I had a coughing fit (choking on my own saliva, which seems to happen rather frequently), and now I seem to have lost my voice. Did the coughing do something to my vocal cords?
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When tissues around your vocal chords swell, the chords stretch to the point at which they no longer vibrate. Trying to force sound only disturbs the inflamed tissue, which makes your throat feel worse.
It is called straining a vocal cord. You pulled one or both cords too hard, and now it is inflamed and swollen. It is rather like what happens to your tendons and the joint when sprain your ankle.
It should heal soon. If it lasts for more than a day I would recommend seeing a doctor.
Similar to shredding on a guitar, your vocal chords are shredded after some hardcore yelling sessions
And to add to what has been said. Vocal rest, ie not speaking, is the best thing you can do to allow the swollen, tissue of the vocal folds to normalize. Also do not whisper as it makes things worse bc whispering requires a lot of vocal fold tension which you do not want. retired speech therapist
In addition to what others said, If you choke on your own saliva frequently, I would recommend bringing this up to a medical provider. Could be a sign of an underlying issue, like swelling in your esophagus. (But don’t panic)
If you choke on your saliva a lot, you can try this: a few times a day, tilt your head back and swallow. It should feel pretty difficult.
Source: I used to choke on my own saliva all the time. A speech therapist at work noticed and told me to do this, now I don’t choke on my saliva anymore.
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