What to do if you have lost your voice - doctor's advice
What to do if the voice is lost or hoarse? This symptom may not mean anything, but sometimes it is a sign of serious diseases.
Causes of voice loss
The voice may not disappear completely (this is called dysphonia), more often we encounter hoarseness or hoarseness. Complete aphonia with the ability to speak in a whisper is rarely observed. Causes of this symptom:
- infection - voice change most often occurs with tonsillitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis;
- anomaly of the development of the larynx - in cases of dysphonia, it is detected from birth;
- allergy – swelling of the larynx and vocal cords;
- benign and malignant tumors of the larynx;
- myasthenia;
- hormonal diseases;
- injuries (a long cry is also an injury);
- damages of cranial nerves or their centers, etc.
In all these cases, the voice may become hoarse, hoarse, quiet or disappear altogether.
How to treat a missing voice
In this situation, much depends on the cause of dysphonia or aphonia. The patient's age should also be taken into account - treating a hoarse voice in an adult will have to be different than restoring it in a child: treatment methods, doses of drugs, and the drugs themselves are different.
Infectious causes
If it is already known that the cause is a cold, it is necessary to treat the missing voice comprehensively. First of all, it is necessary to create conditions of high humidity - local immune factors kill viruses better on a mucous membrane moistened from the outside. Due to inflammation, the mucous membrane dries up at the beginning of the process, which is why the voice disappears. The humidity in the apartment is increased with the help of special humidifiers, although a wet sheet draped over the heating coil is also suitable. You can even put a basin with water in the room. For the same purpose, it is recommended to drink plenty of warm water (cold and hot drinks can increase swelling of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract).
Inhalations will help moisten the air. It is ideal to use nebulizers with physiological solution for 10-15 minutes. Simple inhalation of potato decoction steam or soda-salt steam inhalation is also allowed (the steam should not be hot).
If an adult or a child has a hoarse voice, you should definitely set the voice rest mode. Complete refusal to talk (in emergency cases, whispering is allowed) will allow the vocal cords to rest and recover faster.
From medicines, you can take any mucus-thinning drugs, starting with ordinary thermopsis tablets and ending with ambroxol, bromhexine, ACC and the like. In case of bacterial infection, antibiotics must be prescribed (a doctor will be able to distinguish between bacterial inflammation and viral inflammation, you can make an appointment on our website dobrobut.com).
Non-infectious causes
Treatment is usually carried out on an outpatient basis. Hospitalization is recommended when other signs of the disease develop along with a change in voice. Breathing disorders, increasing intoxication are alarming symptoms that must be treated only in a hospital setting. In addition, hospitalization is indicated for cancer, myasthenia, chemical and thermal burns of the upper respiratory tract, severe forms of allergy, larynx injuries. In these cases, intensive therapy, resuscitation measures and even operative treatment may be required. The following can be used in the treatment of diseases:
- corticosteroids (prednisolone, dexamethasone) to suppress allergies or an excessive immune reaction to a foreign agent;
- desensitizing antihistamines (for the same purpose);
- vitamins;
- sedatives.
For signs of asphyxiation, the patient can be intubated and connected to a ventilator, while the air is enriched with oxygen and humidified.
When severe laryngeal edema develops, a cricoconicotomy or tracheotomy is performed (in other words, the throat is cut and a breathing tube is inserted into it), which enables the patient to breathe despite the disease blocking the windpipe.
Remedies for the treatment of a hoarse voice in an infant
Babies can have a hoarse voice due to infection and prolonged crying. It is extremely undesirable to treat the infection yourself. And if it is not difficult to deal with an ordinary virus, then with diphtheria, in which the voice also changes, you cannot do without a doctor. Only a doctor will prescribe remedies for a hoarse voice in babies.
Be prepared that it will not be possible to quickly restore a hoarse voice. With any form of the disease, it will take a few days before it starts to return, and the voice will be raspy at first and then return to a normal timbre.
The cause of a hoarse voice without signs of a cold should be determined by a doctor. Cancer or hormonal disorders cannot be detected just like that, and the consequences can be very serious.
Related services:
Consultation of children's ENT
21.4К views
