Quote from: iKate on September 17, 2015, 01:27:17 PM
12 weeks and I think the botox is starting to wear off. My voice is not as breathy and my upper range is slowly returning.

You mean your voice actually improved with the end of the Botox? Wow. For many this is the reverse and there was often the description of the "dreaded month 4" when Botox wears off and the voice temporarily gets worse. For me certainly it got worse...

Quote from: anjaq on September 17, 2015, 03:51:08 AM
The commissure is at the anterior side of the larynx, this is the frontal side. The vocal chords open towards the back.

Thanks Anja.

Sarah.

Quote from: anjaq on September 17, 2015, 03:52:35 PM
You mean your voice actually improved with the end of the Botox? Wow. For many this is the reverse and there was often the description of the "dreaded month 4" when Botox wears off and the voice temporarily gets worse. For me certainly it got worse...

yeah, maybe I will get worse, but I actually do sound better. But maybe Botox didn't fully wear off yet.

Quote from: iKate on September 17, 2015, 09:21:46 PM
yeah, maybe I will get worse, but I actually do sound better. But maybe Botox didn't fully wear off yet.

Well I guess it also depends a lot on the strength of the vocal tremors. I guess mine and Jennygirls were rather strong as well as that in some others - I think for Jenny, Dr Kim even recommended getting more Botox IIRC? For me he recommended the full legth of the clonazepam treatment - others like Amy needed no Botox treatment at all or took the Clonazepam just a month or so. If your vocal tremors are not strong, maybe it will just be fine, your voice gets better and you do not need those pills at all...

Quote from: anjaq on September 18, 2015, 01:17:39 AM
Well I guess it also depends a lot on the strength of the vocal tremors. I guess mine and Jennygirls were rather strong as well as that in some others - I think for Jenny, Dr Kim even recommended getting more Botox IIRC? For me he recommended the full legth of the clonazepam treatment - others like Amy needed no Botox treatment at all or took the Clonazepam just a month or so. If your vocal tremors are not strong, maybe it will just be fine, your voice gets better and you do not need those pills at all...

Interesting. For me he gave me the clonazepam and said to take it IF around month four I started to get weak or hoarse etc. But there was the caveat of if. That said he told me my tremor wasn't terrible. So maybe that's why?


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Mine he said I had a tremor and he gave me the botox and clonazepam. 

I'm not sure I'll take the clonazepam because I heard of its awful side effects.

Changing your name post VFS by telephone is fun, just sayin'...

They almost always refer to my old name in the third person until I tell them that it's my name that I'm changing... 

For me, the Clonazepam had no real side effects. I am not sure it has much effect either , though. My voice definitely had all those signs he told me at month 3.5 already when the Botox was wearing off early - hoarseness, increased problems with it - so I had to take it, but I still had a lot of these issues - not sure if they really improved much by taking it. We had to work on it in the weekly voice therapy sessions to get it better... I hope now that if I am getting off the pills, I will not get another dip in the voice quality again as it was when the Botox was ending. It takes quite some exercises and training to correct it, if another dip happens

I am not complaining, but this morning on the ham radio I was asked how old I was. I told him a lady doesn't reveal her age, but I said in my 30s.

The person on the other end thought I was in my teens.

That's kind of the danger of getting your pitch too too high.

Then again ham radio is full of a bunch of old guys, so I'm not really surprised.

Quote from: iKate on September 20, 2015, 11:33:24 AM
I am not complaining, but this morning on the ham radio I was asked how old I was. I told him a lady doesn't reveal her age, but I said in my 30s.

The person on the other end thought I was in my teens.

That's kind of the danger of getting your pitch too too high.

Then again ham radio is full of a bunch of old guys, so I'm not really surprised.

My wife's voice isn't that high pitched (just a little higher than mine, but she says mine is higher), but it does sound like a kids voice. I remember her caller her credit card company to report a wrongful charge on her card. The customer service representative wouldn't believe that it was her on the phone even though she answered all the security questions. He kept saying "put your mommy on the phone", LOL. She ended up hanging up and calling again and got a different person who did believe her.

Lol - thats weird problems - I used to be judged less in age based on my looks when I was in my late 20ies and on a good hormone therapy - I was even asked to a ID  when I wanted to buy something that was "minimum age 18"... but my voice now, I guess it matches that of a 40 year old woman that is not very petite, so I think its ok.
Just sometimes I wish secretly that i would have a girls voice again - I kind of missed having a teenage girl voice and a twen voice... but I cannot get things now that are in my past, right...

It also explains why I am carded a lot of the time for buying alcohol and other age restricted things.

Quote from: iKate on September 20, 2015, 12:50:03 PM
It also explains why I am carded a lot of the time for buying alcohol and other age restricted things.

I hate to tell you this but I think it's because it looks like you have flawless skin that I would expect to see on a teen. I on the other hand have had more years to accumulate a few wrinkles. I do appear younger than my age but it's still old enough to buy forbidden items without being carded.

Quote from: Dena on September 21, 2015, 12:10:27 AM
I hate to tell you this but I think it's because it looks like you have flawless skin that I would expect to see on a teen. I on the other hand have had more years to accumulate a few wrinkles. I do appear younger than my age but it's still old enough to buy forbidden items without being carded.

Flawless, eh. It's more like all the classes I took at Sephora on how to do my makeup, lol. My colleagues do say my skin looks pretty young though. My dr changed up my hormones recently too so my skin may end up looking more baby like.

So the voice exercises.

I don't know if anyone else has this problem but doing the stretching/range exercises vibrates my teeth and lips to the point of being unable to do the exercises with any power because it tickles my lips.

Any suggestions? I suspect it's because I have very little chest resonance.

Maybe use less volume - make them at a lower volume and less powerful? Or modify them and use "L" or "N" instead of "M", although that also resonates a lot in the lips.

I just had a reminder again why this is all worth so much - I was woken up by a phone call that I had to answer. And it did not even cost me a thought to pick up and talk to the woman on the other side about an ultrasound breast examination I have soon. Actually I think my voice was easier and better at that moment than even during normal days now - probably because I just talked and did not think at all - so great.

Quote from: anjaq on September 23, 2015, 05:58:22 AM
I jus thad a reminder again why this is all worth so much - I was woken up by a phone call that I had to answer. And it did not even cost me a thought to pick up and talk to the woman on the other side about an ultrasound breast examination I have in October. Actually I think my voice was easier and better at that moment than even during normal days now - probably becaus eI just talked and did not think at all - so great.

That's wonderful!

Quote from: anjaq on September 23, 2015, 05:58:22 AM
I just had a reminder again why this is all worth so much - I was woken up by a phone call that I had to answer. And it did not even cost me a thought to pick up and talk to the woman on the other side about an ultrasound breast examination I have soon. Actually I think my voice was easier and better at that moment than even during normal days now - probably because I just talked and did not think at all - so great.

Yes, that is really the biggest thing for me!!!

Today I had to show ID to enter a building at a vendor's demo lab. My gender marker is female but my name is still my old name. My old name is sorta unisex, or at least some women have my name.

I was gendered female all the way. The receptionist even chatted with me in the ladies, without even batting an eye. I talked in a conference room full of people, no one really looked funny at me, and I was gendered female all the way.

Passing now has become such a given that I absolutely do not worry about it and that is extremely wonderful for me.

Since passing really isn't an issue for me now, I think I may even end up skipping FFS for now and just do my GCS, but maybe save FFS for later...

Yeah - I have the same thoughts about FFS - last year I thought I want both - VFS and FFS. Then decided VFS is mor eimportant and now I would have to save up money for 3-4 years for FFS, but am not even sure at this time if I really will do this. It certainly is not really needed to "pass" - if I would do it now, I would do it to be able to see myself in the mirror mostly - and maybe to be more attractive to others

Strangely, during daytime I am more self conscious about my voice , still - but it was kind of funny because that thinking was not yet awake that early in the morning in bed