feeling lousy

[candycane]

Hi all; not expecting any answers, just feeling completely fed up and wanted a moan. I've posted before about continued voice problems. Well I'm not into my 7th week without a proper voice. It gets "stuck" if I try to project my voice beyond a teeny tiny soft voice or a whisper. My headteacher says he'll only allow me to return to work if the doctor writes a letter to say that teaching without a proper voice won't hurt my voice further. The doctor won't do this as he says he doesn't know what's causing it and I have to wait to see a specialist. This could take months. School starts again this week and already I'm feeling stressed a) about the fact that I'm not there and b) about setting cover work for kids who are invariably unmotivated and generally naughty if they don't have consistency. Does anybody know any teachers who have had problems? Does anybody know how much it might cost to try going private? Does anybody have a magic wand - or at least a hug?! Thanks - I'm feeling really frustrated and down again, after a nice holiday even without much voice.

oh hugs to you, its not much fun not being able to natter, my friends mum used to be a teacher and during her last 10 years teaching, developed vocal probs, she ended up with an op tho ......but hasn't had any probs since, tho not using her voice all day now.... hope you get better soon

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} and prayers.

candycane, I don't know if it will be of any use but here goes anyway!
When I was in my mid/late twenties I worked for London Electricity in their call centre, it was quite high pressured, constant phone calls and targets to deal with so many calls,,,etc. I started suffering with tonsillitus, it recurred every few weeks, not a lot of good trying to work on the phones when I had no voice. After ongoing visits to the doctor, I had my tonsils out, but still suffered with losing my voice. I ended up seeing a Speech Therapist who helped with breathing exercises,voice control, stretching exercises for the neck area...I also had a short course of physio.
I can't say that this will cure all your problems but it might be worth looking into and perhaps trying a few exercises while you wait!
Good luck and chin up!

So sorry {{{{{{{{{{{{{{big hug}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

{hugs} may I ask whether you actually have a sore throat or whether you are just voiceless without pain? If the latter it might be an inflamation of the vocal chords or the larynx. My father, who is an opera singer had this a long time ago. It was very bad for him as he couldn't do his job for a while. Can't remember the treatment for that as I was quite young, but one thing was 'shut up' . Not very useful I know but I was just wondering whether your doc has thought of that? Also my dad had a colleague who developed 'knots' on his vocal chords due to strain, which also affected his voice.

Best of luck getting an appointment soon. From experience you will have to pester them a bit.

Thankyou so much to all of you. I have no pain in my throat unless I've been straining a lot to get words out, or whispering for a long time. I do have an awful lot of tightness in my chest though and feel as if i'm struggling to get air much of the time. It doesn't help that I've seen 3 GPs, who have given differing advice as to what I should do whilst I wait to see the specialist. One said I could teach with a whisper with a microphone; the other two said absolutely no teaching. I tried voice rest, barely spoke at all for a fortnight and it made no difference at all. The more I try to talk the harder it gets. I feel almost as if something is "switching off" in my brain and causing my chest to squeeze and my voice to get stuck, like a stutter. Dingle, did you ever get a diagnosis for your problems? And what exercises would you recommend? When I saw a speech therapist about 4 years ago she gave me phrases beginning with M sounds to say. At that time I was really stressed though and in a job I hated and my voice came back after I resigned. This time I'm in a job I love, wasn't streesed at all until I lost my voice - in the 4 years since I last saw the speech therapist I've probably lost my voice once every 5 -6 weeks minimum, for between 3 days and a week at a time.

No-I was never actually diagnosed. I think it was stress,also hating the job- had no sense of worth.
I put a lot down to my posture, being constantly stuck at the screen, with a headset on. I do have back problems now, it started more accross my shoulders, which tied in with throat problems.
Funny that you mentioned the tightness in your chest. My first visit to the LE occupational physio, really put pressure on the centre of my back, it cracked so much I thought my ribs were going to cave in. I felt immediate relief almost! I sat up and I remember thinking, OMG, I can breathe. I hadn't really noticed that there had been a problem beforehand!
If you want any details of the stretching exercises, please feel free to cat me, I can't remember much-was a long time ago!
I had my first visit to an oesteopath before xmas (it's my lower back now) don't really have much experience, but she did similar twisting, stretching exercises with me- could they possibly help. I thought she was going to recommend regular visits to her,but instead she recommended regular swimming or yoga to keep me supple and stop my back from seizing up again.
Might be completely off track but do you do anything like that to relax and exercise?
Sorry for going off at tangents, I remember feeling so low- I was single then and also had the worry of my job and mortgage! Your life is in their hands as they say.

Thanks Dingle - have CATed you - hope it works! And in the meantime I'm drinking loads of water and doing lots of stretching! If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear from you!