No voice for a year, a bit of hope please.

[ThatMummy]

Had anyone had voice loss due to a mental health problem rather than something more serious?

I just need to know if I will ever hear my mums voice again.

A bit of background, my dad died almost 3 years ago, my mum found him dead and was there throughout resuscitation from paramedics (restarted heart but died shortly after in hospital) she couldn't step over him to get out the room so saw it all happening...so fast forward 2 years and she starts getting a lump in her throat and then loses her voice completely...at first it was slurred as she was finding it difficult to speak, the doctors sent her for an MRI scan thinking it was a brain tumour but came back clear of tumours but found some brain ageing that they didn't seem bothered about (she is 48).

This problem started in February and I haven't heard her voice since then, she has trouble swallowing and coughs lots with all the saliva collecting in the back of her throat, so she has been having speech therapy, 2 sessions so far, and a psychiatric review.
Today she goes to a speech therapy appointment and they say they are signing her off speech therapy and she needs counselling to get to the root cause! Really?! Can all this really be caused by a mental health issue!stemming from my dad dying?

I really hope so because the other things that are running through my mind are things like dementia, ms, or could it be an allergy brought on by the menopause?

Any experience with this kind of issue will be greatly appreciated, I just want to feel like her voice could be back at some point, I lost my dad, and now it feels like I am loosing my mum, thank you for reading, I know it's such a long post, I just don't know where to turn anymore, I can't remember the last time I felt truly happy.

Anyone out there?

I'm really sorry to hear this, sounds terrible. I'm an SLT and it sounds like what your describing is a globus sensation (the lump) and a functional voice loss.

Globus is a stress (or reflux) related condition where you can feel a lump when you swallow, but there isn't anything there, it's created by anxiety.

Voice loss can 100% be caused by stress and anxiety. The way our brain works is very complex and our subconscious can do very strange things. Your mum most likely has no idea her voice is still there. Psychology will help her more by unpicking the anxiety and most likely, her voice will just come back.

The swallowing is different but as long as she's been seen by ENT and neurology which it sounds she has, I wouldn't be overly concerned.

Just reading your first post I also wonder if she is suffering with reflux as that may explain her coughing.

DSis friend went through something traumatic and lost her voice for about 9 months. It did come back.

Hope your DM and you are ok OP.

Sounds like traumatic mutism. Maya Angelou was s famous 'victim' . It's basically a post traumatic stress reaction. I believe it is usually temporary but can go on for several years.

Thank you so much for the replies, it means so much to know she's not the only one this has happened to.

Avengers, she did have lpr that supposedly started all this off, but her last appointment with ent she had the camera down her throat again, and they said there was no acid anymore xx

I just don't know what's going on, it's so sad that she seems to be lost, she's so lovely and kind and I feel like I have lost her as a person, for good x

Excellent post from Avengers - MN at it's best. Hope this has given you a ray of hope OP.