Eating and drinking are things most of us do without giving them much thought. But after a stroke, something as simple as taking a sip of water or enjoying a meal with family can suddenly become difficult, frustrating, or even frightening. Difficulty swallowing is called dysphagia. It is a common complication of stroke, affecting nearly half of people who experience one. Dysphagia can make it difficult to eat and drink safely, get enough nutrition and fluids, and enjoy the so

If exercise leaves you feeling like your throat suddenly closes, you can’t get enough air in, or your breathing becomes loud and strained, the problem may not be your lungs. It could be exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO). EILO occurs when the larynx, or voice box, narrows during exercise. Symptoms often appear when exercise becomes intense and can include: Throat tightness Difficulty breathing in Shortness of breath Noisy breathing or a high-pitched sound when inha

Most people who develop a persistent hoarse or raspy voice assume, reasonably, that something is sitting on their vocal folds: a nodule, a polyp, a cyst. That assumption is often correct, and it is also the reason a condition called sulcus vocalis gets missed as often as it does. Sulcus vocalis is not a growth. It is a groove, a structural change along the edge of the vocal fold where the tissue has thinned, scarred, or lost its normal layered architecture, and because there

There is a persistent assumption that a career built on speaking for a living rules out ever having struggled to speak, and the careers of the actors below argue otherwise. Each has spoken publicly, on their own terms, about a speech or communication disorder that shaped some part of their life, whether in childhood, mid-career, or after a medical event they never saw coming. Taken together, their stories make a case worth stating plainly: a speech or voice disorder is not a

Marfan syndrome is, by almost every account, a cardiology story. It is a genetic condition affecting the body's connective tissue, the fibrous material that gives structure to blood vessels, ligaments, and the walls of the heart, and its most serious complication is aortic disease: the gradual widening of the aorta that can, left unmonitored, progress to a life-threatening tear. That framing is accurate, and it is also incomplete. A condition that reshapes connective tissue t

Myasthenia gravis, usually shortened to MG, is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own immune system attacks the connection point between nerve and muscle, called the neuromuscular junction. The result is a very particular kind of weakness: one that fluctuates, that gets worse with repeated use of a muscle, and that can improve with rest. For some patients, MG stays confined to the eyes, causing drooping eyelids or double vision. For others, it becomes generalized, affe

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is usually discussed in terms of the hands and feet: the weakness, the muscle wasting, the years of orthopedic procedures that reshape a person's relationship with their own body. What gets discussed far less often, even among the physicians managing the condition, is that the same nerve degeneration responsible for those symptoms can eventually reach the voice box. A recent case series in The Laryngoscope examined four adults with CMT who develope

Most chronic sinus congestion, ear infections, and voice changes are exactly what they appear to be, and the overwhelming majority resolve with routine care. But a small subset of patients cycle through repeated rounds of treatment for what looks like ordinary ENT trouble, sinus infections that don't clear, ear fluid that keeps returning, hoarseness that won't settle, without anyone stepping back to ask whether these findings belong to a single underlying process. Granulomato

Persistent hoarseness is usually dismissed as the residue of a cold, a hard week of talking, or the ordinary wear of getting older, and in the great majority of cases that dismissal is reasonable. But when hoarseness settles in and refuses to clear over the course of months rather than days, the more useful question is not whether the voice will eventually right itself but what, structurally, might be standing in the way. Laryngeal amyloidosis is one of the rarer answers to t

Most people who lose their voice for a few days chalk it up to a cold, too much talking, or seasonal allergies, and among the common causes of a hoarse voice, they are right to. But there is a rare condition called relapsing polychondritis in which a change in voice, a persistent cough, or unexplained shortness of breath is not a passing nuisance. It is the body signaling that the cartilage holding the airway together is under attack. While it is unlikely that any one person

If your voice changed suddenly, or gradually enough that you can't quite pinpoint when it started, and someone has mentioned the phrase "vocal cord paralysis," the first instinct is usually to think about the throat. That instinct is reasonable but incomplete. The vocal cords themselves are rarely where the actual problem lives. The nerve responsible for moving them takes one of the strangest, most circuitous routes of any nerve in the human body, and understanding that route

Rhode Island's healthcare landscape is shifting. As primary care access grows harder to find, we believe speech therapy has a vital role to play, and we're committed to stepping up. A State Under Pressure Rhode Island is grappling with a physician shortage that is being felt in waiting rooms, on phone lines, and in the lives of everyday residents. Across the state, primary care physicians are stretched thin — managing larger patient panels, longer wait times, and growing admi

Inducible laryngeal obstruction is complex — and it rarely travels alone. Here's what every patient with breathing difficulties deserves to know before starting treatment. If you've been struggling to breathe and finally received a diagnosis of inducible laryngeal obstruction (ILO), you may feel relieved to have a name for what's been happening. But here's something your care team should tell you: ILO is one of the most frequently misidentified and misunderstood conditions in

If you’ve been struggling with your voice — whether it sounds rough, breathy, strained, or just “off” — you’re in good company. A major research study recently reviewed decades of evidence on voice disorders and how to treat them. Here’s what they found, in plain language: • About 1 in 6 adults report having voice problems at some point in their lives. • Voice disorders are especially common among people who rely on their voice for work — teachers, singers, prof

If you stutter, you've probably spent a lot of time focused on your speech — trying to get words out smoothly, dreading certain sounds, or planning what you'll say to avoid a block. But stuttering is about so much more than the sounds you make. It's about how you feel, how you see yourself and how freely you show up in the world. Traditional stuttering therapy has come a long way. There are proven techniques that can help you manage your speech and feel more in con

Swallowing changes are a common and often stressful part of living with Parkinson’s disease. Difficulty swallowing pills, coughing during meals, feeling food “stuck,” or changes in saliva can affect not only physical safety, but also confidence, independence, and quality of life. At True Self Speech Therapy, we work with people with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners to address these changes early and safely. Alongside traditional swallowing therapy, we may incorpora

And How Create & Connect Supports Healthy, Independent Living As we age, it’s easy to focus on the physical changes—mobility, strength, memory, or chronic health conditions. While biology certainly plays a role in aging, research consistently shows that how we age is deeply influenced by our environment, especially our social connections. Loneliness, social isolation, and reduced access to meaningful activities aren’t just emotionally difficult—they are serious health concer

Living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects far more than movement. It can quietly change how people connect with others, how confident they feel in conversations, and how supported they feel in their day-to-day lives. A recent qualitative research study, “Stronger Together: A Qualitative Exploration of Social Connectedness in Parkinson’s Disease in the Digital Era,” highlights just how critical social connection is for quality of life — and why intentional, ongoing group s

Understanding Paradoxical Vocal Dysfunction (EILO) and How Speech Therapy Can Help If you or your child feel short of breath during exercise, sports, or even everyday activities—and asthma treatments haven’t helped—you’re not alone. Many people are told they have asthma, use inhalers faithfully, and still struggle to breathe. For a large number of these individuals, the real issue isn’t the lungs at all—it’s the voice box. At True Self Speech Therapy , we specialize in treati

Recently, I worked with a client who has fluent aphasia —a language disorder that affects how people understand and express words, often following a stroke or brain injury. My client was motivated to return to work, where texting was a key part of his communication. Rather than focusing solely on traditional paper-and-pencil writing tasks, we incorporated his cell phone directly into therapy. This kind of therapy may sound modern, but it’s also deeply functional —and it’s su