Changes in singing voice - thyroid related?

[Astridnova]

In the year, approximately, I'm getting big changes in my voice - it breaks on high notes I used to hit, but sustains low ones that I had difficult with. Some days it seems okay. Other days I just cannot go from one note up to the next. Has anyone else had this kind of problem? I'm not a professional singer - but enjoy singing.

[shaws Administrator]

Yes - throat problems can occur. I am also having treatment so ask to be referred to an ENT who will may refer you the speech therapy dept of your local hospital.

ohniww.org/how-does-the-thy...

[Astridnova in reply to shaws]

Thanks for the advice, Shaws. Appreciate.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Yes, I couldn’t sing - high or low notes, I’m probably mezzo soprano - when I was hyper with Graves - once I was treated and back to ‘normal’ I got my singing voice back again.

Losing my pitch was also how I realised that things weren’t right early on when I tried (and totally failed) to sing along to the Christmas carols on Classic FM.

I remember being at a town band carol concert exactly a year later when my treatment had finished and the great joy of being able to hit the high notes for the descants again.

[Music1]

Hi, I'm a singer and it's affected my high notes as well. I thought it was just age related but seems that not only is the hypothyroidism affecting my singing but also possibly my hearing loss (although fortunately only in 1 ear). Am pregnant at the moment so getting an ENT apt after the birth hoping it will give me some answers. Best wishes

[Astridnova in reply to Music1]

Thanks for that. If you were able to get pregnant then you would not be suffering from geriatric-related voice changes, which I suspected, being 66 - except it is so obviously related to my thyroid meds. In fact, I did start training as an opera singer when I was about 17 (kicked out of conservatorium for smoking - kept on smoking until age 38 or something) but I noticed when I was possibly in my 20s still that my voice was unreliable in the sense that it would tire. I would get a sore throat from singing a lot. There were some days when I could sing like a lark for an hour, but other days it was hard to complete one song. When I was first treated with NDT I noticed that I suddenly gained strength in my voice, but this changed when I upped my meds, then I reduced them. I would say that I am at my optimum now in terms of doing complex brain work; my knees are stable, but not as strong as when I'm on a higher dose, but my voice changes from day to day. Good luck with your ENT thing. There must be some professional singers and their docs who have thought about this.

[Music1]

I'm sure it's linked. I'm not professional but I sung for 4 years whilst studying music and Education at Uni. I sing a lot of choral music and in cathedrals. It's frustrating when you love doing something and your body says no, with no explanation. I'm just concentrating on the pregnancy and hopefully little one soon. I used to be a classroom teacher so I put a lot of my voice problems down to using it too much in the classroom initially. When I stopped teaching it remained the same. Best wishes

[SailingBy]

Yes, this happened to me. My voice has deepened into the tenor range. On the plus side, I can now comfortably sing along to my favourite male voice Welsh choirs in the car ...