Chris
I have Cervical dystonia. And yes my speech has been affected, quite badly in my early days before I got everything effectively managed.I would find I had a tiny time delay in my brain knowing what I wanted to say, and actually getting the words out. This mis-match was extremely hard work and I would get breathless with the effort. Loss of volume too. It was particularly difficult when speaking on the phone as the other person couldn't see what was happening with me.
Any stressful phone call was really really difficult.
I had a couple of sessions with a speech therapist and was given strategies. It was also helpful to learn all the vocal cords are muscles! I was getting an "overflow" of muscle contraction from my neck muscles.
These days I manage my C.D. realy well, especially the botox being so helpful.
But when botox wears off, I will occasionally get difficulty speaking, but this is always in a stressful situation, rather than normally.
The other thing that happens as botox wears off is that my voice box becomes quite prominant to see in the front of my neck. So something physical is definitely happening to it in some way. It all flattens back into my throat about 10 days after botox.
Linda
