How to Heal Vocal Cords From Acid Reflux

You’ve been hoarse or even worse, you’ve lost your voice due to acid reflux. Now, you are wondering how to heal vocal cords from acid reflux? Stay tuned, because my guest, a performing artist and vocal coach Matilda Lindell will share her journey to a healthy voice.

I want to introduce you to Matilda Lindell, who is an artist and voice coach from Stockholm, Sweden. Aside from writing and performing her own original music, she has been part of several groups and bands throughout her career. One of them is the ABBA Tribute act “ABBA THE CONCERT” which she has been touring the US with for over a decade. Matilda has a degree in vocal pedagogy and is a Certified Master Trainer in Estill Voice Training and she coaches singers and voice teachers around the world.

I had the privilege to work with Matilda in my Estill certification program. During our many conversations, she shared with me how she overcame a very severe case of acid reflux. With her never-ending curiosity, perseverance and positivity, she was able to discover a natural way of treating her acid reflux issues. Her story is very encouraging and today, she is sharing her wisdom with us. If you want to stay in touch with her, click the link in the description below this video to get even more tips on how to maintain a healthy voice. Now, let’s hear from Matilda.

Katarina: Okay, Matilda, tell us about your journey with acid reflux. Let's start at the very beginning. How did you find out that you have acid reflux or how did you realize that you have acid reflux?

Matilda: Well, in the beginning it was more subtle than became when the problem magnified, but I had this sore throat that sort of didn't, didn't always develop into like a big cold or anything. And I got hoarse, so it like stopped there. It was like throat and hoarseness and it, it was too often. And I got like, it's weird that I just get the sore throat and I feel this resistance in my voice. And then nothing happens. Like I didn't get sick or anything like that. 

Katarina: So you really di not have any obvious acid reflux symptoms like heartburn or belching?

Matilda: I did. I probably did a little bit, but I don't remember. It was nothing like, extraordinary. It was mostly, you know, maybe a little bit, not that much. I had problems with my stomach getting bloated, and very burping and all kinds of stuff my whole life, really, but not super extreme. So I did not connect the dots. And after a while though, because this was when, well, it was I'm sure, I mean, many years ago now, I went to the ENT and just like, maybe I have ... I didn't know so much about it, then I was just like I looked it up a little bit and was like, maybe this is acid reflux. And it's affecting my voice. And I was, you know, starting my career and I was very like, I'm, I need to take care of my voice. And the ENT confirmed. Yes, you have acid reflux. So that was nice to know what it was because I sort of, it was scary getting hoarse over and over again.

Katarina: Absolutely. And as a singer, I think you were in tune with your body. So you recognized that the soreness, throat soreness feels different than when you get a cold or flu. So what did your doctor say? What did the ENT say? What was his suggestion?

Matilda: So his suggestion was to take like, antacid like, proton pump inhibitor. And, so and I, you know, I didn't know. So I was like sure, I was like anything to get this, to get my voice to work. So I tried that for a while and initially it actually helped, I got some relief from that. So it was good in the beginning. Like I just try to eat. He said, you know, to watch my food, like I try to avoid acidic food and, you know, fatty foods or anything that can make the sphincter, lower esophageal sphincter looser, you know, I tried to do whatever I could, and it didn't get better. And it got worse. And then I switched to a different medication. I got back and like, I don't feel it's helping. Something is not right. So I switched but I continued on that lane for a very long time.

Katarina: That's a common comment from my viewers who say, Oh, I've been on this drug. I've been on this drug. Nothing is helping. What can I do? Tell us how it affected your voice. You were a singer. And I think at that time you were even touring. It must have been very scary not to have your voice. Right.

Matilda: It was very scary. And, and the, well, the hardest part was the more, when I, the medication only sort of masked the symptoms for me and then actually magnified the problem. So then from having like, you know, a sore throat and some hoarseness and, you know, feeling, you know, kind of gunky in the morning, I got this heartburn and like, I had some, like, I was choking, like someone was choking me. Like I wanted to swallow something down, but I couldn't, I had chest pain, like real chest pain. And I thought like, is this like, do I have so much inside? Is this my heart? What is going on? And I got nauseous. And when it got really bad, I couldn't even eat. I could, like when I ate, I was so afraid of getting acid reflux because now I could really feel the acid reflux and I get nauseous. And I didn't, I didn't understand why first. That the acid reflux problems sort of made all these other issues with my body. I'd had mineral deficiency and iron deficiency and so many problems that, of course also, so not only the acid reflux affected my voice at that time, all of these other things, like, because you need your whole body and your health for the voice to work.

Katarina: So you got into a vicious cycle where you didn't eat properly, you were still taking the drugs, you got hoarseness, and then you were afraid to eat again. And it's sort of rolled like a ball, I guess. 

Matilda: Yeah. It was a terrible spiral downward. And I didn't know, to like, get off, like get off the bad spiral. I was, I was freaking out, I started losing my voice also so much more frequently. And I knew that I had good technique and I had a lot of experience and, you know, so I was like, what am I doing wrong? I'm a vocal coach. I know what to do. So also I was touring and I am, I could tour for weeks at a time. And I didn't, well, this is this band I'm touring a lot with still, it's an ABBA tribute band. I'm Swedish. So I sing a lot of ABBA music among other things. And I don't really have it's, you know, it's costumes, it's with a band. You have your co-singer. No, I can't just call in someone else. Right. So I'm, the band is very dependent on me. So when I lost my voice and had to go on a two week tour, three week tour, I just had to go. And it, that was of course, really, really scary. Uh, because also you don't want to strain your voice. You don't want to be out there seeing that, of course magnified the stress as well, which is not good for acid reflux. So you're very right. It was just, yeah, it was so bad. It was so bad.

Katarina: Okay. So obviously the traditional treatment didn't work for you. So now tell us, what you did differently? What did you start doing? And I know we've discussed this before. It wasn't just the diet. It was more than that. So if you can talk about that.

To continue watching our interview and find out what Matilda did to overcome here acid reflux, watch this video: 

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X1fly0VHV4