Damage to vocal cord from Thyroidectomy

I also had damage to vocal chord nerves
I had my surgery on 9/29. I knew there was a risk of my voice being softer, whispery, hoarse...things like that. I didn't realize that I would only be able to whisper after surgery. My surgeon said that there was a lot of bruising of the vocal chord nerves and some nerves were cut. It would take up to 5 months to regain my voice.

I've had little improvements in my voice from the beginning. I'm guessing it will take 3-4 months at this rate to get it back.

You probably signed things at the hospital before the surgery that says you understand all of the risks associated with the surgery. No one is liable.

You will get your voice back...I know it's difficult...just be patient.

straussu said:

damage to nerve leading to voice box
I had my surgery (total thyroidectomy) 15 years ago. My voice was hoarse and the louder I tried to speak, the quieter it came out. I was told after a month of frustration that the surgeon had damaged one of the nerves leading to the voice box. (Why don't they tell you these things at the beginning?) I took a month's leave of absence from work and went to voice therapy at a speech center in a hospital. I was limited to the amount of talking I could do each day. I had exercises and therapy twice a week. It really helped and after one month, my voice was back to normal. Maybe you can get the doctor to order voice therapy. Good luck!

I had my surgery (TT) 7
I had my surgery (TT) 7 years ago. I spoke in a whisper for 3 months before my voice came back. It actually came back during my highest dose of RAI. Even to this day I only have one working vocal chord and can't scream. However my voice is strong and I can talk normal again. It is a little lower than it was, but it's totally fine. Have faith!

miladyx said:

were your radiation treatments...
... effective at eliminating your cancer? was your spread to the lymph nodes? anywhere else?

i had my surgery in July 09,
i had my surgery in July 09, i am just now getting my voice back. and it doesnt stay all day. i have been assured that there was no damage to my vocal cords. I get out of breath talking very easily. I went to voice therapy also. It just takes time. my voice is a million times better then it was. i have confidence that it will return.

momofone22 said:

damage to vocal cords
I had a total Thyroidectomy 10-29-01 (9 yrs ago)and I also had the recurrent larygeal nerve severed. I never regained my old voice back, my voice is weak, and I have to work a little harder to be heard.. especially in loud places. I would suggest the voice therapy and vocal exercises all the time. I get frustrated sometimes, but I have to remain positive and work harder to condition my lungs and diaphragm so they can do their job. I had one of my vocal cords injected with a temporary filler, a couple of years ago, and that lasted 6 months, but it became harder to breathe, but my voice was louder for a while. Keep in touch, im glad I found this site.
Martha.

Damage to Chords
I had my partial and total thyroidectomy 3 years ago. My voice never really came back. I went for 6 months of voice therapy to no avail. My surgeon finally told me one nerve was damaged. After going to the ThyCa conference in October of '09, one of the doctor's gave me the name of a voice specialist. I live in the New York area, so this doctor is out of Cornell Medical Center. He did some tests and found that every nerve is damaged around my chords. He told me I could have the injection, but it would only last around 2 months, so in March he will be putting implants on both sides of my vocal chords. He said I would not get back my original voice, but I would be able to project my voice. Since I work on the phone all day, this is something I really need. Very nervous, but really want to be able to talk normal again.

jecklehyde said:

Damage to Chords
I had my partial and total thyroidectomy 3 years ago. My voice never really came back. I went for 6 months of voice therapy to no avail. My surgeon finally told me one nerve was damaged. After going to the ThyCa conference in October of '09, one of the doctor's gave me the name of a voice specialist. I live in the New York area, so this doctor is out of Cornell Medical Center. He did some tests and found that every nerve is damaged around my chords. He told me I could have the injection, but it would only last around 2 months, so in March he will be putting implants on both sides of my vocal chords. He said I would not get back my original voice, but I would be able to project my voice. Since I work on the phone all day, this is something I really need. Very nervous, but really want to be able to talk normal again.

Damage to Chords
I had my total thyroidectomy just over two weeks ago and my voice is also far from normal. I'm told that it may take up to 6 months for my voice/breathing to return to normal. I understand that there can be damage/paralysis caused to the laryngeal fold which can then take this long to recover. I can only hope that my surgeon did not cause any permanent damage because I know that this was a major risk of the surgery. However, the alternative was keeping a Hurtle cell tumour that was almost 5 cm. in size. Not really much of a choice. I hope that the implants work for you. Good Luck!

10acity said:

Damage to Chords
I had my total thyroidectomy just over two weeks ago and my voice is also far from normal. I'm told that it may take up to 6 months for my voice/breathing to return to normal. I understand that there can be damage/paralysis caused to the laryngeal fold which can then take this long to recover. I can only hope that my surgeon did not cause any permanent damage because I know that this was a major risk of the surgery. However, the alternative was keeping a Hurtle cell tumour that was almost 5 cm. in size. Not really much of a choice. I hope that the implants work for you. Good Luck!

I am now 7 weeks post
I am now 7 weeks post completion thyroidectomy and my voice is still extremely deep, and there are those that say "sexy", they're just trying to make me feel better. Twice they checked my vocal cords and assured me that they're fine,
I am a Physical Therapist and I know that a nerve doesn't need to be totally severed to create weakness.......maybe thats the same with the vocal cords, if the nerve was stretched, or pulled. Hopefully it will just take time.
My range is extremely extremely small, cannot sing at all! and I feel its an effort sometimes to talk...

waiting for improvement.

sandy

swoitowitz said:

Vocal chord damage post thyroidectomy

I had a total thyroidectomy May 2012, resulted in paralysis of left vocal chord. My voice is like a 5 yr old girl; I've adapted to the new voice. My struggle is with breathing. I am a group exercise leader & my breathing obstruction limits my performance ability. I choke w randomly when I drink liquids & it's almost impossible to drink when I exercise. endocrinologist recommended radiation, but b/c risk damage to remaining vocal chord, I chose not to. I also lost my parathyroid b/c they were imbedded in my thyroid. ENT doc offered to clip vocal chord to open my airway, has anyone had that done & did it improve the situation?

vocal cord damage

I lost the use of my right vocal cord because the surgeon had to sever the laryngeal nerve as it was encased by the cancer. In my case, I am fortunate to have the cord stuck in the middle position which means speaking is decent and I also swallowing without any issues. Downside, as you know, is that breathing suffers with a frozen cord. I also will choke if I try to guzzle drinks - I have adapted how I swallow though and it has minimized those issues. In the beginning, I found out the hard way that I can't do shots (not that I feel I am missing anything there!).

I did have six weeks of external beam radiation to the neck just a few months after my surgery because my tumor had not been encapsulated. I had mine done at Mayo Clinic and before they had me do the radiation they sent me to their ENT department and a physical therapist who conducted a swallow study which included a real-time xray of my throat as I ate and drank different viscosities of liquiids and a some solid stuff. This was done to determine if I was aspirating as I swallowed, which, apparently, can be a problem for people with vocal cord paralysis. All was well so I went through the radiation and was also given some vocal and neck muscle exercises to do to help improve my working cord. The radiation did not have any impacts on my cords at all. Before radiation I asked the radiologist if the one good nerve could be damaged by the radiation and he felt strongly that it would not. They can actually do a lot to target specific areas, and with specific amounts, and they can minimize or even avoid other areas.They don't just beam the whole area entirely and with one level. It's pretty amazing how complex the beam pattern can be.

After radiiation I had a follow up visit with the ENT and physical therapist, with another xray swallow study, and all was fine. I have never heard of the clipping thing but I would be a bit concerned about how that may affect swallowing or even speech. Did your ENT provide you with pros and cons of having that done?

If you can, get a second opinion, or even three or four. I had six before I decided to go ahead with the radiation.

I was jogging prior to the cancer diagnosis but I don't do that sort of thing anymore because the cord paralysis does interfere with my breathing. It must be so much rougher for someone such as yourself who makes a living exercising. I wish I had answers for you - the best I can do is encourage you to talk to a few more specialists to determine the best course for your particular situation.

Best to you.

eileen

JustAnnie said:

Damage to vocal cord from Thyroidectomy

I had just given up to sounding like Lana Turner for the rest of my life...... Then about a year later, my voice as I remembered it, came back.  I would sing (in the shower only as I do not have a great voice lol) the do re mi fa so la...  I could only do the do re mi and nothing more for range.  Then after a long time, it finally came back. Now I am happily singing (still only in the shower ) anything I want to!

Damage to vocal cords

I had surgery two weeks ago to remove half of my thyroid. They found papillary cancer in 2 nodules. Luckily it was encapsulated and early stage. I do not need to have any further treatment for cancer at this time. My voice however is a different story. I had a hoarse voice from the beginning and over the past 2 weeks I found out that my right vocal cord is not moving. I will have a test next week to find out how much nerve damage has been done. I am wondering how the voice improves over time. Is it week to week or month to month? My doctor said it could take months to improve, but they are not sure. The doctor is sure the nerve was not cut, but was propabaly stretched. I am not having any problems breathing or swallowing.

Tell me what to expect, especially the time factor, as my voice improves (hopefully)  

bzufall said:

I had my surgery (TT) 7
I had my surgery (TT) 7 years ago. I spoke in a whisper for 3 months before my voice came back. It actually came back during my highest dose of RAI. Even to this day I only have one working vocal chord and can't scream. However my voice is strong and I can talk normal again. It is a little lower than it was, but it's totally fine. Have faith!

One working vocal cord

Hi There,

I am happy to read your voice is back, and you have only one working vocal cord ? is it true to today ?

How do you feel now ? Do you talk normally ?

I had my TT in Oct 25 and one of my vocal cord is not working,talking is really hard and painfull for me.

Can you pls reply to me ?

 

 

 

 

alapah said:

vocal cord damage

I lost the use of my right vocal cord because the surgeon had to sever the laryngeal nerve as it was encased by the cancer. In my case, I am fortunate to have the cord stuck in the middle position which means speaking is decent and I also swallowing without any issues. Downside, as you know, is that breathing suffers with a frozen cord. I also will choke if I try to guzzle drinks - I have adapted how I swallow though and it has minimized those issues. In the beginning, I found out the hard way that I can't do shots (not that I feel I am missing anything there!).

I did have six weeks of external beam radiation to the neck just a few months after my surgery because my tumor had not been encapsulated. I had mine done at Mayo Clinic and before they had me do the radiation they sent me to their ENT department and a physical therapist who conducted a swallow study which included a real-time xray of my throat as I ate and drank different viscosities of liquiids and a some solid stuff. This was done to determine if I was aspirating as I swallowed, which, apparently, can be a problem for people with vocal cord paralysis. All was well so I went through the radiation and was also given some vocal and neck muscle exercises to do to help improve my working cord. The radiation did not have any impacts on my cords at all. Before radiation I asked the radiologist if the one good nerve could be damaged by the radiation and he felt strongly that it would not. They can actually do a lot to target specific areas, and with specific amounts, and they can minimize or even avoid other areas.They don't just beam the whole area entirely and with one level. It's pretty amazing how complex the beam pattern can be.

After radiiation I had a follow up visit with the ENT and physical therapist, with another xray swallow study, and all was fine. I have never heard of the clipping thing but I would be a bit concerned about how that may affect swallowing or even speech. Did your ENT provide you with pros and cons of having that done?

If you can, get a second opinion, or even three or four. I had six before I decided to go ahead with the radiation.

I was jogging prior to the cancer diagnosis but I don't do that sort of thing anymore because the cord paralysis does interfere with my breathing. It must be so much rougher for someone such as yourself who makes a living exercising. I wish I had answers for you - the best I can do is encourage you to talk to a few more specialists to determine the best course for your particular situation.

Best to you.

eileen

Hello

Alapah (Eileen)  Your experience sounds alot like mine - I had surgery Feb 4th, last month. They are now wanting to change my treatment and for me to do the EBR on Apr 8th and that's why I am on this site - trying to figure out what to do. MD Anderson ENT originally set me up to do the RAI Apr 18 and I am currently in the process - on my second week of Cytomel. I talked with the Rad/Onc Dr this morning and he answered alot of my questions but because of the symptoms that the surgery left me with - breathing and limited voice, as well as calcium supplements because of damage to the parathyroids, and tingling and pressure at the suture site....I don't want anymore swallowing problems after EBR - and in reading everyones responses, all I can figure is everyone's different & so is their outcomes......yours sounds most promising and thanks for sharing.