Recovering from a cold

erwinspina

Hello....

I am just about to recover from a two week dreaded cold and during that period, I lost my voice. Although my cold is improving, my voice is not recovering as fast as I would like. A lot of people around me have been very sincere and offer their advice but I would like to confirm here in this forum.

Should I *not* sing and let my voice rest?

-OR-

Should I continue to do the exercises and continue to sing regardless of how horrible I sound? Also, if exercises and singing should continue, should I avoid "loud" singing?

Any other advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
Erwin

highmtn

"Normally" you should sing through a cold or illness. This is one time when you probably should NOT.

We should do vocal rest if we Have Laryngitis or are Hoarse: This sounds like it qualifies, because you said you lost your voice. In cases like that we should rest the voice.

We also rest the voice in the case of Bronchial infections, bad coughs, or other respiratory infections.

Otherwise, even though our voice may not be "up to par" we take an even greater setback if we don't keep singing through it. Not only do we have the effects of the cold or flu depressing our normal vocal capabilities, but we let our voices atrophy, including letting the bug have its way with our voices. When we sing through the bug, we "fight" back a little, and our return to full vocal capabilities is faster, with less of a setback.

So normally we just do our best and sing through. We don't push to force our way up to our highest notes as if we were fine, but we do make an effort to retain our voices and to not roll over and play dead. We sing.

This time, lay out, and hope for a quick recovery and no setbacks.

erwinspina

Thank you so much. I truly appreciate the valuable information. I'm glad I checked with you. Thank you again.

highmtn

You're welcome, erwin.

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highmtn

Get well soon. The URI's just have to run their course.