I am a 34 year old woman. I have had a hoarse voice off and on for about 6 months. Sometimes I completely lose my voice, sometimes I simply have a raspy, crappy sounding voice.

I have an appointment with an ENT on Wednesday. I am really concerned about a whole bunch of things, and of course I recognize that no diagnosis can be made on a discussion board. I am wondering, however, if there are specific questions I should ask my ENT.

Let me explain a bit more. When I was 2, I ingested Drano. I don't know much more than that, and wouldn't have thought anything of it, except that my research into my recurrent voice changes has led to a discovery that early lye ingestion (in conjunction with smoking, which I do, and should quit - I KNOW!) is a risk factor for esophageal cancer. In addition, I believe I have a papilloma on my soft palate (from reading an earlier post from this site). I am obviously concerned that there is a cancer risk here, and while I recognize that there are any number of things that this could be, the duration and severity of my voice dysfunction, in conjunction with my increased esophageal cancer risk, my smoking, and the lump on my soft palate have me more than a little worried. Are there specific questions I can ask my doctor? Is there a true increased risk here, or am I being paranoid? I don't know what I expect, maybe I just needed to vent a little here, since there is a 48 hour wait left before my appointment. Any assistance that anyone can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jennifer

Hello Jennifer

Only a proper examination could attempt to answer your questions. So you have done the right thing in seeing an ENT specialist. Let us know what he said.

Best wishes
Vinod (in Jakarta)