Bronchitis Seems to Have Damaged my Vocal cords

gpsyblu4

I was sick for over 2 months with bronchitis about March 26th to the end of May. I do not smoke, it was a traumatic experience and I found myself coughing so heavily from deep within my chest, throat and lungs that it hurt me to even attempt to sing.

I had a very good range singing anything from Heart to Journey to Dio etc with ease and full voiced. I don't seem to have my high-end back yet... I can't reach those notes that I once found so effortlessly. Is this normal recovery time and if so, how can I speed it up? Did I possibly do some damage to my vocal cords?

Help! I have a band and gigs to do and I am not up to par.

highmtn

@gypsyblu4,

It's hard to guess whether you have incurred permanent damage or not.

Coughing is very hard on the vocal cords.  You are blasting your cords and scraping them every time you cough, and that will cause swelling.  Extended coughing can even cause calluses or lesions on the cords. 

In most cases, the vocal range will eventually come back, but you have to be very careful to not irritate the cords or to try to make them work the way they used to, before they have healed.  

The way that you can speed up your recovery is to not try to speed up your recovery.  In other words, take it very easy and light on your voice and gradually build your notes back up.  You can't force it before the cords are healed. 

Singing very lightly on the notes that aren't working so well can be helpful.  Your voice doesn't know what you want it to do.  If you gently and gingerly sing scales through the area that has been damaged, you may be able to bring it back.

Honestly, you should do a consult with Ken Tamplin.  He can assess your voice and give you some exercises to get you back in shape without damage.  

Good luck with your recovery!

Bob

whoisj15

Hi, I had some kind of cold, coughing, couldnt breathe in the nose, i had range like journey and could hit those notes before the cold. during my sickness i couldnt sing at all and it got better and better but very slowly. i couldnt even sing my high notes. i was out for about a month. 

i have my range back. only when i hit those high notes its now naturally smokey. before my hit notes were clean. so Im not sure why i was clean in my high notes now im smokey. i mean smokey like Steve Perry - Oh Sherry. 

highmtn

@whoisj15

Can you go to those notes that are now smokey and slowly go between clean and smokey?  You should be able to go there and carefully apply a little pressure and remove that pressure and be able to add more smoky sound and reposition to clean that up.  It may be that after your illness you have kind of a new "default position" that your cords are in, and you may be able to slightly reposition your cords to get that clarity if you want it. 

Funny things happen when we have long illnesses or injury to our voices, and we may have a new "normal" when the notes finally come back.  From there we may have to learn to adjust if we really don't want our new "smokey" sound to be the norm.

Bob

 

whoisj15

thank you for your answer Bob. Infact I truly enjoy the smokey voice. im not complaining !!!