Hoarseness of voice

Our Treatments

 

 

Every human being probably has unique finger prints and voice which are one’s own and cannot be matched easily. But there are some occasions when the voice seems to go astray with hoarse, husky or a raspy acoustic which needs to be remedied.

 

Voice is sound made by the air passing from the lungs through the larynx or the voice box wherein there are two bands of muscle fibres which vibrate to make the sound. But a change in voice can happen due to talking, screaming, singing, constantly clearing the throat, smoking sounding as hoarseness of voice and not to forget of infections, cancer, reflux of acid into the oesophagus and also paralysis of the muscle fibres of the vocal cord. As such the muscle fibres of the vocal cord remain open when one is silent and allow air in and out of the lungs but when one attempts to speak the muscle fibres come in the way of the air being expired out of the lungs to produce voice. Just like any muscle of the body being strained, the same could happen to these fibres too and though not much is known immediately, over a period of time due to constant stress on the fibres, hoarseness can develop. People who need to use their voice in their occupations like teachers, lawyers, singers, cheerleaders, actors or people working in high noise environments, stock brokers etc. who need to use their voice at a high pitch are all prone to change in voice.


To ascertain the cause of change in voice, hoarseness of voice with the help of Laryngoscopy it can be ascertained whether it is the polyps, nodules, tumours, ulcers on the vocal cord or if it just an inflammation of the voice box.

 

Nodules could occur on the vocal cords symmetrically on either side and at the site of greatest irritation between the muscle fibres and more likely to occur in singers and teachers when they find a loss of vocal range and have a hoarse and raspy voice.

 

Polyps on vocal cords could appear only one one side and is likely because of long term voice usage or irritants like chemicals, inhalants like cigarette smoke etc. leading to a low pitched voice.

 

Voice abuse when done in actors, stock brokers etc. leads to contact ulcers on the vocal cords apart from the acidic nature of the stomach contents which reflux on to the surface of the cords. Such patients suffer from throat pain and easy tiring of voice on talking a little.

 

If some people lose voice suddenly it is usually to infection, trauma, inflammation due to smoke, bacteria etc. and such patients suffer from fever, throat pain, difficulty in swallowing or constant need to clear the throat.

 

Sometimes the appearance of tumours on the vocal cords is not rare and is known to occur in smokers. And they could exhibit other symptoms like breathlessness or difficulty in swallowing.

 

Very rarely too there is a paralysis of the fibres and the lack of movement leads to loss of voice which can occur in neurological conditions.

 

Treatment in the short term is nothing but voice rest and vocal nodules usually get relieved within a span of six to twelve weeks but if rest is not given they can recur. Arum tryph, Arg met, Selenium are a few remedies which can help get rid of these.  Polyps of the vocal cords need rest and modulation of voice and so that straining is avoided during speaking while Causticum, Thuja are known to help clear those in a few weeks. If it is the ulcers in the cords, Merc sol, Arg nit help in a few days apart from avoiding irritants like cold, dust, smoke etc. If it is the inflammation leading to laryngitis secondary to hyperacidity of the stomach lining, Nux vomica, Robinia cure the same while infection is brought under check by frequent sipping of water and medication like Hepar sulph, Wyethia etc. Even it is the slight paretic changes of the cords under observation and advice Homoeopathic medicines like Causticum help resolve those. For all the changes in the voice these medicines are the safe bet.

 

DR. VENUGOPAL GOURI
92463 72625
drvenugopal@gmail.com