DO I HAVE PERMANENT VOCAL DAMAGE or will more voice rest help?

Hi all!
Been singing intensely(about 2 months) before the course and with the course and worked on singing with distortion and without but I'm sure I've done it wrong in parts while dialing it in.
I've also been overusing my voice a lot during this time and it's had an effect on my voice in general both speaking and singing(I guess my cords aren't closing really while singing cause it feels like there's an unusual amount of air coming through).
I have now rested for about 4 days and done no singing at all and very little speaking and yesterday(day 3) it felt like my voice was improving but today again it sounds feels more affected.
So my question is: Do you think this is permanent damage and I'll just have to accept that this is my new voice(I won't go to the doctor and operate on my chords) so I should just keep singing and keep the chords as warm as possible OR will more voice rest help and if so how long do you think would be sufficient to get back to "normal"?
I don't smoke or drink(no drugs) and I eat healthy.
Cheers,
Vox
Been singing intensely(about 2 months) before the course and with the course and worked on singing with distortion and without but I'm sure I've done it wrong in parts while dialing it in.
I've also been overusing my voice a lot during this time and it's had an effect on my voice in general both speaking and singing(I guess my cords aren't closing really while singing cause it feels like there's an unusual amount of air coming through).
I have now rested for about 4 days and done no singing at all and very little speaking and yesterday(day 3) it felt like my voice was improving but today again it sounds feels more affected.
So my question is: Do you think this is permanent damage and I'll just have to accept that this is my new voice(I won't go to the doctor and operate on my chords) so I should just keep singing and keep the chords as warm as possible OR will more voice rest help and if so how long do you think would be sufficient to get back to "normal"?
I don't smoke or drink(no drugs) and I eat healthy.
Cheers,
Vox
Comments
It's unwise to ever oversing, although that is something quite common, and oversinging will give you setbacks.
I would encourage you to be seen by a medical practitioner to get a good assessment of the health of your vocal cords, and to follow their instructions.
I would also encourage you to stop doing the things that you suspect are causing your voice to become irritated or worn. Don't oversing. Too much volume is hard on the voice. Too much air, even at low volume, can create vocal issues.
The good news is that most vocal issues are not permanent, but vocal abuse over a long period of time can create damage. Short-term severe abuse can do damage in a short period of time, such as screaming at a concert or a sporting event, to the point of actually injuring yourself.
Each of us is in charge of what we do to our own bodies, and there are signs, like hoarseness, soreness, scratchy feelings on the vocal cords, that tell us we need to ease back on the force we are using. We each have to use common sense to stay within the boundaries of what our voices can handle without exceeding those boundaries.
We train the voice gently, always choosing to avoid oversinging.
It may be that you have used the wrong approach to your singing for years.
Ken does have a course called Voice Repair that has gentle exercises that may be beneficial to rehabilitate your voice. If you have that course, you may want to work through some of those exercises to see if it helps to reverse some of the issues you are having.
It's important to stop doing the things that are irritating your vocal cords. If you recover your voice, but then resume irritating your cords with abuse, then you will most likely continue to have problems.