Lost My Voice - Orem,UT

Hi~
I have lost my voice several times in the past. THE number one most important thing to do is DO NOT make any sounds (especially whispering - it is harder on your vocal cords than talking). write everything down or jester/sign/point. if your voice doesn't return in a couple of days see your doctor (there was one time that my voice didn't return for 4 days and it turned out to be an infection that antibiotics helped with)

also drink lots of fluids - warm teas helped best but keep everything moist.

good luck - hope your voice returns soon! :)

1 mom found this helpful

I would try to gargle with Salt water...I always do it when I have a sore throat. It is really good durring a cold to help try and keep the throat dry from all the mucus drainage. Best of luck.

LEMON OIL (and/or honey)

Warm (not hot) water with as much honey as you can dissolve in it should soothe your throat. Hope you feel better soon!

You can try gordo lobo - it's a mexican herb that you just boil into a sort of tea. You can get it at almost any regular grocery store. I had an employee of mine get me some after I was trying to train my new hire class and lost my voice and I felt that it really worked. I'll warn you though - it tastes just aweful and from what my employee said you don't want to put sweetener in it as it can take away from healing you and actually make it worse (he said that there was some type of pure sweetener but I didn't know what he was talking about and I could never find it). So if you make yourself a cup of that and drink it fast to get it over with then it might help. That and it's totally healthy to take while you're pregnant (that's when I used it). Hope you feel better soon!

Okay, I have two amazing natural cures to help a sore throat/lost voice.

For the sore throat, (I know it sounds disgusting, but it WORKS, so it is worth it.) put about two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into a glass, and add about a teaspoon of salt. Then, add enough HOT water (not so hot you can't stand it) to dissolve the salt. Gargle with this solution every 3-4 hours. I originally got this method from a college campus nurse. She says it kills the bacteria in the back of your throat, and creates an unfriendly environment for more to grow. I will warn you ... it tastes horrible until you get used to it. I've actually gotten to where I almost like the taste. Scary, right?

Anyway, for the lost voice, try this: Take a tabespoon of honey and mix in a few drops of lemon juice. Eat this every hour or so. You can add it to hot tea, or just hot water, but I've found that the straight honey/lemon juice combination works better alone. I was a voice student for years, and this is what my voice coach told me to do. This also tastes funky until you get used to it, but it's not too hard to get used to it.

I hope these help. I had a horrible cold when I was three months pregnant with my son. Since I wasn't past my first trimester yet, my doctor wouldn't let me take anything at all. Boy, was I glad they made Vicks VapoRub (Put it on a tissue and breathe through it - works wonders!), and tea bags you could put in the microwave, and that we happen to have a honey manufacturer in town, so I could get local honey.

P.S. If you have allergies and travel ... get local clover honey as soon as possible whenever you get where you're going to be for a while, and eat as much as you can stand. My allergist gave me this tip. It will help bolster your natural antihistamine production for the local plants. Awesome, Huh?

Good luck, and congratulations on your baby.

I can sympathize, I seem to get laryngitis on a regular basis. The only thing that heals your vocal cords is rest, no talking for a couple of days. What does help sooth is warm tea with lemon and honey. If you are trying to avoid caffeine, white tea has very small amounts. Hope you feel better soon.

Hi T. - that's a real bummer. The best thing to do is to get a lot of sleep and rest your voice. Drink lots of warm liquids like tea with lots of honey during the day. Sleep with a humidifier at night.

Like others have said, honey is great for sore throats because it coats it. I always get the celestial seasonings lemon zinger tea and load it with honey. It works everytime.

gargling with salt and water should help . Hot water and lemon juice will soothe your vocal chords. You should also squirt your nose with saline solution. The cheap stuff at Walgreens 99 cents don't get anything with antibiotics or steroids.

Honey lemon tea is great for this. The warmth is soothing, and it seems to speed the healing process.It will help with the cough, too. A spoonful of honey is also helpful for the coughing. Hope this helps. Feel better soon.

It is a no talking thing. Just like anything, your vocal cords need to heal and that happens faster if you don't use them. Of course this is really hard to accomplish so another thing that helps is to take REALLY hot water with honey and lemon in it. Make it as hot as you can stand it. At night put on a humidifier as well. I am not sure if it will speed up the healing process but it will make your voice feel better.

Good luck!

You should *not* eat large amounts of licorice if you are pregnant. There is a higher risk of miscarriage among women who eat large amounts of natural licorice.

The best way is to let the vocal cords rest. No whispering, nothing for a day or two. I think the other suggestions - lemon, honey, salt - are just fine too, if it helps your throat feel better, but nothing will get your voice back except rest.

There is a tea made by Traditional Medicinals called Throat Coat. It might not make your voice come back sooner, but it is very soothing and the herbs are great for colds. Feel better! :)

I've heard the resting them is the best thing. The thing I had to add is DO NOT whisper. A dr. told me that makes it worse because it vibrates the chords more than trying to speak normally. Either talk normally- or don't talk :) bummer I know. Sometimes I drink hot spiced cider with a spoon full of honey and that soothes the throat a lot- give it a try. Hope you feel better soon!

I don't know if it actually speeds healing, but tea (decaf would work) with lemon and ginger and honey is wonderfully soothing, and can restore a voice if you must talk. (I used to work in radio, and this was my "go-to" remedy for a rough voice.)

We swear by honey in our house too. A spoonful every once in a while is very helpful. I don't like it plain, so I put it in my hot tea. My daughter on the other hand could eat a whole bottle! Mary Poppins was right - a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!!!

I have a friend who is a singer who SWEARS by black licorice! Not my favorite taste, but if it helps... Another yucky one, but a friend of my Mom's gargles with cayenne pepper flakes in warm water every couple hours or so and says that it will get rid of a sore throat within a day.

I haven't tried this with a cough, but I've been having sore throats continually and have gotten rid of them with apple cider vinegar. You put 1tsp. apple cider vinegar in 8 oz. of water. It's a little tart, but not too bad. I've also put it in with cranberry juice and some other people heat the water, cider, and a little lemon and honey with nutmeg to make it taste better. It really does well at getting rid of the crud in your throat. I hope that helps!

I have had a cough for almost a month when a friend of mine mentioned raw honey. So what could it hurt right? So I swallowed a tablespoon of raw honey and it helped. Didn't make it go away, but it coated/soothed my throat long enough for me to get a nap in. Once I had the nap, I stared getting better.