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Laryngitis: Say What?

By: Nancy | January 17, 2008 | Category: Health

mime covering his mouthWell, with the exception of Sam so far, we seem to be on a health kick this week at Gov Gab headquarters, where I find myself at a loss for words. And as the Gov Gab team can tell you, that's a rare thing.

I'm speechless because I got an upper respiratory infection last week that left me with a spectacular case of laryngitis.

"Call your doctor!" every concerned and exasperated friend here at the office is urging. Call my doctor? Sure, I'll tap Morse code into the mouthpiece of the phone. :) Ok, I'll make an appointment if it doesn't get better in a couple more days. I promise. In the meantime, I'm doing a little medical research on USA.gov.

Laryngitis is an inflammation of your larynx (aka your voice box or the "vocal fold" ) and your vocal cords. It's usually associated with straining your voice from overuse--like too much talking, singing or screaming for your favorite sports team; from inhaling irritants like smoke or other fumes or from a cold or the flu.

MedLine Plus from the National Institutes of Health has a great section on laryngitis. It says to contact your health care provider if you have trouble breathing or swallowing or if you've been dealing with the hoarseness for two weeks or more. I'm just at the one week mark, am eating everything in sight and I'm breathing fine.

Since most cases of laryngitis associated with a cold are viral and not bacterial, antibiotics won't help. What does help is resting your voice, drinking lots of water and soothing things like tea and honey, and using a humidifier to keep the air you're breathing moist. Good timing. The humidifier we ordered for the office I share with some of my fellow Gov Gabbers arrived last week. Our office was pretty dry, so thanks to the humidifier, we're all enjoying being able to breathe better and not having dry skin.

Sure, laryngitis is inconvenient. I'm having to rely a lot more on email and instant messenger to communicate with my coworkers. But it's actually kind of fun too. My lack of a voice has become something of a behavioral science experiment. My hearing is as good as ever, but most people are responding to my voicelessness by either acting out what they want to tell me or by whispering back to me. Have I mentioned that my coworkers are adorable and that I love them? They are, and I do. And a couple have said that, after this week of laryngitis, my miming skills are not half bad.

So now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pull an invisible rope or something.

| Comments [7] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: cold   doctor   laryngitis   medline   nancy  

Comments:

We welcome your comments and expect that our conversation will follow the general rules of respectful civil discourse. This is a moderated blog, and we will only post comments from bloggers over 13 years of age that relate to topics on Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog. We will review comments for posting within one business day. You are fully responsible for everything that you submit in your comments, and all posted comments are in the public domain. We do not discriminate against any views, but we reserve the right not to post comments.


i stay in michigan where we have very cold winters and i get laryngitis all the time after i talk outside for a long time a quik tip and remedy is to tie a wool scark around your neck at nite when you go to sleep until it gets better. it's a winner trust me it works

Posted by soar throat on January 17, 2008 at 02:41 PM EST #

Oooh, thanks for the tip! I think I even have a scarf to match my pjs. :)

Does anybody else have any home remedies for me? I'm trying organic apple cider vinegar. Yuck. And I've gargled with a hydrogen peroxide/water solution.

Posted by Nancy on January 17, 2008 at 02:54 PM EST #

The only remedy works for me is to drink lots, I mean LOTS of water. I have a friend who is thinking about to get HPV vaccine for her teenage daughter. I typed in "HPV mandate" and I found better information on USA.gov than google. Great job. Keep up the good work.

Posted by dcrider on January 17, 2008 at 04:08 PM EST #

Oh dcrider, you just made our day here. Our week. Our month...

Posted by Nancy on January 17, 2008 at 04:22 PM EST #

My hubby swears by ginger tea for everything.

Boy I hope I got the addition problem right so this will post...I'm a little nervous. They're kind of hard!

Posted by Cristy on January 17, 2008 at 04:49 PM EST #

Cristy, I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets performance anxiety with those math problems you have to fill out to submit a comment here. They're first grade level addition. But some days, 3+2= __ takes a little thinking. LOL

Thanks for the ginger tea suggestion. I love ginger. Been known to even buy a tub of the thin-sliced kind that's served with sushi and eat it right out of the container.

Ok, my math problem this time is 4 + 5 = ____ ...

Posted by Nancy on January 17, 2008 at 05:17 PM EST #

If it is caused by a virus or bacteria, then using a scarf makes no sense what so ever [Other than to keep warm]. Cold weather doesn’t cause these things, germs do. Old wives tales. Honey is probably your best bet for curing it, besides antibiotics. It sooths and has natural antibacterial properties to it. Take it by the spoonful until the desired result is reached.

Posted by Citizen Jmaximus on January 18, 2008 at 07:37 AM EST #

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