side effect to vocal cords
I am now 6 months after finishing chemotherapy (3 rounds FEC and 3 rounds D). Last fall, about halfway through the chemo, I noticed a change in my voice. I was more hoarse, had to clear my throat more often, and the pitch of my voice was higher. This has now become worse over the past several months, even after stopping the chemo. I have had no throat soreness or pain. The more I talk, the worse the hoarseness becomes, and the higher the pitch of my voice.
My oncologist does not feel it is related to the chemotherapy. To his knowledge he has not heard of anyone with these same symptoms after chemo.
A few weeks ago I saw an ENT specialist. He did a scope and there were no polyps or growths (thankfully!). My vocal cords were thin and tight (hence the increased pitch of my voice). He said the problem was one of two things and probably a combination of both. He said that I likely had damage to my vocal cord nerves from the chemotherapy, and that there was also a stress induced muscular dysfunction of my vocal cords. I will now be seeing a speech pathologist who will run more tests and do some treatment for my vocal cords. If there is any damage to my vocal cord nerves, this may recover over time. I can also get treatment for any muscular dysfunction.
I did not have the side effects with the Doxatacel of numbness and tingling in my feet and hands, but I am wondering if it affected the vocal cord nerves.
My question to anyone viewing this message is: is this a side effect that anyone else has experienced? Is it related to the chemotherapy or is it just a stress induced side effect? I am interested to know if I am alone in this and if it is extremely rare, or if this is something other women are experiencing after a breast cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy.
Comments
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I am so glad I ran across your post. I finished four rounds of TC on June 18th. About a week after the last treatment I noticed that I have to clear my throat often and my voice if hoarse. I was thinking of calling my onco to ask if this is a side effect.
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I had 6 rounds of Taxotere Carboplatin and Herceptin and I still notice a change in my voice from time to time. I did notice during those rounds that I couldn't sing (in the shower or the car) to save my life! I couldn't get past a couple of notes before my voice cracked and I started coughing.
I also noticed that if I didn't talk for a long period of time my voice barely came out at all. I had to clear my throat just to make some sounds. Also after those 6 rounds the back of my throat was sore and it hurt to swallow things like bread and bagels. I had to chew them forever and it still hurt. I tried to take smaller bites but everything hurt. I finally just had to do everything "normally" and the pain finally stopped.
I honestly think it is from chemo. I am not the type to get "stressed out" over things. My entire chemo up till now is been mostly couch surfing so I don't see how that could have affected my voice.
GOOD LUCK!
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i finished 6 rounds of chemo and I had some complications one was that hearing got impaired and I too experienced problems with my throat. Saw my e t and he explained that the chemo plus my age has shrunk and weaken my vocal cords. Stated he can inject fatty fluid (?) into the smaller one to help my voice come back since I talk for work 3 hours straight.
Had anyone had problems with their hearing? I have a problem with my blood flowing to my heart but my heart is ok.
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I have been experiencing extreme difficulty with my voice on my 4th round of chemo. I'm male breast cancer patient. Sounds like extreme laringitis
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Hi Griffith, welcome to BCO! We're so glad you've found our community, and hope it can be a source of support for you. It sounds like that could definitely be the source of the voice issues, but we would encourage you to bring it to your oncologist's attention, just to be on the safe side!
The Mods
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My voice was hoarse the whole time I was in chemo treatments. There were days I could barely squeak out a word. I also had trouble with one of my eyes clouding over, running and being red and irritated all the time. But both of those things have completely cleared up since I finished chemo. Good luck to you Griffith!
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