<p>My poor D has a tough week ahead. She came home from a six hour rehearsal yesterday with a deep cough and sore throat. She has rehearsals all week (with a demanding and inconsiderate director), then on Thursday night we have a four hour drive to an audition the next morning. Saturday she has a regional speech tournament all day (which she refuses to skip), then flies out in the evening for another audition on Sunday morning. We fly back on Sunday night, for yet another audition on Monday. She is grateful that she has so many opportunities--but so scared that her voice is not going to hold up. Any advice, beyond Throat Coat, tea, and comfort?</p>
<p>Go to the doctor. I had something like this when I had something important going on. My first doctor did nothing to help. Then I went to another and he gave me a little steroid that helped my throat heal quicker. He gave me antibiotics for any possible small infection that might fight itself off, but, this made it go quicker. I was so thrilled to finally have my voice back! The year before, I had laryngitis for several months because my doctor would not help. This year, we nipped it in the bud.</p>
<p>And the sooner you take her, the more likely she will be better by Thursday. It takes time for these meds to kick in. And the first doctor she sees might not help her, so she may need to go to a second.</p>
<p>Oh, and a doctor who sees adults too might be more helpful. I think sometimes, peds don’t understand that teens have some pressing, extremely important things going on.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion–I have to admit I didn’t really consider that, as we have always tried to avoid medicating our kids whenever possible. She is usually so healthy–it is just such bad timing! I’ll call her voice teacher to see what she thinks, then maybe chat to the doctor.</p>
<p>Another thought…Emergen-C (3-4x daily), Zinc/Echinacea lozenges, Neti-pot if congested. Don’t drink caffeinated tea as it will dry her out. And since your D is a singer, make sure she has an attractive scarf to protect her throat-LOL! If she’s running a fever, get her to soak in a hot tub for 30 minutes, wrap her up in blankets/comforters and have her sweat it out, sipping hot water/lemon/honey/cayenne pepper. It will stimulate the immune system and she should feel better in the morning. Works like a charm for us…</p>
<p>Thanks ProMusician, I’ll stop by our health food store and see what they have. Isn’t there also a special throat lozenge recommended for singers? I just don’t remember the name of it. What is your opinion on practice this week–should she preserve her voice or keep practicing in hopes of working through it? Work only with her voice teacher? (we were hoping to get two lessons in before we leave on Thursday).</p>
<p>What is more important to your D - the momentary rewards of the current HS production/tournament or her potential career? It is a brutal question but an important one. It is one she will have to ask herself for her entire career. To nurture the career taking care of the voice is paramount. If you ruin your voice you cannot go out and get another one. The voice is not a weak muscle that gets stronger by “singing through” the pain. The pain is a notice to stop.</p>
<p>The schedule you describe is too brutal for a young voice in pain. She should either immediately go to a doctor that specializes in voice or she should rest her voice for a day or two and see if it feels better. By rest that means NO noise. No talking, singing, and absolutely no whispering. If she insists on the schedule she should rest the voice completely between performances and only walk through rehearsals. She also needs to be able to self advocate for her vocal health and tell the director she is on vocal rest and cannot sing. No respectable educator should risk the health of their students but we all know that that is not necessarily the case in HS. </p>
<p>The above suggestions will make her feel better and DD’s voice doctor has given her the steroid shot for an absolutely unavoidable performance. Make sure she is staying hydrated. There can be a tendency to forget to drink as much water as is needed during long rehearsals. A personal steam inhaler may help but do not use the menthol. Also a netty pot to keep the sinus clear, she could be having a nasal drip interfere with voice since she has a cough.</p>
<p>Good luck, I remember those days when the voice issues almost always showed up during the audition season. DD finally got her tonsils out and that took care of ll those issues.</p>
<p>Singersmom07, thanks for the advice. I have been telling her for her entire high-school career that she should not take on so much, but my D is very driven and usually manages everything in great health. Fortunately, the show she is rehearsing is not a musical, so she does not need to belt, but she is playing the lead so she does need to turn up for rehearsals. She’s pretty good at taking homework along and sitting quietly when she is not working and I’m sure she’ll do that this week. If she is not feeling better tonight, I may keep her out of school tomorrow–but she has already missed a lot of school (last semester with college visits and this semester with auditions). Her grades are very important to her and she already has tests and homework to catch up on from previous absences last week. Audition season is tough–and so much rides on it that I’m just trying to keep her calm and well.</p>
<p>My D loves a tea “Throat Comfort” which is YOGI brand. She swears by it for those icky throat days. Hydration is paramount, do you own a facial steamer-along with her neti, best investment. Make sure she gets plenty of vocal rest, unfortunately damage can be done by overspeaking/loudly speaking with a sore throat. I would consult your ENT (if possible) as to the schedule she has coming up, and follow their plan of action. Cords are a delicate thing to mess with. I wish her well, and a quick recovery!</p>
<p>Another idea - get her a little white board and marker to write notes and tell her not to talk during the day. Not to friends, not to teachers. she can write questions and answers on the board. The top of the board can state - I am on vocal rest. Also maybe during some rehearsals she can just say her or write cues to the other actors as she walks through rehearsal and not her whole part. If she has already demonstrated she knows her part they may agree.</p>
<p>Hi again-I can’t offer a qualified opinion re: vocal rest for this week because I’m an instrumentalist, but I would follow whatever advice your daughter’s voice teacher has to offer. There are many ways to practice for auditions without actually singing-preparing psychologically and studying text, etc. The lozenges that we use are from WF and are sweetened with rice syrup instead of cane sugar. It’s a tough one, for sure, with these over-achieving students of ours, but having drive to succeed will help the long term goal. Good luck!!!</p>