LESLEY CHILDS, MD. That's Not My Voice: Muscle Tension, Identity, and Finding Your Way Back

Guest: Dr. Lesley Childs, Laryngologist, Associate Professor, and Medical Director of the Clinical Center for Voice Care, UT Southwestern Medical Center🎧 Episode Summary:In this episode, Jenni sits down with Dr. Lesley Childs to talk about Muscle Tension Dysphonia, a voice disorder that doesn’t show up on a scan or announce itself with something visible. It lives in the body’s muscle memory, in patterns the voice box learns and holds onto long after whatever caused them is gone. Dr. Childs explains what’s actually happening at the level of the larynx, what triggers it, how it gets diagnosed, and what treatment involves. She also talks about the grief that can come with losing a voice tied to your work and your identity, and why her team takes a whole-person approach to care. This is a clinical conversation, but it is also a personal one. Dr. Childs has been a singer her whole life. She knows what it means when the voice stops cooperating.In This Episode:What a laryngologist actually does, and why so few people know they existPrimary vs. secondary Muscle Tension Dysphonia: what the difference is and why it matters for treatmentWhat MTD sounds and feels like from the patient’s perspective: the tightness, the fatigue, the strainThe triggers that can set it in motion, including stress, illness, and the “perfect storm” of both at onceWhy muscle memory is so powerful, and how maladaptive patterns can stick long after the original cause is goneWhat the diagnosis appointment looks like, including what patients see when they view their own vocal folds on camera for the first timeWhy voice therapy is the main treatment for MTD, and what it actually involves day to dayThe published research behind Stretch-and-Flow and Resonant Voice Therapy, and what it tells us about how to treat MTDWhy getting better requires daily practice and a willingness to do exercises that feel genuinely strangeWhen Botox becomes part of the picture, and why Dr. Childs calls it a laryngeal control-alt-deleteThe grief and identity loss that comes with voice disorders, and why the team includes psychologists and physical therapistsNew research at UT Southwestern exploring whether MTD may have a sensory component, not just a muscular oneThe two-week rule: how long to wait before getting persistent hoarseness checked outDr. Childs’ own story: losing her voice on the way to a choir competition, and the ENT visit that changed the direction of her careerGuest Bio:Dr. Lesley Childs is a laryngologist, Associate Professor, and Medical Director of the Clinical Center for Voice Care at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Her team includes specialized voice therapists, physical therapists, and psychologists who treat the full range of voice disorders. A classically trained soprano who recorded for Walt Disney Records and completed her fellowship at the New York Center for Voice and Swallowing Disorders, Dr. Childs brings a practitioner’s and a performer’s perspective to the science of voice. She has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed studies on Muscle Tension Dysphonia treatment and is involved in ongoing research at UT Southwestern.Quote of the Episode:“The voice is the most personal of all art forms. It is inextricably linked to self-identity. That is how we present ourselves to the world, how we connect with others, how we empathize. And the level of grief associated with any difficulty with voice cannot be underestimated.”Mentions and Resources:Dr. Lesley ChildsUT Southwestern Clinical Center for Voice Care: https://utswmed.org/conditions-treatments/voice-care/Dr. Lesley Childs at UT Southwestern: https://utswmed.org/doctors/lesley-childs/World Voice Day: April 16 each year. https://www.entnet.org/world-voice-day/Jeff Pegues episode on Spasmodic Dysphonia (referenced in conversation)Two-week rule: persistent hoarseness for two weeks or more is a reason to see a specialist