12-year-old girl suddenly has developed a husky, hoarse voice ...

[BadWool]

My dd started sounding quite husky and crackly about 6 weeks ago. As she's asthmatic and often gets coughs and colds I didn't take a lot of notice, also she doesn't feel unwell at all and is as happy and bubbly as ever. I'm a little concerned though that it's on-going and will probably take her to the GP - in the meantime, does anyone have any experience of this and does it signify anything worrying?

Any suggestions?

It sounds like she has hayfever. If so she could benefit from a daily Piriteze or a nasal spray.

She uses a nasal spray anyway because of her on-going allergies. I wonder if it's got something to do with that ... it's quite noticeable, like her voice has gone an octave deeper and she can't achieve any high notes when she sings.

I think this can be a sign of thyroid problems as well so although it's most likely to be allergen/virus related I would get it checked if it persists.

It might just be that she has laryngitis or strained her vocal chords somehow though - that can take weeks and weeks to get back to normal.

I'm sure it's not a viral thing and I can't think of any way she might have strained her vocal cords. The thyroid option is worth considering as thyroid problems are very common amongst women in my family.

Can't comment on hoarse, but DD's voice dropped suddenly half an octave at that age. I've noticed same in her friends, it's a puberty thing I guess.

Thanks all - I've got a GP appointment for her on Friday, just to check things out. She's also complaining a lot of having very achy legs and is finding exercise difficult so it's worth getting a check up I think.

I was also going to mention hypothyroid. But if she strained her voice by shouting or singing when her vocal cords were inflamed then that could also cause the hoarseness, and as a pp says, it can take a long time to get back to normal.

I don't have any recollection of her straining her voice at all. Thyroid problems are very common in women in my family so I'd like to get that checked out just to be sure. She also has hay fever and I think that might be a cause as well from what I've read ...

We saw the GP who has put her on antibiotics as she thinks it's an infection. I'm convinced that if she had an infection she'd be feeling ill ... anyway, we have to see if they work and if not take her back so she can see an ENT specialist. So far the antibiotics are doing nothing but giving her terrible diarrheoa and indigestion.

Has she been using her steroid inhaler a lot lately? My niece (4) sounds awfully husky and sore throat type voice. But she's been checked out. Asthma nurse said it's likely to be an effect of the steroid inhaler she's using at the moment so to make sure she has a drink after taking her inhalers to clean her mouth out.