You wake up, go to say something, and almost nothing comes out. Just a croak. Maybe you were shouting at a wedding the night before, or you have had a cold running for four days. Either way, the voice has packed up and gone.
Most people call it a throat infection. It usually is not.
So What Is Laryngitis, Really
Right, so what is laryngitis in plain terms? Your voice box sits in the neck and holds two small folds of tissue. Air passes through, the folds vibrate, and sound comes out. When those folds get swollen or irritated, they stop vibrating properly, and the voice goes hoarse or disappears altogether.
That swelling is laryngitis. Acute if it lasts days, chronic if it hangs around past three weeks. Understanding what is laryngitis matters mostly because of that three week mark. Before it, usually harmless. After it, somebody needs to have a look.
What causes laryngitis in the first place
Ask ten patients what causes laryngitis and nine will say cold weather. Partly true, but not the whole story.
- Viral infections, the same ones that bring a cold or flu. This is the common one by far
- Shouting, singing, long phone calls, teaching all day without a break
- Acid reflux coming up the food pipe at night and burning the voice box
- Smoking, and sitting in smoky rooms
- Dust, fumes, allergies, pollution - which in our city needs no introduction
- Dry air from running the AC all night
Bacterial laryngitis happens too, though less often than people assume. Antibiotics get handed out for it far more than they should be.
Laryngitis Causes That Are Easy To Miss
Some causes of laryngitis don’t announce themselves. Reflux is the biggest culprit here. In many cases, there’s no heartburn at all, just a hoarse morning voice and a constant need to clear the throat. People live with it for years.
Then there are the occupational ones. Teachers, call centre staff, singers, hawkers. Anybody whose job is talking. Among chronic laryngitis causes this group turns up the most.
Thyroid problems and certain inhalers can also do it. And in older patients, a hoarse voice that will not settle is sometimes the first sign of something more serious sitting on the vocal cord.
Laryngitis symptoms worth knowing
The main laryngitis symptoms are:
- Hoarseness, or losing the voice completely
- A dry, tickly throat
- Pain or discomfort on swallowing, though not always
- Dry cough that will not stop
- Feeling like something is stuck in the throat
- Needing to clear the throat constantly
Fever and body ache show up when there is an infection behind it. Children sometimes get a barking cough with noisy breathing, and that one needs attention quickly because their airways are narrow to begin with.
Among all laryngitis symptoms, difficulty breathing is the one that cannot wait. Everything else can be watched for a few days.
How laryngitis diagnosis is done
A proper laryngitis diagnosis is not complicated. History first – how long, what triggered it, do you smoke, do you shout for a living, is there reflux. Then the voice box gets examined, usually with a flexible or rigid laryngoscope passed through the nose or the mouth. Takes a minute or two.
What the examination shows is whether the cords are simply red and swollen, or whether there is a nodule, a polyp, or something else sitting there. Stroboscopy adds more detail for singers and professional voice users. For chronic cases, the laryngitis diagnosis sometimes extends to reflux testing or a scan, depending on what is seen.
Laryngitis treatment, and what actually works
Honestly, for the viral kind, laryngitis treatment is mostly rest. Voice rest, properly done – not whispering, which strains the cords more than speaking softly does.
- Plenty of warm fluids through the day
- Steam inhalation, twice daily
- No smoking, no alcohol while it settles
- Treating the reflux if that is the cause, with medicines and a lighter dinner eaten earlier
- Antibiotics only where there is real bacterial infection
- Speech therapy for people who keep getting it from overuse
Surgery comes in rarely, when there is a polyp or nodule that will not go away on its own. Most laryngitis treatment never reaches that point.
How long does laryngitis last, then?
The question everybody asks. How long laryngitis lasts depends on the cause, but the viral sort typically clears in about a week, sometimes ten days. The voice may stay slightly rough a bit longer than that.
If you are still hoarse at three weeks, the answer to how long laryngitis lasts becomes a different conversation. That is chronic, and it needs examining rather than waiting it out. Dr. Arvind Kumar Gupta, ENT and Head and Neck Consultant Surgeon with over twenty years of practice, sees voice and throat problems daily. A hoarse voice that has lasted more than three weeks should be checked by an ENT Specialist in Kolkata.
