Parents Vocal Cord Dysfunction and exercise induced asthma

[gymnastmom38]

DD was recently diagnosed with vocal cord dysfunction and exercise induced asthma after having a hard time with running during practice as well as starting to talk quieter. She's on an inhaler and starts going to a speech pathologist next week for training on breathing techniques that should help.

The dr said is isn't too terribly uncommon in female athletes that are eager to please, quiet, and hard on themselves. Ding ding...that would be dd.

anyone have any experience with either of these conditions?

 

[BlairBob]

With exercise induced asthma, yes.

Never was much of an issue with my gymnasts though. Most of our running was only sprint work or during vaulting.

Most of our conditioning focused on strength with rests in between (station to station). Didn't do shuttle runs that much if at all. Occasionally, jumps/sprints then a push, pull, or core movement.

 

[Quadqueen]

My DD had exercise-induced asthma when she was younger, maybe around 7, but seems to have outgrown it. She always used her inhaler before running for warmup and that seemed to help. I don't have any experience with the vocal chord dysfunction though.

 

[bogwoppit]

Oh I know a member here whose DD had that issue. I will see if I can rustle them up. I know her DD is over it now, but it was not fun.

 

[gymgal]

Sorry she is dealing with this. The speech therapy should help her learn new patterns to reduce damage to her chords and help them heal and she should see positive changes fairly quickly (at least in therapy - real life carryover can take longer and will depend on her age and compliance to the program). Just a quick note- while all speech therapists are trained in treating vocal disorders, a large majority do not treat the types like you are describing on a regular basis. If the Dr referred you to a specific speech therapist/practice, it should be fine, but if you had to find one on your own, don't be shy about asking for their experience level with vocal cord therapy. Therapists who are associated with medical centers, hospitals, or ENTs will typically have the most exposure to patients with vocal cord disorders, increasing experience and the availability of materials/equipment used to treat them. While most therapists are *capable* of treating voice issues, you want one who treats these disorders on a regular basis, as it will decrease her therapy time and improve long-term outcomes.

As for the asthma, Ds had exercise induced. He is not a gymnast but he does a lot of running in his sport. He used to use his inhaler before each practice and then as needed during practice, but after a couple of years, he was able to stop the preventative use (before practice) and needed it only rarely in practice. It has been about a year since he has used the inhaler at all but the Dr has told us that it could recur so he recommend we continue to have an inhaler available for him during exercise.

 

[gymnastmom38]

Luckily our asthma/allergy dr referred us to the best speech pathologist in the city who works with athletes. I've heard lots of good things about her, especially since one of the other team girl's mom is one and she knows her well. DD takes her inhaler before practice but its not working very well so far, other than just opening up her chest a little.

Sorry she is dealing with this. The speech therapy should help her learn new patterns to reduce damage to her chords and help them heal and she should see positive changes fairly quickly (at least in therapy - real life carryover can take longer and will depend on her age and compliance to the program). Just a quick note- while all speech therapists are trained in treating vocal disorders, a large majority do not treat the types like you are describing on a regular basis. If the Dr referred you to a specific speech therapist/practice, it should be fine, but if you had to find one on your own, don't be shy about asking for their experience level with vocal cord therapy. Therapists who are associated with medical centers, hospitals, or ENTs will typically have the most exposure to patients with vocal cord disorders, increasing experience and the availability of materials/equipment used to treat them. While most therapists are *capable* of treating voice issues, you want one who treats these disorders on a regular basis, as it will decrease her therapy time and improve long-term outcomes.

As for the asthma, Ds had exercise induced. He is not a gymnast but he does a lot of running in his sport. He used to use his inhaler before each practice and then as needed during practice, but after a couple of years, he was able to stop the preventative use (before practice) and needed it only rarely in practice. It has been about a year since he has used the inhaler at all but the Dr has told us that it could recur so he recommend we continue to have an inhaler available for him during exercise.

 

[thnkGd4kds]

I'm the one Bog was saying has a dd who dealt with VCD last year. My dd had an extreme case, so please don't let our experience scare you! It was hell for us, but, as I said, dd's case was not the norm. She had VCD every single waking moment for 10 weeks straight. As a 11/12 year old level 9, her gymnastics season stopped, and her life was altered. She was completely out of the gym that whole time and even for about a month after as she recovered physically and mentally from the exhaustion of struggling to breathe, being physically inactive (which is actually tiring), and being poked and prodded everywhere (including her mind.) Instead of doing many of her normal activities, she was shuffled to a large number of different types of doctors and health care providers for second and third and fourth and fifth opinions: ENTs, speech therapists, sports psychologists, another psychologist, our regular doctor, an alternative counselor, etc. No one could find a real reason why this was happening; nor could they find a solution, other than a couple breathing techniques to sort of quiet her breathing a bit. She still constantly worked hard just to breathe. (We called her Darth Vaderess to try to lighten it sometimes, but she did sound like a little Vader.) Yes, my dd obviously had the super-achiever personality and history associated with VCD, but no one could find any evidence of stress or anything in her that would cause this. She was even hypnotized twice. In the end, it was a kinesiologist/chiropractor who discovered that she had high levels of mercury and arsenic in her system. That professional said it would take a certain number of weeks before it completely left her system, and she was correct to the day. (My dd did not know the number of weeks, btw.) When one has toxins in the body, candida builds up and causes the vocal chords to slam shut at the top which is, as you know, what VCD is.

The good news for us is that my dd did recover, and she hasn't experienced VCD since (knock on wood; oh, please, God!). Once she recovered mentally and physically, she went back to gym, and she's quite happy. Plus, she's discovered that she is amazingly strong mentally, and she has remarkable faith.

My advice? Make sure the ENTs and speech therapists have had a lot of experience with VCD. (It was so frustrating to go to a couple appointments with people who claimed to have vast experience only to discover they really only had worked with a couple or a few people with it before, and none with severe cases like my dd's.) It's a condition of which little is known, actually, so even those who deal with it may be a bit clueless or helpless. Seek out as much help as you can from different areas, and don't be afraid to go to a couple kinesiologists to see if something might be going on with toxins like what happened with my dd. Try to find the best in each field. Keep in mind that you parents are your child's strongest advocates, and you know her best.

Also, it's helpful to have your dd start a positive, healing journal if she doesn't have one already. My dd, husband, or I would find meaningful quotes, verses, or songs, read them together, and she'd pick ones to write in her positive, healing journal. She still puts entries in it pretty often. Plus, even though dd's wasn't caused by psychological pressure, we meditated, and I stayed next to her side every night as she fell asleep, helping her to relax so she could rest. It doesn't sound like you need to lie next to your dd as she falls asleep, but the practice of meditation will likely help her mind and body (including the VCs) learn to relax on demand (hopefully).

You already know, I'm sure, that the breathing techniques that will be taught to your dd by the speech therapists might be able to help her stop future attacks. That's excellent, obviously, as it's quite a panicky feeling to not be able to control your breathing. Deep relaxation, as I mentioned, is also key. (Inhalers, however, do not help VCD, as, like you indicated, they help the chest, not the vocal chords, open. Inhalers would help exercise-induced asthma, though.) Especially if those techniques do not work, however, look for deeper issues.

I hope I didn't frighten you. I'm sure your dd's VCD will fall into more of the normal type that comes and goes very briefly and can be stopped by relaxation and breathing techniques. It's still worth investigating thoroughly, though.

Good luck! If you ever want to "talk", feel free to pm me.