Christmas Miracle… From Spasmodic Dysphonia Disorder To Singing Christmas Carols In Church!

This Story is about our former client, Elisabeth H of Ottawa Ontario, who suffered from a voice disorder known as Spasmodic Dysphonia. Like everybody else ( who, unfortunately, possesses the same type of voice disorder), Elizabeth was extremely skeptical and disbelieving. With all of my credentials, experience and expertise, I could not convince her to embark onto private sessions with me to help her a great deal; and, if not completely to cure her voice problem, at least help her to improve her quite-nasty voice condition.

In the interim, I was offering what we call a Healthy Voice/Vocal Workshop (which, at the time, was mostly for singers…) Elizabeth found out about that via receiving the newsletter from us, and thus approached us with the question of whether or not she could participate in that event. I remember that I was not too keen on that but reluctantly agreed to enrol her into the upcoming workshop.

My sixth sense told me that once she would see me in action, so to speak, she would be sold on the idea of working with me one-on-one. Surely enough, after the first two and a half hour session of the day, she came up to me and said: “Sign me in! Here is my credit card!” By the time we finished two full days-worth of that workshop, she already improved exponentially – as I also offered her an extra individual time after everybody had gone.

Then, in a fairly short period of time working with me individually, Elizabeth showed a huge improvement in her voice production! I have to say that she was extremely academically sound – no pun intended. She also was very compliant and took directions “with a grain of Sault”. Was it easy for her? Not at all. She was already in her mature age and not exactly qualified for the definition of a “spring chicken”. She was definitely not the latter… As one of my U.S. clients once declared: “Diana, you are right! You are trying to teach an old dog new tricks”. Yes, it is indeed difficult, but certainly not impossible! The prominent Toronto Star newspaper once said: “It is Definitely Not for the Faint of Heart”. I added: “It also requires at least an average IQ”.

Nonetheless, it also requires the dedication to get better and the willingness to conquer this very nasty and untreatable (in the conventional understanding of it) voice disorder. It also requires a lot of energy, time and patience; but in the end, this humongous effort will pay off a great deal!
Now about Elizabeth’s story:
At the time, Elizabeth and her husband bought a new house in the Ottawa area. Within the first few days, they discovered that their basement was flooded. The floors of that basement were carpeted; and back in those years (about 30 years ago now), those carpets were chemically treated – which, apparently, was extremely hazardous to human health – especially when they were drenched in water. Neither Elizabeth nor her husband knew anything about the above and could not even imagine that they had actually been caught in an environmental disaster…

They had dealt with the flood and naturally thought that all of their problems were behind them…. The little bit they knew. Elizabeth’s husband gradually became very ill and, unfortunately, passed away (in the not-very-distant future) from the flood occurrence. Then shortly after, Elizabeth herself started feeling ill and began to deteriorate systematically. Suddenly, she also discovered that her voice was not sounding the same as before. Shortly after, her voice began spasming uncontrollably… She then, unexpectedly, learned that she acquired a very complex voice disorder – spasmodic dysphonia. Needless to say, she was completely devastated receiving such news from her ENT specialist. Elizabeth began to work on her other health problems and actually succeeded with all of them, except not being able to conquer her spasmodic dysphonia disorder. Through her ordeal, she herself became a natural holistic practitioner – however, still not being able to speak normally as she was before.

So we began with the workshop and then some private sessions; and, nevertheless, achieved quite unprecedented results in such a short period of time (nearly a third of the protocol). Then Elizabeth left, as she was moving to another province of Canada and restructuring her life completely.

Then we received a surprise post-course letter from her:
“A Christmas miracle. Last night I was able to sing Christmas carols at church for the first time in years without a strangled voice. The non-surgical voice repair exercises have really paid off.”

Elizabeth H – Way to go Elizabeth! –

We have lost touch with her directly, but we are sure that she is healthy and she continues to possess a healthy voice. We also hope that she keeps on singing as well, which is good for everyone, as it does rejuvenate the heart, soul and spirit!