Its Cold Season, pt 2: Hoarseness and Laryngitis

I'm not sure about you, but I can generally trace how long my cold is going to last based on the symptoms that I have.  It usually starts with a sore throat, then a stuffy nose, followed by a longer term of blowing my nose, then I will begin to develop a cough.  When the cough comes, I know that I am at the end of it.

However, one thing that happens to me in almost every cold that I get is either a hoarseness in my voice, or a loss of my voice.  This usually happens all day, or just in the late part of the day.  In either case, it is a frustrating time for me since my daily activities require my voice: whether it be singing, counseling, or just being with people.  

If you face a similar situation in that your voice is hoarse or it is gone, here are a couple of things to think about:

1. What medications are you taking?  Are you taking any cold medications or allergy medications?  Generally speaking, most over-the-counter cold medications and allergy medication are meant to dry up your mucous membranes.  Pseudoephedrine and other cold medication is meant to give you an awake feeling while clearing your chest and nasopharynx.  An antihistamine (for allergies) does basically the same thing, along with some other stuff (inflammatory).  Don't get me wrong, drying up those mucous membranes is a good thing.  But, they often deplete the vocal folds of much needed hydration in order to properly function.  Hence, these products have a negative effect on your vocal folds.  What I often have to do, and I hate doing it, is get off of my allergy medication during my cold, drink tons of water, and take a a medication with something called, "Guaifenesin."  Guaifenesin is a good chemical that actually thins out mucous, helping it pass quicker.  It is the main ingredient in such products as Robitussin, Musinex, or any mucus relief medications.  The trick is, however, that you have to make sure that you drink a lot of water with it.  One thing that may help is drinking warm water.  For some reason, this can temporarily help (I usually add a pinch of lemon juice in hot water).  Remember, water NEVER passes over your vocal folds (unless something is physiologically wrong), but warm water helps for whatever reason.

2.  How much caffeine are you drinking?  Again, like the cold and allergy medications, caffeine is a natural decongestant and it actually works to dehydrate you.  If this is a problem, trying laying off the coffee or the Coke for a week or so, step up the water drinking, and see what happens.

3. Are you over-using your voice?  When I have a cold I try to make it an effort to keep my words few.  Vocal rest is perhaps the best medicine that we can give our voice when it is down and out.

4. How much sleep are you getting?  Vocal rest when you are awake is one thing, but vocal rest while sleeping is all together better.  You might wake up with a lot of crud in your throat that you are going to want to cough and hack up, RESIST THIS URGE (I'll explain why in a future post) and drink hot water, take a steamy shower with the fan off.  If you can take a nap at all...DO IT!

No one likes to lose their voice, especially preachers and worship leaders.  Colds can be devastating to the vocal folds, but we need to do what we can to take care of the instrument God gave us.

Its Cold Season, pt 1: Stay Healthy

This post really shouldn't need to be written.  Every one of us knows how to stay to healthy: wash hands, drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep, get a flu shot, avoid crowded places if possible, et cetera.

The problem is that many of us ignore these things for whatever reason.  Preachers in particular, however, need to try their best to remain healthy.  Think of the germ-infested in environment that we dwell in.  How many hands do you shake on a given Sunday?  I shake a lot.  How about during the week?  How many people do you counsel who need tissues?  I am not advocating being a germaphobe, but we need to be aware of the amount of germs that we encounter every day.  

I am not an advocate of taking things such as echinacea or Zicam, but its inexpensive and beneficial to have a bottle of hand sanitizer on your desk, or in the foyer, or perhaps even in the pew you sit in before you preach.  This sounds weird, but I have found myself sneaking off to my office quickly after the greeting time just to use hand sanitizer.  Obsessive, maybe, but my ability to minister depends on my health.  If I have a cold, its not a good idea to do a hospital visit (depending on the circumstance).  I find it a lot harder to do a Bible study at a mental health facility when I have a cold because of the stale smoke in the building.  It drives me crazy ANYTIME my nose is stuffed up...especially to preach or sing!  

What I am saying is that the first step to taking care of your voice during the cold season is taking care of all of your body.  Get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, wash your hands and so forth.  Do the things you know you need to do.  Its easy to not do them, but its more miserable to experience the effects of them.  Colds will come but you can at least take the first steps to preventing them.