I lost my mom in July 2012…and the circumstances were unusual ones – we weren’t terribly close (although I worked every day to make it better on my end, she wasn’t willing to change on her end – and in the end, that was ok…she did the best she could with what she had). I found out in a voicemail from a stranger that she had passed. So it was really weird. Even as I write it today, a year and a half later, it’s still weird.
Then, in October 2012, my great grandma passed – she was 103…she was very ready to go to heaven…it was still a hard loss.
In January 2013, a good friend’s hubby passed.
On February 8, 2013, one of my best friends from high school lost her battle with M.S.
And this trend continued on until late last year when the tally of people who were close to me who had passed was around 20.
On February 6 of last year (2013), I lost my voice. I thought it was a “routine” run of laryngitis or allergies. I went to urgent care and had it looked at and was told it was likely acute bronchitis. Mind you, no cough, no cold, nothing. Just my very terribly weakened voice, barely a whisper.
So I sought out my doc for a visit and he tested me for mono and strep and checked for acid reflux…all to no avail.
I asked for a referral to an ENT / otolaryngologist…which I got in to see in April 2013. I was frustrated to have to wait that long, so I started looking around for other options to see a specialist that could get me in sooner. I saw a doc in March who dismissed my case as “you’ll get better” and shooed me out the door.
I waited for the visit in April and saw the otolaryngologist who did a scope and basically was of the opinion since I didn’t need surgery that voice therapy was the next best option.
So I met with the voice therapist and she got me all pumped up, said “let’s get you in as soon as possible” and walked me to the front where I made my first appointment for 2 months later in June. Ugh!
I went to voice therapy regularly (for the 6 visits they need to diagnose the problem), participated fully in the exercises and measuring of my voice each session. I did the exercises at home and got no relief. She also did the vigorous vocal cord area massage…as they thought it might be muscle tension dysphonia. At the end of those sessions, the doctors collectively felt that botox injections were the best option for me and since I didn’t want to do the botox, they said there wasn’t much else they could do for me then. The voice therapist believes I have extreme muscle tension dysphonia (that she simply couldn’t get to relax) overlaying the abductor spasmodic dysphonia (SD). My last visit was in September 2013.
I started a course of acupuncture in November and went for 2 months and did not see any relief there, so I have decided to discontinue those visits for now.
I saw my primary doctor again and asked for a referral to get blood work done to check my thyroid…those tests came back “in normal ranges.”
I’ve seen a wide variety of other non-traditional / holistic healers and all, so far, to no avail.