Managing Vocal Chord Dysfunction: My Diagnosis Story and Helpful Exercise

*scroll to end to read VCD helpful exercise* Not too many people know about Vocal Chord Dysfunction and how much it can negatively impact your life, so I was glad to find a community of people online who could relate to some of my experiences! For some people, VCD almost entirely goes away from speech therapy, but VCD is not curable and is a lifelong condition that can only be managed by certain breathing techniques and avoiding triggers. Just know that there IS hope and there IS someone out there who will believe you when you tell them about your symptoms! 💙 Here's my diagnosis story so I hope to ease any fears or confusion about the diagnosis process or treatment! I was misdiagnosed with asthma all throughout middle school (I'm a HS senior now btw) and finally found a doctor who properly diagnosed me with VCD. My "asthma" got so bad during 2020 that I was unable to walk around my street block because I was dizzy all the time and could barely walk in a straight line... I felt like someone was always choking the air out of me and had pain in my chest... I had panic attacks during the VCD attacks, which only made things worse... In order to get officially diagnosed and referred to a speech therapist, I had to see an Ear Nose and Throat Doctor (ENT). They preformed a PAINLESS test (I was terrified when I first heard of it) that involved slowly inserting a small tube with a tiny camera at the end, through one of my nostrils until it reached the back of my throat. (I'm autistic and sensitive to touch + new things I hadn't properly prepared for) I had it done without any anesthesia, and I felt a tingling/burning feeling in the back of my throat as if I had just eaten a spicy pepper lol! Most people have the doctor spray anesthesia into one nostril and then proceed from there! I began speech therapy and attended for (I believe) 2 or 3 months. It completely changed my life! I know this may not be the case for some people, but I think everyone who has VCD can agree, that having a name for the pain and condition you are experiencing, brings relief within itself!!! My therapist asked me to keep a journal of all of my symptoms either on my phone or a physical notebook. This helped tremendously and led me to realize that my VCD episodes were exercise induced + more-so food related because of my allergy PTSD and other trauma reasons. My life finally got a little more back on course and I was able to take walks again! Every day is different and some days are way worse than others, but I could not be more thankful for knowing that I can manage VCD to a certain extent and be able to go out with friends! Here's a VCD exercise I learned in therapy: 😊 Take in a really short breath of air and immediately exhale through your mouth making a "TSS" sound. If you grin or show your teeth when getting started with this exercise, you'll be more focused on your breath patterns! Of all the techniques I was given, this one works the best! It might take a while to get used to going right into the breathing techniques during or after an attack, but if you practice when you are feeling well, you will eventually have this become your safe and healthy response to the attack! Hope you're all doing well! You've got this fellow VCD warriors! 🎉💙💪