Medical Update On My Voice

Hello, long time no see! Most of you already know I got sick for two weeks in August 2023 with a bad cough, and then was sick again on and off for two months after that. Since then I've had moments where my voice temporarily recovered and I'd think I could get back to recording, only for my voice to return back to its previous condition. Due to that I've been pushing off making any actual updates until I either a.) fully recovered vocally for good or b.) had solid answers as to why I've been having vocal issues. Sadly due to my vocal issues still being on and off, I had to wait to have an appointment with an ENT to see what's going on with my voice.

I finally had my ENT appointment yesterday and he had to numb the back of my nose and throat and stick a camera down my nose :') it was a bit uncomfy but the ENT said I handled it very well! I was very afraid that having vocal issues for the past 8 months meant I had vocal nodules or cysts, but after examining my voice box/vocal folds he says I don't have either of those!

He did find slight swelling and white film on my vocal folds, though, and he thinks the white film on my vocal folds is related to the mild thrush in the back of my mouth and throat that I apparently got from being sick and never knew I had all this time. I thought thrush was only from bad mouth health and I'm like "??? but my mouth health is good" but he explained that illness/being sick can also cause it (it throws off your bacteria balance which makes sense since I repeatedly got sick for two months).

The downside is my ENT is holding off for now on giving me any antifungals or steroids for my vocal fold swelling and thrush due to me not really having care established. I've rarely gone to the doctor in my life aside from when I was younger, so they want to have me evaluated by my PCP to make sure none of the antifungals or steroids they give me would be a risk to my health or anything.

My PCP appointment is on May 8th and my next ENT appointment is on May 13th!

I'm a bit disappointed that I couldn't be put on anything right away, but I'm just happy that I finally got answers. Honestly having swelling and mild thrush is wayyy better and easier to cure than some of the worse voice box/vocal fold conditions I've heard of/read about and was scared of having :')

Hopefully I'm cleared for the meds. In the mean time until my appointments, I'll be taking some natural supplements (as long as he approves them) to help the imbalance until my appointments come up. But thank you guys as always for being patient with me. I'm hoping I recover as soon as possible so I can get back to doing what I love! 🫶