Question:
I’m a 15 year old girl; for the past couple of years I’ve been having nasal congestion and cannot breathe through my nose easily. I don’t have a cold. This is ruining my life and my confidence and when I record my self I sound different to how I hear myself. I sound normal to me. But when I hear myself I feel like crying. I’ve been referred to the hospital 2 times and they’ve just given me nasal spray called something like Nasonex. I don’t feel the effect. Then I went to the doctor again and they just say to steam every night. Tomorrow I’m getting my braces removed; I’m hoping that will make a little change — I’m not sure. I have a little lisp (not that bad) I think it is due to my braces. Please help me. Nobody will give me an answer.
Answer:
You have brought up several issues.
Let’s deal firstly with the congestion. Sometimes prescriptions need a little time before we can notice the benefit; try to be patient and keep working with your doctor until you find a product that works for you. Steaming is a great idea (I do it a lot!) as is yoga cleansing breathing and rinsing the nasal passages with a Netti pot. You might be allergic to some things, in which case having allergy tests would be a good idea. Once you know what you are sensitive to, you might be able to eliminate foods or irritants in your environment that are causing the congestion.
Secondly, once you have the braces off you will still have a little adjustment period but certainly you should be better able to pronounce all sounds without a lisp. If it doesn’t go away, go to a speech therapist for one session and get some exercises to help you. Remember, exercises only work if we really do them and it takes 30 days to make a significant change in our reflexes.
Lastly, try not to go into victim mode. No matter how much anyone tries to help us, we are the ones who must lovingly care for our selves. We must keep trying new doctors, new solutions, new habits, new whatever-it-takes until something clicks. At the end of it all, we will have learned not only about our body and voice, but also about our personality, our stamina, our capacity for optimism. We will have strengthened our ability to heal ourselves and our personality to triumph in adversity.