I had a couple of recent experiences that brought that feeling back to me, though it wasn’t a photograph that caused it. Rather, it was when I listened to an old recording of myself. “I heard the news today, oh boy …” goes the song “A Day in the Life,” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Well, what I heard was news, all right.
Old Webcasts Bring Back What I Used to Sound Like
Beginning in the mid-2000s, I wrote and hosted a number of webcasts on topics related to multiple sclerosis (MS). It was before we began — and the reason we started — the Life With Multiple Sclerosis column. The webcasts are hard to find these days, but some of those recordings still pop up now and again when I’m researching an MS topic about which I want to write. I listen to a snippet or two and fondly remember our guests and the wonderful team of producers and technicians that made those programs possible. Those recordings are from a particular place in time, and also from a place in my disease progression. When I heard a more recent recording of my voice from a radio interview, I noted how very different the noises coming from my larynx (voice box) sound now, relative to just a few years ago. I have been aware of more difficulties in speaking and the change of my voice from inside my head over the past months. To hear it from the outside rather than from inside — well, we all know what that can be like. The recent revelation that a broadcast journalist here was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease), and that he had first investigated it because of changes in his voice, made my discovery that much more poignant to me. Now, don’t get me wrong: MS isn’t fatal the way motor neuron disease is. Still, to hear my tone and volume changed by our disease was upsetting.
How MS Can Affect the Voice and Speaking
Dysphonia is the medical term for how MS can affect the voice. While there are cognitive reasons we might have trouble finding the right words to say (called aphasia), dysphonia relates to changes in the voice caused by reduced physical control of muscles in the lips, mouth, tongue, throat, or larynx. Dysphonia is one of the disorders that falls under the umbrella of dysarthria, which is a broader group of speech disorders that can be part of multiple sclerosis. Though I don’t have the dysarthria, I have known people who do. Those symptoms can include slurred speech, with problems pronouncing words; “scanning” speech, in which words come slowly, with long pauses between words and syllables (again, this is due to muscle issues, not cognitive ones); and “explosive” speech, when episodes of loud, rapid, and, well, explosive words pop out during conversation.
What It Means to Me to Lose My Speech Abilities
As someone who loves words, loves to talk, and uses his voice to represent our cause, I must admit that this has been one of the possible symptoms I’ve dreaded most. Losing the ability to communicate is well into Dante’s nine circles of hell for this writer. My wife, Caryn’s, undergraduate degree is in speech and hearing sciences, so she wasn’t surprised when I brought my observations to her. She knows some very talented speech and language therapists who might help me keep what I have longer than I would without some therapy. Sign me up! Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers, Trevis
