voice horseness

[REGINA49]

My tsh is 35, nodules in thyroid glands and the doctor said not to worrry, my voice is horse and gets worse when i am tired.  Any suggestions?

[jenny482437]

I recently came upon this 2009 post of yours, and your description of your thyroid nodule symptoms resonated with me.  I have been monitoring multiple (benign) nodules on my thyroid for over a decade and during that time, as they have grown, I feel my very life has been ripped away from me because of how much my singing ability has diminished.  Was just wondering... all these years after your surgery... how are you doing in terms of singing?  Were you able to get your voice back?  Have you experienced a loss of range at all, particularly the top of your range?

[jenny482437]

I recently came upon this old post of yours, and your description of your symptoms resonated with me.  I have been monitoring multiple nodules on my thyroid for over a decade and during that time I feel my very life has been ripped away from me because of how much my singing ability has diminished.  Was just wondering... all these years after your surgery... how are you doing in terms of singing?  Were you able to get your voice back?  Have you experienced a loss of range at all, particularly the top of your range?

[REGINA49]

I am having the videoscope done tomorrow, (6th of May).  I am petrified-how bad is the test?  Did they remove the thyroid or just on the vocal chords?

[MANmom]

Have you had a video scope done on your vocal chords?  I did and mine were perfect.  BUT!  I just got my pathologist report and I do have cancer, stage 1 papillary.  Since the surgery I am no longer having hoarseness, I am back to working on my vocal range, but now I am looking at surgery #2, so all bets are off until I get the other half taken out.  My voice would get worse when I was tired, I could no longer sing in my semi-professional choir.  That was enough for me to get it taken out, only I wished for no cancer so that I could keep the other half of my thyroid.

[Sackvegas]

Interesting, my hoarseness gets worse when I am tired. As well, I can't sing for very long before my voice goes - I play guitar and sing backup. My specialist said it was from Acid Reflux and Vocal Chord Nodules. I took Pantaloc for a couple of years, Slept upright - which is a real pain in case you haven't tried it, cut down on caffine, and ate little at night. However, I get burning in my throat in the middle of the night and in the morning when I wake up It taste like acid. Other than that I can eat anything and I don't have any type of upset stomach. I tried doubling up on the medication, and it didn't make a difference. The past month and a half I tried eleminating the medication and it didn't get any worse or any better.  However, I think the sleeping more upright did help a lot from two years ago, it just hasn't gotten better.

[MANmom]

I, too, have nodules and hoarseness, although my nodules are solid and vascular.  I am a singer, and after singing at a three hour rehearsal, I would get hoarse for a few hours afterwards.  In the past year, it has progressed, I can now only sing for 15 minutes, then be hoarse for 4 hours.  I had the videostroboscopy, my vocal chords were strong and node-free...probably from good voice instruction.  My longest stint for a hoarseness episode was 5 days, that is when I decided that they needed to come out, at least the side with three largest nodules in it.  My largest was 2.1 cm, the other two were about 1 cm each...I also had swallowing difficulties and tired all the time, lost weight, brain fog.  I had a lobectomy April 21, and my voice was pretty good just after the surgery.  I chose to remove only the one side on the chance that if it was not cancerous, I could still have thyroid function AND maybe alleviate the hoarseness and swallowing difficulties.  I plan to resume some easy exercises this week to start working back into vocal shape while await the biopsy results...if there is any cancer, they will have to go back in to remove the rest.  How big are the nodules?  If they are bigger than 1 cm, you can have a FNA biopsy done, that will sometimes tell you what is going on, however, they could not definitively tell me if they were or were not cancer.  But I could not live without singing, so the little suckers coming out was worth a shot!

[goolarra]

Is your TSH 35 (thirty-five) or .35 (point three five)?  What's the reference range on the thyroxine?

[REGINA49]

Thanks for your  info.  I had two ct scans, in 2007 the thyroid glands were 3.8 cm and in 2009 they were 5.8 with cystic nodules.  My bloodwork shows tsh .35, thyroxine 7.10, vit b 12 505, folate 9.6.  I have only been seen by my internest, should I seek second opinion from another? Doc said no need to go on any meds or anything. My ent suggested a voice team for a laryngeal videostroboscopy.  I have developed many signs that something is not right.  Loud snoring (any position) through the nose not the mouth. Very fatigued, no incentive to do anything (very abnormal for me)

[goolarra]

Did he say not to worry about the hoarseness or not to worry about the TSH of 35, or both?

True for the hoarseness (enlarged thyroid pressing on the laryngeal nerve - the one that goes to the vocal cords), false for the TSH.

[FTB4]

Horarsness is a symptom of thyroid, this is do to the inflamed/enlarged thyroid placing pressur on the vocal chord, it also causes a restricted air way (Mostly at sleep) and contibutes to or causes sleep apnea. Has he done an Ultrasound to see if you thyroid is enlarged?  If you need help in understanding your Labs (Bloodwork) just post them here and members will explain them to you. Good Luck   FTB4