Lost voice with lung cancer

Hi Life5f7c7c  has your husband been coughing a lot, as this can cause irritation to the vocal cords which can cause a hoarse voice. I don’t have a hoarse voice, but I lose my voice, sometimes mid sentence. I had to have a camera up my nose and down to my voice box to check what was going on, and was told it is acid burn from acid reflux that has damaged the voice box. 

Have you mentioned this to your husband’s medical team? 

Thank you for your reply. They have told him it’s the tumour pressing on the nerve that runs to the larynx. I just wondered if anyone else has had this experience and what was the outcome.

Hi

My friend was diagnosed with inoperable stage 4 SCLC lung cancer in August 2023, she lost her voice and was told the same as your husband that, in my friend's case, the tumour was so large it was encroaching on to her laryngeal nerve causing her vocal cords to paralyse, she literally lost the use of her voice and couldn't vocalise any words.

After the chemotherapy and subsequent immunotherapy, the tumour shrank a lot reducing the pressure on her vocal cords and she slowly began being able to speak again, very croaky at first and I had to get up close to hear what she was saying, but gradually her voice returned to normal, but it did take awhile, maybe up to a year.

Hope this reassures you that your husband's voice will come back in time.

Best wishes.

Ann

Oh thank you that is very encouraging. He was stage 3b and didn’t lose his voice completely. I do hope your friend is doing well and has recovered.

I've not had that type of throat cancer 2years ago I was told I had esficietal cancer and after watching it twice on tv I didn't hold out much hope for Me for than a few years ,but after 6/7 cameras down my throat and an operation and 15 cycles of radiotherapy and 1 halol burn they managed to rid me off it , and no it wasn't nice but I only have to watch what I'm eating now as some things I can't swallow

Thank you Paul, I’m glad to hear you have recovered from your illness. My husband has lung cancer but it affects his voice 

Well my wife says I talk funny but to me I don't so who knows the voice is bound to change on a daily basis 

Hi, I also have Lung Cancer and have just finished a course of Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy, just Immunotherapy maintenance at the moment. My voice started to get croaky back in March and is slowly getting worse, I had an investigation by ENT with a camera early August, diagnosis is that I have a damaged left vocal cord, now awaiting a vocal cord medialisation, injecting a filler to join the 2 vocal cords. I have been told that this Op only lasts about 6 months and they have to do it again. Hopefully cords will heal on there own

As an addition, I was informed that the nervous system for the LH Vocal cord goes down into the lung and any lung issues can cause a fault with the LH cord. The RH cord nervous system stays out of the lungs