what I sound like anymore and I can’t do one day of talking loud or having to raise my voice without starting with almost no Voice the next day . HELPP

Hi, so I (18 F) have had pain when speaking and singing since I was around 12 years old. I've been diagnosed with severe LPR which has been cited by a laryngologist as the likely cause of all of this. I also have MCAS, an allergy related chronic illness that I have primarily throat/mouth symptoms with. I'm on all the meds, the super bland diet, the acid reflux lifestyle, etc, but still cannot really sing, do theater, read out loud, and I struggled going to school even 9 hours a week due to speaking (I was part online and switched to fully online partly due to pain). I'm going to college this fall so I guess we'll see what happens there and if I have the same issues. (I also have laryngospasms, trouble swallowing, occasional choking, lots of fun stuff)
I'm not really satisfied with the care I've gotten so far. My 24 hour PH test results were so bad my laryngologist was impressed, and yet all he told me to do was drink alkaline water which I tried for 3 months with no improvement. I kind of assumed that this would be my life and I'd have to either never work in a job where I have to speak or be so tired I can't talk to my wife/kids at the end of the day :/
anyways I was telling my GP about this and she referred me to a laryngologist head and neck surgeon. She seems nice and has really good reviews, but they're all vague like "she explained things well and my results were good." I'm having trouble actually finding out what exact surgeries she does or if she would be able to help me? Also- it's been five years of my voice hurting, and I'm afraid of getting surgery there because wouldn't the pain be way worse in recovery??
Anyways, any anecdotes or advice or resource recommendations would be appreciated. I've been scrolling through this subreddit for some time and see mostly paralysis, laryngitis, nodes, etc. I feel like I'm a weird case.
I'm worried she's just going to refer me to get acid reflux surgeries, but they seem really daunting, have a so-so improvement rate, and some include having metal put in your esophagus or making you unable to throw up (which as a chronically ill person I need to do sometimes and would not like to be unable to).

Anyways, sorry for just putting this all out here, I know I should just wait for my appointment and see what happens, but i've already been waiting several months and there's a whole semester of potential pain and struggle looming over me before the appointment
I just keep hoping someone will comment "omg I had the exact same symptoms/cause and got x surgery and it went well!" lol

I know this is a possible outcome of my surgery (wendler's glottoplasty). So I did this to myself.

My throat feels tense and I'm disappointed in my voice every time I speak. But there are some good days here and there. I only feel better after blowing raspberries, but the relief doesn't last.

I can't really shout, my voice is weak and low volume, sometimes people don't hear what I say at all.

I can't squeal, my voice won't go that high. Like I have a limited vocal range.

My voice is mildly broken. I just found this group and I needed to vent. I hope that's ok.

I just wish my voice didn't vibrate so much and were more smooth.

I guess this is my life now.

Had Restalyne injection in both vocal cords 2 days ago, completed 48 hours voice rest, tried speaking gently today, unable to bring out any sound only a whisper, have an important meeting next week that I am not able to reschedule, stressed and worried.

Is there anything I can do about this?

I got a bilateral vocal cord steroid injections for lesions, and in my 2 week check up- my left vocal cords is extremely stiff and swollen. my laryngologist said this is extremely rare, and that they often resolve themselves after a month- but that sometimes, they are permanent. he says there's no sign of vocal cord atrophy.

has anyone had this complication? I'm freaking out, as I chose steroid injections precisely as a lower risk alternative to surgery :(