I wondered if anyone has any great tips for me on getting my voice back.

I had a right side thyroid lobectomy on 17th October and when I went back for my consultation the surgeon was very suprised that I wasn't speaking normally (a week and a half later).  He examined my throat and was able to see that the rght hand side vocal cords were not resonating like theleft hand side.  He was a bit laid back about it suggesting that I could be referred for speach therapy and that the left hand side might start to compensate.

Well I'm not prepared to take this lying down.  I'm a public speaker and I love to address huge audiences and deliver seminars.  My whole business is based around providing mentoring for property investors by phone and face to face.  I need to have clear voice for them to be able to hear me wilst at the moment they think it's diffiult for me to speak as it sounds as though it hurts.  Thankfully it doesn't hurt, but it's very important to me to be able to speak clearly.

I have my second operation - full thyroidectomy - next week and I hope they will be extra careful.  There is no such thing as IF my voice recovers, it's a case of WHEN, but if you have any information or tips and you've been through this then I'd love to hear from you.

Many thanks

Hi it can take a few week/months for the vocal cord to recover.

I had a right neck dissection in June 2010 and my right vocal cord is still paralysed.

It has got stronger as the months have gone on but as yet it is still not back to normal, i have to add i also had external beam radiotherapy which is an added problem with it.

Less than a month post-op this is not unusual - it can take a couple of months to get full power back.

I remember going to Midnight Mass in Salisbury Cathedral 2 weeks after my completion thyroidectomy and having to mime - I had a range of about half an octave. I couldn't shout at my cats or my husband for a month or two.

But it's all back now. So let's hope you just need a bit of time to get things back on course

Thanks Kazzmo.  Shame your voice is not better yet, I think from what the surgeon said mine could take a while too.

I'm giving a presentation tonight using some voice amplification equipment so I'm hoping this solves the problem of the softness of my voice.  I'll let you know.

I'll be looking into speech therapy as soon as my second op on Monday when they remove the remainder of the thyroid and probably parathyroid too.

Best wishes

Hi Barbaral.  Thanks for this - glad to hear your voice is back.  I have two small children and shouting at them is definitely taking a back seat at the moment.  My 4 year old daughter seems to have it sussed though - "I can't hear you mummy!" Yeah right!

I'll have to see how I get on tonight when I do my presentation - think my singing career is over though.

Best wishes

Hope your presentation was a great success. XX

Thanks Kazzmo. I did have fun but was very frustrated for the first part.

I run a networking group and half the people there I have known for a few years now but the rest were new.  I did manage to buy some amplification equipment which worked very well.  This gives me confidence that I am able to communicate to a large audience even though I do sound a bit like a strangled dalek most of the time.

My mistake was to drink cold water.  Have you found that this causes your vocal cords to tighten up and restrict volume and reduce clarity?  I managed to get some hot water and once I had drunk this the vocal cord relaxed and I regained some clarity and volume.

Most of my work is presentations and mentoring/coaching people over the phone so I am very keen to get back to normal as soon as possible.

Thanks for remembering the talk and for all your uplifting and helpful posts on here.

Best wishes

I've just come out of hospital following my completion thyroidectomy and I'm so relieved that my vocal cord has survived and my voice is just as good if not better than when I went in yesterday.

During the operation my left hand vocal cord was monitored throughout to ensure no damage to the nerve so this has obviously worked.  It is a relief to know that now I can work on my voice to ensure I get it all back.

I do still have some difficulty breathing in and have just looked this up on Wikipedia and seems consistent with vocal cord dysfunction.  I had a problem with stridor overnight (have any of you had this issue?) which meant that my airway was being restricted.  Eventually they gave me oxygen through a nose mask and asked me to lie on my side to sleep.  This combination seemed to work and the wheeziness has now gone.  It was a bit frustrating to be woken up every hour, but better than not being able to breath.

I had a fabulous set of nurses and surgery team for which I am very grateful and they did listen to my request for no Tramadol this time which meant that I wasn't sick all night.

I should hear on Friday about the timescales for my 'glow pill' which is going to clash badly one way or another with Christmas - I haven't dared look yet, but I hope the LID (Low Iodine Diet) has some great Christmas recipes!