Sjogren's and Voice Issues

[MissyLouWho?]

So I was reading the thread "This should be our new slogan" and was curious about everyone who said they experience voice changes.  I have always loved to sing and was pretty good at it.  My dad was a professional and used to teach me.  I had a pretty good range and good control and wasn't the slightest bit tone deaf.  In April 2009 I suddenly had no range, so I thought I had a tiny cold or it was due to seasonal allergies or something.  But it never returned to normal.  I also slowly became tone deaf.  I can't control my voice no matter what.  And it's deeper.  I've always been called "Squeaky" because my voice is high, but it's a lot lower now, sometimes even raspy.  I have brought this up numerous times to my doctors and they disregard it.  I even asked my gp if she thought it could be something on my vocal cords like polyps or something that could cause a sudden voice change and she sent me for an xray of my chest that stopped just under my neck...  . 

So can Sjogren's cause voice changes and issues like that?  It's been almost 3 years.  Just still trying to piece things together...

[DryEyes]

For me  Sjogren's  causes me to have the raspy voice, lots of phlegm     .  Also my voice seems to change at different times.  Sometimes it sounds a bit lower than usual.

[A66eyroad]

We had a thread on this subject not too long ago; this may help:

https://sjogrensworld.org/index.php?topic=18312.0

My voice has gotten a lot deeper, also, and my range isn't quite what it once was. I wondered if it was just because I haven't been singing much lately and my voice is out of shape.

That Xray sounds like a waste of time, my friend!    Did you bring up your concerns back up with your GP after the Xray?

[Seeker]

Howdy MissyLouWho?

Can SjS cause problems with your voice.  Yes it can.  I find, sucking on sugarless candies, help a lot.

Seeker

[irish]

Welcome to the club. I think that this is one of the symptoms for sjogrens that doctors miss. Also, it could be related to the thyroid issues that often plaque people with sjogrens.

I have had perfect pitch all my singing life and loved to sing, directed senior church choir, sung in quartets and solos, wedding, etc. After the birth of my 3rd child at the age of 29 my family started asking me why my voice was so deep.I had no idea and wondered if it had something to do with hormonal changes after delivery.

Anyway, I continued to have issues with my voice getting lower and I could sing tenor eventually. My range also became less and I had to work harder to project my voice.  I started having some really bad throat pain and hoarseness and was seen by 2 different ENT who scoped me and told me my vocal cords were swollen and red. I was told to not talk for 3 weeks. Yah, right!!!! I used to talk more than I now post.!!!!

It was 1988 when I last sang with the church choir. In 1989 I was diagnosed with hypothyroid and started on medication. I have never gotten my voice back. There are occasions while driving the car that I will try to sing. Sometimes a little very deep scratchy voice erupts and lasts about 15 seconds. Most of the time I can't sing one note.

Do I miss it. Darned right! I feel like one of the more important things in life was taken away from me.  My ability to deal with this is by knowing that someday I will be able to sing all I want in heave, and probably a whole lot better.

The one thing that joined my symptoms was the enormous amount of mucus I have. Don't ask me why cause I am dry and have lost all my teeth due to sjogrens. I have mucous that comes from more places I can shake a stick at. I buy so much Kleenex and have spent so much money. I have bought kleenex by the 36 box case and it doesn't last much more than 6 weeks. All my OTC helpers for Sjogrens cost too darn much!

I feel bad about this but I am more happy to be able to talk with my family, watch TV, knit and crochet and read. I read every day and go through a lot of books.It is my salvation. I guess all I can tell you is to roll with the punches cause to be upset and cause yourself a lot of stress isn't worth it. Life sure isn't what we planned, is it??? Irish

[soycoffee]

While I can rarely sing, particularly recently, I seem to have gained nearly perfect pitch in the last couple of years. I especially enjoy wellplayed string music. I no longer enjoy hearing Joan Baez, as she seems to have slipped her sense of pitch in later years. (Irish would know who Joan Baez is, I think.)

I wish I had had perfect pitch a little earlier (well, a lot earlier) in my life. It does me no good now. I can't sing, and no longer have a violin.

Yes, address the thread, soy. My voice is often hoarse, croaking, froglike. No phlegm to speak of, though.

Soycoffee

[voiceteacher]

hello,

I'm sorry you're having voice issues.   I am a voice teacher and my first symptoms were actually voice changes that no physician took seriously even though I knew something was wrong.  vocal health is my main focus professionally!  finally I saw an ENT who scoped me and let me watch the video and guess what I saw - - NOTHING !!!!  My cords looked perfectly normal but I knew something was wrong.  It wasn't until I was diagnosed a few years later that I realized it WAS the sjogrens.  However, that said, there are numerous reasons for sudden voice changes - some can be seen on xray but many cannot.  You need to find an ENT who is interested in the voice - - more than just cancer on the cords.  You need to be scoped so they can get the clearest picture of the cords.  I don't know where you are, but there are a few wonderful voice research centers - - mayo, Nashville (vanderbilt), Colorado are a few.  However any ENT can do the initial scoping to see if there are some polyps, nodules, cysts, swelling, etc.  I would start with that - - please let us know --

voiceteacher

[MissyLouWho?]

Thank you so much for the replies and the direction to the other thread.  It really is exactly what I have been experiencing, down to the mucus  .  People always ask if I have a cold or allergies because I clear my throat so often. 

I hadn't replied in a few days about it because, to be quite honest, I am pretty devastated to learn it's irreversable.  I always thought  it was just allergies and would go back to normal when the pollen count went down. It is taking a little time to process, but I'm accepting it. 

I was pretty proud of my voice.  It's one of the only things about me that didn't completely disgust my father (long story, but I was an unwanted child on my father's end).  I always wanted him to like me and one day at the dinner table him and my stepmom were discussing musical potential (my father was a professional musician) and who sang the best out of the four of us (I have two brothers and a little sister).  My dad said "I can't believe I'm actually going to say this out loud, but HER" and jerked his thumb towards me.  I had never heard him say anything nice about me.  The only thing he ever liked about me is gone.  So it's hard to let that go.  But we haven't spoken since I was 15 so I suppose it shouldn't really matter anyhow.  Sorry about the vent, but it feels real good to let that out.

On a good note, I remember that my voice did clear up twice for a day.  About 2 years ago my gp insisted I was depressed and needed antidepressants.  I took Cymbalta for 3 days.  I had to stop because the migraines were debilitating and nonstop by the third day.  BUT....the second day my range and pitch and strength were there as strong as they ever were!  This happened again on another medication but I can't remember which one.  Pristique maybe.  Not sure though.  She had me try so many.  Might be something to consider telling the rheumy.  Maybe there's something in the two meds that can relieve the voice issues.  I did mention it to my gp at the time and she seemed unfazed by it.  I thought maybe there was some sort of allergy med in it like an antihistimine or something.  Might be why she was so quick to dismiss my claim that it brought back my voice, haha!  I will definitely tell my rheumy about what I have learned from all of you and see if he will want to (or can) do anything about it.  Even just tests to check that it's definitely from SJS.

This disease has quickly taken a few things that were big parts of my life.  I'm struggling, but because I have all of you, I am dealing with it rather well I think.  I have found very good advice here like how to focus on what CAN BE instead of what CAN'T BE anymore.  And not to talk about it too much with non-Sjoggies.  And so much more.  Thank you (((hugs)))

[sunkissed64]

Sjogrens has made me hoarse. I sang in chorus all through school. One of the things that makes me the happiest is singing to the radio, in the car or the shower. Now? Like you my octave range is much less, my voice also cracks like a teenage boy's does so I can't sing all songs anymore without having to knock them down an octave or two. Makes me sad but I try not to think about it and try to drink a lot of water.

Sunny