Every now and then that “voice of MS” is MS – or at least it is affected by MS. I have been doing quite a lot of speaking engagements these past few weeks (and it won’t let up for some time). My schedule has brought this voice issue to the forefront of my mind, and I thought I’d share it with you all. If I think of the one MS symptom that scares me the most, it would be the loss of ability to communicate verbally. All the symptoms are scary: paralysis, blindness, incontinence, loss of cognition. Yeah, they’re all scary! But for this person living with MS, loss of speech is the biggie. I have heard people speak whose voices are severely weakened by the disease, and I have heard people whose breath control causes their voice to be weak and wavy. I have yet to have any of those issues. When my “MS voice” sets in, it’s more like I have a deep allergy in my chest or something. Remember how President Bill Clinton sounded when he had one of his allergic bouts; that bad stage-whisper kind of sound? That’s my “MS voice.” It comes and goes. I don’t think it’s ever lasted more than a week or so. Sometimes, it is here and gone in a day. Still it is a very fearful experience for me. Even with a cane or my walker, I feel like I can stand tall and strongly state my point with (or about) multiple sclerosis. When “MS voice” strikes, I feel like a shrinking violet spitting my words into the wind of the world. Do you or have you ever experienced any vocal issues from your MS? Please describe your “MS voice.” Share with us the MS symptom you dread most – I may be the only one who sees this as the penultimate theft of MS. I’d also like to say that I share with you, the love of this site. I want you to know that, I too, look forward to your comments to each other and to me on a daily basis. Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers, Trevis
