I have received many letters from singers around the world who are suffering from vocal hoarseness. Many of these singers are mystified, having developed hoarseness after years of vocal health. I decided to write this article because singers need to know about a phenomenon of which little is written and about which few speak. This article is an account of my personal journey, and the journeys of recovery of some of my students that I have witnessed.
After teaching with no vocal fatigue for over 25 years, I suddenly developed a type of hoarseness that made my voice tired after only about two hours of teaching. Previously, I had easily taught for seven hours without any fatigue at all—and could go on to practice, even after such a full day. What went wrong? Why did I suddenly feel fatigue after never feeling it before in my entire career as a vocal professional? What would be the answer to what any singer would call a crisis situation?
When this crisis occurred, I did what any singer or teacher would do. I followed my instincts by going to some of the best laryngologists in New York. These individuals are quite capable and specialize in treating professional singers and teachers. Certainly modern medicine can create miraculous results in specific situations—but my hoarseness did not seem to be one of those situations.
Doctors diagnosed a slight case of acid reflux and gave me antacid medication. Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem of chronic hoarseness. Then, because nasal drainage was also a symptom of the problems I was experiencing, I was given allergy medications. I experienced a slight improvement—but the primary issue of hoarseness was still present. This just did not make any logical sense to me at the time. Why would I continue to have a condition of hoarseness when I had never suffered in such a way before?
During this time of trial, I began to teach a singer who had suffered from technical problems but whose voice was quite healthy physically. Consistently, she tried to get me to go to her holistic doctor. At that point, I didn’t have a strong belief in such treatment, but she continued to tell me about a chiropractor, Dr. Frederick Mindel. Finally, in desperation, I decided to visit his New York office. Again, I must say that I was a slight skeptic about such doctors, because the treatments involved kinesiological testing.
I will never forget my first visit with Dr. Mindel. He did some tests and confirmed that I was suffering from parasites, in both my stomach and throat. Many individuals have this condition and do not realize it. My parasite problem was accompanied by candida, a contributing factor in producing a large amount of mucus in the throat and nasal area. The mucus was the primary reason for my chronic hoarseness.
Dr. Mindel treated me with supplements that attacked the parasites immediately. The first medication was so strong that I was hoarse within a few seconds of taking it. We adjusted the medication in another treatment that was less strong.
The one thing about alternative medicine anyone should consider: Individuals often get worse symptoms before they get better. It was a depressing time—my throat seemed raw and hoarse for about a week. Then, amazingly, I began to improve dramatically. The mucus level in my body decreased to the point that I felt little drainage at all. My voice began to improve once again.
Within 3 months, my vocal cords felt stronger than they had in more than a year. I am a lyric baritone who was trained as a tenor, and it had taken a long time for my voice to relax after the transition of vocal Fach. After Dr. Mindel’s treatment, however, my voice began to develop a roundness and beauty that it had never possessed before. I had most probably suffered from candida for many years and did not realize it.
Soon I could begin to teach longer hours once again without fatigue, and my voice kept developing with more and more strength. Today, I teach for seven hours a day, and I work a six-day workweek—a testimony to the work of Dr. Frederick Mindel and his ability to help singers with throat problems.
This treatment saved my career as a vocal pedagogue. The vocal demands of teaching seven hours a day, performing master classes at universities, or simply speaking all day, were not a challenge after treatment. Again, it is important to consider that I tried all the other treatments through qualified doctors. I had also tried many over-the-counter drugs, in a desperate attempt to solve a problem I knew to be physical, not technical.
Professional Tenor
One of the gifts of this experience for me is that I can now hear the type of dysfunction that afflicts the voice when someone is suffering from parasites. The singer’s sound is dry, and there is a husk to the voice, as though the cords do not completely come together. Usually, the high range is difficult and the singer has to use breath pressure to get into the upper register. Of course, this attempt at the high range causes more hoarseness. Most importantly, the voice functions in a dramatically different way from day to day. It might feel relatively good one day and then feel very hoarse the next.
I remember having a tenor come to me with a most beautiful voice. He was a professional, yet he suffered from chronic registration problems as well as breath management problems. He came to me after reading my website and seeing the connection to the training of Jussi Bjoerling. In my experience, the Bjoerling exercises help singers almost immediately in the re-balancing of registration and breath management. In this case, however, the singer improved dramatically and then would go backwards again. This is a huge warning sign pointing to parasites in the throat. I realized that his voice was suffering from a physical problem. When the throat is open and the singer suddenly gets a breathy or husky sound to the voice, I know there is a problem.
I sent the tenor to Dr. Mindel, and almost immediately, there was a change. This singer suffered from what many singers suffer: the need to work the voice on a daily basis as the contracts come in. As in my case, the singer’s throat improved, and then got worse before getting better.
The challenge for any singer is to make it emotionally through the “getting worse” stage. Singers need a lot of emotional support during this depressing time. Right after that stage, (within two months) this tenor improved dramatically. The Bjoerling exercises began to help him develop his voice technically in such a way that he could sing almost any repertoire he desired. This was another
testament to the deep degree that this kind of work can help a singer save his or her voice.
Professional Soprano
Not long before the tenor came to me, I had a professional soprano come to me with similar symptoms. She had suffered a sudden case of hoarseness after years of a successful singing career. Sadly for her, she had put her career on hold for four years because of this type of chronic hoarseness.
Again, it was not predictable. The voice might be close to normal one day and then extremely hoarse the next. I immediately heard the dryness in her voice and witnessed vocal difficulties similar to the ones I had experienced personally. I told her about this approach to healing the voice and she was open to investigating it.
For this soprano, the results of this kind of work were nothing short of amazing. In a few short weeks this singer could sing with much more balance in registration, because the swelling of her vocal folds had diminished greatly as the candida levels in her body fell. Through this technical and holistic work, she was able to restart her professional singing career.
Questions for the Singer
• Do you feel hoarse or unusually thick in the throat in the early morning?
• Is there a great amount of thick mucus on the cords, which gets better as the day goes on, but does not leave completely?
• Does the voice perform almost normally one day and feel very hoarse the next day?
• Do you feel large register breaks, even though you are singing technically well?
• Is your repertoire limited in range because you are afraid that your voice will not make the high notes, depending upon the day?
• Do you sometimes feel waves of nausea and feel the need to eat?
• Is your professional singing career on hold in spite of the fact you feel you are singing technically well?
• Finally, do you feel there is a mystery about your throat that you just cannot figure out?
If you can strongly identify with one or more of these questions, then perhaps you could benefit from investigating the probable cause.
Editor’s note: Alternative Medicine Magazine recently elected Dr. Frederick Mindel, holistic doctor of the year. You can find good holistic doctors throughout the country and parasite testing is a common practice. Get a recommendation before you go.
