Lost voice for two weeks due to sickness - What do I do?

lethargy

So I got really sick and there were a few days when i couldnt talk completely. 

Im recovering right now and I just started singing again.

My head voice has been harder to access since and my head voice range has been shortened. 

If I try to sing any higher than A#4 ish, nothing comes out.

It has also been so much harder to bridge into head voice. 

I tried doing the warm ups earlier today and it didn't work out very well. 

A quarter of the time, it feels like it's mucus that gets in the way. 

For the rest, it's just that nothing comes out or that it's too hard to sing (struggling with an E4! )

What should I do? Should I rest and wait or is there something else I should do? (I have been told to swallow honey, drink tea, etc) 

sspatrick

If you don't need to sing I would rest. It sounds like the cords may be inflamed which inhibits them from closing properly. If it's taking a lot if work to even get a sound out that's not a good sign. See a doctor if you haven't already and get some rest. Pushing it at this stage may just cause more damage.

lethargy

sspatrick said:

If you don't need to sing I would rest. It sounds like the cords may be inflamed which inhibits them from closing properly. If it's taking a lot if work to even get a sound out that's not a good sign. See a doctor if you haven't already and get some rest. Pushing it at this stage may just cause more damage.

My problem is that I got a capella rehearsals and a singing project to work on this week Since I can't just rest, I'll just back off from singing difficult lines and such. 
Do you have any other recommendations besides resting? 

Johan_Kalevi

@kennysaur

Hi, nice to meet you.

I don't have any medical advice for you.

What I can share is something from personal experience.

For the past three months (or so) I've been making my own homemade masala (chai) tea at home.  One of the main herbal ingredients is 'cardamom' - and it really helps to control and clear your lungs and throat of that mucus you're talking about.

You can Google some different recipes, and perhaps you would want to avoid adding milk to it. 

I recommend green cardamom pods (zapped for a little while in a coffee grinder) if you can find any.  It really works!

Besides the mucus issue, there are several other health benefits to consuming cardamom.

I'm drinking said tea as we speak...

Peace,

Johan

voodoo

@kennysaur,

Take a look at Ken's vocal health webinar.  It's a gold mine for preventative and recovery methods.  If you have something that's not extremely serious (like strep throat), take the Zand Insure Herbal and Nature's Way Zic lozenges.  They work wonders in stopping or reducing symptoms.  Go the doctor for strep, a friend of mine almost died once from an undetected case.  Long super hot (not scalding!) showers and take in all the steam you can.  Try a humidifier.  There were lots of others tips on the webinar also.  Good luck on the projects.

ChrisRobinSings

I have been having the same problems . Try some warm tea and lozenges. it is dreadful having to sing when you are sick, I also having singing projects to work on. Hope you feel better and your projects are a success.

highmtn

It's tough when your body is your instrument.  You can't just go out and rent another one when you're ill.

Get plenty of rest and drink lots of water! 

Take care of those instruments!

Bob

TungPavint

im not sure this is proper way to do in term of singing or not, but for the illness issue i think this pill is quite a good choice. It call Zyxal, i started used this when i meet this famous doctor in my country, that time im quite weak against cold. I catch cold, cough, fever quite easy even im a regular workout person. So this doctor advise me to 'preventing' more than 'heal' our body. So more than eat good ,drink good, sleep and workout properly, he suggest when u feel to catching a cold, take each Zyxal before go to bed until u feel it's all gone. It'hv been few years, and im rarely catch cold even sometimes i stayed among sick people.

This pill is used for children too, and i saw some weak kids took this pill 365 days a year. Only side effect i got so far is that i feel addict to the strong immune feeling.

Anyway, this's a pill, not a nature stuffs, so please check it out before decide to have one.

I hope this could help.

Tung

tinaalcorace

Hi Kenny,

First of all glad you are finally on the road to recovery. Just like any muscle, if it hasn't been worked out for a period of time it will take a while for things to return to its normal state. I think it is important not to push your voice too much, nor get frustrated with the challenges you are now facing. Afterall frustration and stressing can cause tension which is not what you want. My advice to you is, as you mentioned above, treat your voice with honey, tea, breathe in steam. Vocally, I would gradually get into your warmups and do them lightly. This doesn't mean airy, but just light enough where you can connect the voice from chest to head and not hear that break or crack in the voice. I think its important you build your voice slowly. Maybe to start you can only do tracks 1-4 on the audio portion of the workout and that's fine. The main thing is to build up the strength again. You will find that if you do this, with time and patience you will be back to yourself in no time.

All the best!

Tina

davo165

Great tips guys, helped me Out too