Other Names:
Hoarseness, Aphonia

Symptoms:
A tickling, raw, throat is the initial symptom. The voice becomes hoarse and weak, or it is lost entirely for a time (aphonia). The voice loss is frequently all that happens, and no fever or infection accompanies it.

Cause:
"Hoarseness" is when it is with difficulty that you can speak; "aphonia" is when you have totally lost your voice. The cause of either is generally too much loud speaking, yelling, or the onset of a cold or upper respiratory tract infection.

Treatment:
• Do not talk. Try to avoid any speaking for a day or two. Do not even whisper. Just write notes.

Go on a short fruit and vegetable juice fast. This will help remove excess mucous.

• Drink lots of liquids, 8-10 glasses a day, but do not drink cold drinks or anything with ice in it.

• Breathe through your nose. This increases the humidity in your throat. Air in an airliner is very dry (because it is pressurized), so do not breath through your mouth if you are on a plane.

• Put your head over a hot bowl of water for 5 minutes, twice a day.

• Do not smoke.

• Helpful herbs include the following: slippery elm plus lemon and honey, which is very soft and soothing on the throat. This is an outstanding help.

• The "singer's plant" is hedge mustard (sisymbrium officinale). Take it as a liquid extract.

• Make a syrup out of wild cherry bark and take a little at a time.

• Drink 1 cup of eyebright tea, 3-4 times a day.

• Gargle with goldenseal tea, and drink some.

• Mix 2 tbsp. flaxseed and 1 tbsp. horehound. Boil in 1 pint of water for 10 minutes and strain. Squeeze 1 lemon into the tea, add a pinch of ginger. Take 1 tbsp. every half hour.

• Do not take aspirin. It increases clotting time, which can slow the healing process.

• Learn to avoid loud speaking. Train yourself to speak more softly. If you have something worth hearing, they will listen to you.

• When you feel the slightest indication of hoarseness coming on, cancel your speaking engagements.

• Eating mucous-forming foods, such as dairy products, meat, candy, and wheat can produce hoarseness. Talking in a tense voice can also. Drinking liquids with a meal tends to do it also.

• Learn to breathe and speak more correctly, without straining. Stop losing your temper. Gargle a quart of cold water every day.

• Drink and gargle with herb teas of wild cherry bark, mullein, and/or vervain.