no voice

Losing voice is purely an inflammation of the vocal folds. Allergies, sickness, or over-use cause it. Physical stress on the throat area can cause it, but I have never heard of psychological stress causing laryngitis.

Hydrating helps.

For getting your voice back briefly, drink water liberally laced with lemon juice. The acid in the juice will work as a jolting effect, and will give you your voice back briefly. Very briefly. Vocal rest is the best way to fix laryngitis.

I also had a problem with hoarseness.  It is questionable what the actual culprit was (anaphylactic allergic reaction, viral pharyngitis or Fibro).  Could have been all 3.  I had ongoing hoarseness after an allergic reaction and a virus and went to the ENT to be scoped.  I was told I had Vocal Cord Paresis, weakening of my vocal cords.  I went to voice therapy for this.  We found that the tension in my neck and shoulders was contributing to it.  I tried relaxation and massage out the tension, still I wasn't improving much.  I was doing the vocal exercsises and one day the therapist told me to relax my tongue and we realized I couldn't fully relax it.  She began to massage my vocal cords and tongue and soon discovered I had knots and tension in those muscles as well.  Once she was able to get some of the knots out of my throat there was some improvement in my voice.  It was the most painful thing I think I have ever experienced.  She basically had to manipulate my voice box and break up the muscles around it.  Also at the base of my tongue and under my chin, super tender there too.

I made some progess, but never got 100% better.  It makes sense, Fibro effects ALL of our muscles.  I had Fibro for 4.5 years before I ever had a problem with my voice, but I believe it was all the other issues that caused my muscles around my throat/tongue to grasp hold. 

I continue to have problems every now and again and I try to loosen the muscles in my throat and tongue - at least as much as I can tolerate.  Perhaps regular massage will help and if you ask them to focus on your neck, shoulders and upper back it may be enough to unlock some of your muscles.

Good luck!

The muscle weakness would put stress on the vocal folds. Incorrect neck posture would also put stress on the folds. There can also be tension in your vocal tract, just as there is tension anywhere else. Excess tension in the throat could cause laryngitis. Since your tongue actually extends into the throat, it is conceivable that excess tongue tension could affect the larynx.

Gentle humming will also stimulate the folds gently and work them, without adding more tension.

Look into Alexander Technique, a way to hold the neck and head as an extension of the spine. It can take pressure off the neck, which often will correspond with pressure in the larynx area.

Also, be aware how you sit at the computer. Oftentimes, people will compress their neck muscles and slouch, which puts pressure on all sorts of things that do not like that tension.

The lemon water trick will get you through a presentation, but it will not solve the basic underlying problem.

There were a lot of good ideas on this thread. One thing I notice is when I am having sinus and post nasal drip issues I get quite hoarse, all that throat clearing and coughing seems to bring it on.

Freddygirl

I'd like to share a concern. I had an episode where I couldn't swallow and I just shrugged it off, well it happened one time in my nursing class. My instructed called 911 ( when it happened I had been eating wheat thins). Anyway, after a lot of tests and an upper gi we found out that my throat was actually swelling shut! I have eosinophilic esophagitis and have to have throat dilations every 3 months. So, just be careful and let your dr know about those kind of issues.
I get lots of sore throats, but I've had a sinus infection for 9 months now!

Waw! Loads of interesting points there everyone, thanks. I had relaxation excercises such as raising and lower shoulders by alternately tensing and relaxing in order to notice the relaxation better as well as just stretching the neck muscles with different head movements. Mainly just being more aware of how you hold yourself and being aware of tensing upper body.

Frankey - Really interesting what you mentioned about relaxing your tounge and throat as I get a lot of pain around this area as well as pain inside my throat when my voice begins to break. Silly question...but how exactly did you know whether you were relaxing your tongue enough?

Couchtater -  I've discovered I have problems with acid reflux and like you I think it'd been going on for a while before I realised. I seemed to feel like I had a permanent cold for ages and my voice came and went frequently over a few years before I discovered I had problems with acid reflux. I've restarted taking tablets for severe acid reflux symptoms but I guess I just got a bit impatient as I'm back in class tomorrow and need a short term fix also.

Huge thanks to everyone for their contributions, now have a few tricks up my sleeve to try and preserve my voice over the next 3 teaching days. Doctor is aware of this issue and has offered to sign me off if I need time for my voice to recover so I guess I always have that option if things get worse in the next few days.

Fingers crossed for a few quiet days in class... may have to whisper the lesson if all else fails...allways confuses the children a little!

I've had voice hoarsness issues when I hang around my apartment. I've lived there for a number of years and unfortunately the building is full of passive smoke. When I'm at my fiance's place the hoarsness improves.

Do you live in a place that has passive smoke?