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Posted by: NTSD ® 02/06/2012, 11:13:45 |
So I came on these boards a few months ago after becoming determined to find out what's wrong with my voice. I'm 24 yr old male, and I've had a hard time speaking for about 10 years. After doing some reading I thought maybe I had spasmodic dysphonia. I just left DR Mau's office and was diagnosed with MTD. I'm fairly relieved, not that I wanted to have AdSD, but I was looking forward to the instant gratification of getting a shot and having the problem taken care of. I begin speech therapy Thursday. Any word as to what to expect? I'm really anxious to start! |
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Posted by: irish ® 02/06/2012, 17:50:32 |
Hi there, Consider yourself fortunate not to have SD. Botox is just a temporary fix and it's no fun getting shots. Speech therapy should help you if you practice the routines, like breath control, etc. Relaxation exercises, massages, etc will also help. One good technique for taking the strain off of your shoulders and neck muscles is to support your arms whenever you can. Your arms are heavy and pull on those muscles, so prop them up with pillows when you read or watch TV. Did you see the movie, The King's Speech. He was a stammerer,but dealt with a lot of relaxation issues as well. Good luck with your therapy. Hope you have a good coach who will analyze what you are doing and tailor it to your specific needs. |
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Posted by: NTSD ® 02/17/2012, 11:03:06 |
WOW! So I'm two sessions into my speech therapy and I can already tell a difference. Yesterday, during the session, for a brief moment my 'true' voice came out. I thought this was going to take much more time, though I am doing my 'homework' religiously. |
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Posted by: rainbow ® 02/18/2012, 18:42:58 |
Can you share some of your techniques? Feel free to email me at rsh731@aol.com. Diagnosed with ADSD, but not really ADSD - don't know exactly what I have, but do have a lot of tension which is somewhat relieved through massage therapy, physical therapy, and ultrasound therapy. Thank you. |
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Posted by: NTSD ® 02/19/2012, 12:05:13 |
I'd be more than happy to, it started with the basics. I'm to be sure I drink 8, 8 ounce glasses of water, and replace any soda or alcohol with the equivalent amount of water. Your vocal cords are the first part of your body to dehydrate. I was also told to do a gargle and steam. The idea is to use the steam 2-3 times a day [in the shower, or over a boiling pot is fine], and then to use a gargle right after steam. To make the gargle, mix:
Gargle with it until it done [Don't swallow!]. Don't eat anything for 30 min after. Google 'Dr. Gould's Gargle' if you want more information. We did breathing exercises that she had me do weekly. I'd inhale through my nose, focusing on using my stomach to breath, and then release through puckered lips. 2-3 min sessions, 5 times daily. The idea is to learn to breath properly, but also to help the vocal cords relax. When you're breathing your vocal cords are open and relaxed, instead of tense like with MTD [and maybe SD]. The next one was kind of weird, but the idea is to slowly combine breathing with speech. I'd breath in through a straw and then put it in a glass of water and blow bubble, while voicing a 'who'. The idea is to keep the bubbles constant while maintaining a constant 'who'. If you feel a bit silly doing this with water, just put your hand in front of the straw to be sure air is coming out. If you find no air, or very little air is coming out you need to use more air. You modulate volume by airflow. Part of my specific problem involve use of my tongue, I tend to keep it to far back in my mouth, not everyone will have this problem but remember that your tongue should be close to the back of your teeth and flat. The next exercise further adds voice to the breathing exercises. I would inhale through the straw [slowly breaths allow for a deeper breath, another one of my problems], and then exhale while mouthing a number. This is kind of hard to explain, I'd take the breath, and exhale while going through the movements of saying 'one'. It should be less than a whisper and ALL your air should be gone after each number. You kind of have to extent the vowels "Ooooneee", then your air should be gone and go through the alpha bet. Eight should come out more like 'hate', seven has two syllables so try to space them equally. You should place a 1 inch strip of tissue paper in front of your mouth to be sure enough air is coming out. The paper should flutter significantly. If you find it becoming different, take a few breaths with the straw and just exhale through puckered lips, remember BREATH WITH YOUR STOMACH. NExt step was to do 2 words at a time, inhale with straw, breath out on 'one two'. We would also inhale and say a sentence starting with h, some examples to practice yourself. 'how are you?'
I hope that helps, some of it is very difficult to explain through type, feel free to ask for more explanation. Modified by NTSD at Sun, Feb 19, 2012, 13:17:24 |
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Posted by: rainbow ® 02/19/2012, 16:15:09 |
Thank you for your detail. Some of these my speech therapist initially had me do as well to try to loosen the vocal area. I will definitely try these. I just had an injection on Thursday so beginning a new cycle. Goal is to try to keep area loose and not tense. Thanks again! |
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Posted by: pattysv ® 02/25/2012, 14:00:57 |
When you are ready you can try hypnosis. By ready I mean after you have wrapped your mind around the fact that part of MTD is psychsomatic and after you have realxed your body through yoga or massage or meditation for a month or so. It worked for me, but I did lots of work first.
Also, someone else reported using a contraption that wraps around your head, has a pulley that goes over a door jam and literally stretches your neck amd neck muscles. That did help me some (2 20min session per day for 3 weeks)(start slow with the weights, you are also affecting your spine) |
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Posted by: NTSD ® 02/29/2012, 12:52:15 |
I doubt that will even be necessary, I will try adding the neck stretches. I know the weights you mentioned. I've come a long way in just a few weeks of speech therapy. Just yesterday, I found my 'true voice' it's much deeper and smoother. It makes me laugh talking in it but it does sound good and I'm really happy. I've actually improved my range quite a bit. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten to where I can control it 100% but I'm probably only a couple weeks away of being able to talk in that voice 'full-time'. A few people have already noticed an improvement in quality however. For anyone else out there, take your speech pathologist serious! She was having me doing things that seemed ridiculous, but I followed it religiously and it's worked incredibly. Modified by NTSD at Wed, Feb 29, 2012, 14:22:10 |
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Posted by: NTSD ® 03/05/2012, 12:20:10 |
Just an update, it's been almost a month since I started speech therapy. I'm just now starting to get used to talking in my normal voice. My biggest hurdle now is I've been talking in the wrong voice for over 10 years, me and no one else, has heard my real voice until now. It's MUCH deeper and smoother. I don't know how people are going to accept my real voice once I use it easier than my old voice. I was using it a lot last night and actually ordered some food and it was a night and day difference on the phone, the guy taking my order had no problem at all understanding me, where as before, who ever I was on the phone with would usually repeat information or ask me to spell it etc. I used that voice so long last night, it sort of became natural, but as soon as I'm around someone I know I revert back to my old voice. |
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Posted by: delynnel ® 03/06/2012, 11:18:42 |
It's great to hear of your good news! I can understand the self-consciousness involved in using your "new" voice with people who are used to hearing you sound a certain way. Just be bold and remember that you are doing what is best for you and your future - they'll get used to it soon enough, and every time you use your "new" voice you are educating those around you to become accustomed to it, as well as making it habitual for yourself to speak this way! |
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Posted by: NTSD ® 03/06/2012, 17:09:25 |
I made a short video and posted it to my facebook. Should make it easier when I see everyone, takes away the shock value I figure. |
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Posted by: Catherine1011 ® 03/10/2012, 08:41:57 |
That's great news! Thanks for sharing all your speech therapy. I just find it hard to stay motivated when I don't hear immediate results. |
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Posted by: NTSD ® 03/12/2012, 11:17:25 |
Everything went better than expected. Everyone loves my new voice, it's so totally different from the voice I was used to that it totally throws people off, but they love it. After about 3 days I was used to hearing it, and am now having no problems using it full time. I can now talk as loudly or quietly as I want, but good LORD my voice is deep now. Everyone is calling me Barry White. I've got a few more sessions already booked so I'll go to see if I can improve it even further, but so far I'm blown away with the results. I wish everyone else well with their voice complications. |
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