It started with a tickle five days ago.  Then there was a sore throat four days ago.  This resulted in waking up three days ago, going to speak and having nothing come out.  As a general rule, I lose my voice twice a year; once in the winter and once in the summer.  It sucks but I’m pretty used to it.  Well, I was used to it until I started taking the voiceover life seriously.   Four days ago when I had the sore throat, I still managed to get about six really good auditions in.  One of them I really was excited about but heard today I’m “not likely” going to get hired for it according to the voice seeker’s feedback.  Oh well.  I just kept thinking all day on Thursday what if one of those had a fast turn around deadline and I get the job?  In any case, most of my auditions still haven’t been opened (maybe due to the holidays?) so I don’t think I need to worry. 

I did get invited to G5 radio for an interview on thier friends and family show last night.  It wasn’t looking good two days ago, but I followed my normal laryngitis routine and managed to scrape together voice for last night.  Epic fail, I forgot to give out my website.  Well, not forgot, I was supposed to go back on and thought I would get the chance.   What’s the best advice I can give to anyone going in for a radio, television, or even print interview?  Get the most important information out first.  What is the most important thing you have to say?  Put it out there.  I’ll post a link to the show when they get thier podcast up.

Like I said, laryngitis is common place for me so I want to share what you should and shouldn’t do.  You can’t cure it, but you can get your voice back sooner and avoid permanent damage with a few simple tricks.  I actually damaged my vocal cords pretty bad last year and it looked like I may not sing for a few years.  By I heeded the advice of the ear nose throat doctor and I’m back to belting it out.

When you hurt your throat (that would be the voice area as well as the throat in general) it takes about a month to completely heal.  That’s a very long time to both singers and voice actors.  You may feel that whispering will take some of the pressure off, but I’ve been told that can cause even more damage.  That trip to the ENT I was just discussing happened because I didn’t give my throat time to heal after losing my voice and returned to choir.  Not only that, I was singing full voice because my alto section was relying on me for notes.  What I should have done was stayed out of rehearsal another week and then not sung full voice the following.  I learned.  In any case, that trip to the doctor he told me I was to shut up for a week.  Not one word from my lips was to be uttered, even in a whisper.  Then I needed to speak as it was important for the healing as well.  But I wasn’t allowed to return to choir for quite some time.

Laryngitis lesson 1?  Shut up.  Shut up unless it’s crucial you use your voice.  (I’ll share a couple tips for how to get through that later.)

So, there’s no medicine to take for laryngitis and there are in fact meds that can hinder the healing process.  Antihisthamines are one of those and though you might be tempted to take them for other symptoms, if you are in the voice business, you may want to suffer through those to help your voice heal faster.  Antihisthamines dry you out and you need that throat moist to heal.

The next thing to remember is that coughing will cause healing to take longer because you will be continuing to cause damage.  A humidifier will ease caughing.  I bought Nyquil Nighttime Cough Syrup as it give me Nyquil relief but doesn’t have the antihisthimines.  Take it at bedtime and if you wake yourself up coughing (follow the directions but…) take some more.  Sometimes you can stifle a cough while awake, but you have no idea how much you are while you are sleeping so just go ahead and nip that in the bud. 

The miracle of hot water with equal parts lemon and honey: plain and simple, it is one.  Always have that handy especially if you are trying to use your voice through something.  And keep your through covered when you leave the house in winter.  It takes seconds to throw on a scarf so do it.

Other tricks if you have to get through something using your voice are use a humidifier while the mic is off.  Remember to shut it off when recording unless you have a magical silent one.  A simple air filter can help as well as things like smoke and dust are irritants.  Hop in a hot shower.  The steam will help and the shower will refresh you.  If you don’t need to be up close and personal in the studio, garlic can clear mucas so chop up a clove.  There’s something really healing in ginger so feel free to substitute the hot water mix for ginger tea occasionally.  Have soup for your meals to keep your throat lubed with the hot liquids. 

One thing you should avoid is remedies that make your throat numb unless you are very disciplined.  Ice cream or those throat sprays numb your throat, allowing you to talk through pain since you’ve forgotten it’st there.  That can be highly damaging. 

Good luck and with a little care, you’ll be good as new and back to work in no time.  Although I suffered a bit this morning after having to talk last night, I followed my rules and feel like I’m healing nicely.  I’ll take Christmas day to continue the shhhh method and then Friday I’ll cautiously start back into the auditions.