Vocal cords and voice box swelling

I got my pacemaker in late December 2013 and am having residual throat problems. When I woke up after routine placement surgery I couldn't take a deep breath and swallowing was difficult. No anesthesia was used so I couldn't figure out what was going on. It slowly improved somewhat over the next weeks, but since then my throat has alternately felt "mushy."

I finally went to the ENT after weeks of pain in my trachea worsening with deep breaths or bending over. He seemed reluctant to relate it to the pacemaker insertion and suggested reflux or that allergies had caused my muscles to overwork in my throat. He used a scope to look down my throat and determined that my voice box and vocal cords are swollen. He sent me home with a recommendation for allergy testing if the swelling doesn't go down.

My own research tells me that there could be a connection with vocal cord nerve trauma and surgery.

I never have reflux and have had moderate allergies all my life without anything like this before.

Does this experience sound familiar to anyone out there ???

1 Comments

Not your experience

by Theknotguy - 2014-03-04 09:03:18

I had problems because of the trachea tube. They were under a little stress and in a hurry since my heart and breathing had stopped. So I had a sore throat and scratched vocal cords.

I won't argue about the connection with vocal cord nerve trauma and surgery but I'd like to know what they were doing. My procedure was in the shoulder area - no where near the vocal cords. So if they did the same for you I'm not sure how that would damage the vocal cords.

During my recovery it was discovered I had a flu type bug. It caused a lot of congestion in my lungs, vocal cords, and throat. It caused a lot of problems until I got over it.

Could you give us a little more information about why you feel there is a connection between your vocal cords and the pacemaker insertion?

Theknotguy

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