I've been suffering from chronic laryngitis for the last couple of years. I've had it probably 6 or 7 times by now over that span, and it's very annoying.

I've seen multiple doctors about it, and have had the following recommended:

• Peppermint tea
• Honey
• Rest
• Antibiotics
• Steroids
• Antacids

It's been unclear on whether any of these has helped at all, but one thing I've been able to determine is that it generally lasts about a week, maybe longer. The longest I dealt with it was around Thanksgiving in 2023, when I had no voice for about a month and a half.

Of all the things that I've noticed, it's that just before I start to lose my voice, I feel very run down, more so than my usual lethargy from the other medical crap I have going on. Otherwise, I have no other symptoms that go along with it, no fever (though there was one time where I did have a mild one), no cough (other than intentional ones to try to force something to work), no sinus drainage, no reflux, nada.

This round started last Wednesday. I thought the run down feeling was just because we were busy the week prior and that week itself. But later in the day, I felt my voice start to fade, and it went to nothing by mid-day on Thursday. It slowly and minimally improved over each of the following days, allowing me to get a longer run out of the voice each day before it went away.

Friday, I decided to schedule at my allergy clinic to see an ENT about it. I just got back from that appointment a moment ago, but here's what went on.

First, they gave me a high volume/high pressure spray of Afrin and Lidocaine. That was awful. I spat a good bit of it out, and I kept smelling and tasting it for a while thereafter. Then I had a chat with the doctor about everything above, which prompted him to go ahead and shove a scope up my nose and down my throat.

He said my sinuses looked great, except for a deviated septum and a spur in my left nostril. Moving down my throat and past my tongue, everything looked good. Then he got to my larynx and had me make an "EEEEE" sound. He said that everything was red around there and that the vocal chords themselves were swollen, which suggested acid reflux to him.

I have no memory of any reflux symptoms last week or before, and I'm pretty aware of what they would feel like. But since he's the expert, I trust his opinion for now.

He put in a prescription for a once-daily antacid and wants me to do that for 3 months before we repeat the scope. If all is good then all is good. If not, he'll send me to see another type of doctor that uses a similar scope with a high speed camera attached to it to see what's going on with the vocal chord movement. If it goes that far and they do see issues with how they move, it'll point to my ankylosing spondylitis being the culprit, which means I'll have to talk with my rheumatologist about it more.

For now, I'm trusting what the doctor said, as it's much more specific than what any others have in the past. In the meantim(e), I have to rest my voice for 2 weeks, so I'll be non-vocal in team meetings and whatnot.