update on my vocal cords

I'm learning more about my vocal cords than I ever wanted to know.

Did you know that clearing your throat makes your VC bang into one another?

Did you know that by learning a certain swallow technique, you can massage your VC?

Did you know that sniffing with your nose (two or three times) opens your VC?

Did you  know that sitting and leaning over so that your tummy is touching your thighs forces the rest that the upper body needs and also forces the diaphragm to work?

Did you know that the 'trick' to teaching the VC to relax is prolonged exhalation coupled with some inhalation tricks?

Did you know that sniffing a couple of times, then pursing your lips like you're blowing out a candle with a long exhale can relieve some of the severity of the weird hyperventilating kinda stuff I've dealt with?

Did you know that with VCD, lying on the floor and attempting to relax, helps the diaphragm to kick in and help relieve the stress up top? (including the double sniff and slow audible exhale thru the pursed lips)

ME NEITHER!

As you can see, speech therapy has been an enlightening experience.

I can say that perhaps today, so far I have not felt horrid. I call that a win at this point. I did my stretching and floor belly breathing before I did errands this morning and I didn't feel like a basket case while I was gone. Was I still short of breath much of the time? Yes. But it was't over the top.  And I could do some rescue breathing ("blowing out the candle") and not feel just completely awful.

I am also learning that I am extremely "tight" in my shoulders and upper body and trying to remind myself to gently stretch certain muscles when things start going south.

I mentioned to my therapist this week that it's been a long haul for me because this has been going on for about six weeks. She said yeah but its only been six weeks. I wanted to slap her. ; ) But then she said she had a patient that had it for two years because nobody knew what it was. So yeah, only six weeks. I would seriously have lost my mind in two years time.

But thankfully I am beginning to see tiny little rays of sunshine every now and then peeking through the dark clouds that have been all I could see for a while. : )