“If you don’t feel good every way you could. Don’t sit there broken-hearted” (Kiss)

Before any thoughts of Parkinson’s Disease began to surface, I noticed some changes that I was experiencing with my speech and my voice. People were often asking me to speak up, saying they couldn’t hear me.

Never ever in my life would I have been described as ‘quiet!’

But in the last several years, my voice has become very soft. The strange thing about this symptom is that I can’t hear it? In my own head, my voice sounds normal so when I’m asked to speak up, it sounds to me as though I’m yelling.

It isn’t a big deal when I’m talking with a couple of people in a quiet environment, but add a crowd, background music, or cheering fans, and my voice fades away and so do I.

I attended a friend’s retirement party shortly before the world went inside due to COVID 19. The bar played loud music, the crowd was tight, and the chatter was loud. I ‘yelled’ for several hours so that people could hear me and by the end of the night, I had lost my voice. I enjoyed myself and was able to touch base with many friends that I had not seen in quite a while. But it was really hard work. And a crazy stress on my vocal chords.

I have a speech therapist, part of Team Carla, who performed some assessments on my voice as well as speech and swallowing. She recommended a program called LSVT LOUD which “trains people with PD to use their voice at a more normal loudness level while speaking at home, work, or in the community. Key to the treatment is helping people “recalibrate” their perceptions so they know how loud or soft they sound to other people and can feel comfortable using a stronger voice at a normal loudness level.”

Click here; What is LSVT LOUD to find out more about the program.

It is an expensive venture and an intensive program but one that will help preserve my voice in the long term.

I’ve added the program to my After-COVID wish list!