I had voice feminization surgery 4 days ago, and I find myself coughing at least 3-4 times a day. I tried to control them but can't seem to do so.

To those girls who've had voice feminization surgery, did you experience any coughing during your recovery? Did it negatively impact your final results?

I did my best not to cough at all to the point of nearly suffocating. If you cough you have a chance of ruining your recovery so try not to cough!

Here is the story. Coughing should be avoided but some might happen. You have a 7 day supply of cough medicine so use it if you need it. I didn't need it but you be the judge. Next, ice water with a straw in it. When you feel the urge to cough, take a sip and warm it for a few second in your mouth before swallowing. The water needs to be cold but not ice water cold. Sip often to avoided getting to the point where you need to cough. You will run to the bathroom often getting rid of the water. If you feel the need to cough, lean forward and with you vocal cords open, breath out fast. It's not as good as a cough but it often will clear the mucus accumulation. Avoid dairy and chocolate because they tend to make it worst.

Coughs aren't good but the surgery can withstand some misuse. Coughing fits are bad and should be avoided. I don't know if Dr Haben told you this but he has never had a VFS come undone.

What I did was take the cough suppressant 3x/day with meals. It helped a lot. I went with Dr Kim so I got the really effective Synatura cough suppressant. It works. When I felt the urge to cough I opened my mouth and went "hhhhhhhhhh" a few times and sometimes it would bring up the mucus and the cough would go away. Usually the cough would go away. In the first 7 days it was critical not to cough I was told and therefore I did my best not to. I coughed 2x but made it very soft and opened my mouth wide to let the air escape.

Thank you Dena and iKate for your tips. So far when I coughed, I didn't experience any pain or bleeding right afterwards, so I hope the sutures are fine, keeping my fingers crossed!

Quote from: jollyjoy on September 28, 2015, 10:34:36 AM
Thank you Dena and iKate for your tips. So far when I coughed, I didn't experience any pain or bleeding right afterwards, so I hope the sutures are fine, keeping my fingers crossed!

The sutures should be fine but I am not sure if the scar tissue quality will be different if you cough early on.

Dr Kim has only had one patient rupture her sutures and that was because she shouted a short while after.

I think a few light coughs are not that bad. I tried to avoid it as best as I could though. Turns out that later I heard I had a long coughing fit before I woke up from surgery - apparently I was already having a colorful face from it. The suture survived this, but I blame some of my issues I have with the surgery on that event. e.g. that I have more breathiness than others at this stage and that the pitch did go up only 50% of what Dr Kim usually estimates.

Quote from: anjaq on September 28, 2015, 03:07:35 PM
I think a few light coughs are not that bad. I tried to avoid it as best as I could though. Turns out that later I heard I had a long coughing fit before I woke up from surgery - apparently I was already having a colorful face from it. The suture survived this, but I blame some of my issues I have with the surgery on that event. e.g. that I have more breathiness than others at this stage and that the pitch did go up only 50% of what Dr Kim usually estimates.

Sorry to hear that, Anjaq. Maybe the breathiness will go away with time? And the pitch increase will take longer than usual?

Quote from: iKate on September 28, 2015, 05:09:43 AM
What I did was take the cough suppressant 3x/day with meals. It helped a lot. I went with Dr Kim so I got the really effective Synatura cough suppressant. It works. When I felt the urge to cough I opened my mouth and went "hhhhhhhhhh" a few times and sometimes it would bring up the mucus and the cough would go away. Usually the cough would go away. In the first 7 days it was critical not to cough I was told and therefore I did my best not to. I coughed 2x but made it very soft and opened my mouth wide to let the air escape.

Not sure what you mean by 'hhhhhh', is it like a 'haaaaaaaaa' sound?

Quote from: jollyjoy on September 29, 2015, 10:00:30 AM
Not sure what you mean by 'hhhhhh', is it like a 'haaaaaaaaa' sound?

I mean just open your mouth with no phonation whatsoever and just expel the air somewhat forcefully but not too hard.

That's the method my speech therapist suggested. Then after the hhhhhhh, take a drink of water.

That cough syrup was my best friend for the first five days or so. Lol you have it, USE IT!   I still get se phlegm build up when I talk a lot. It's the body's way of putting armor on those little vocal folds.

Quote from: jollyjoy on September 29, 2015, 09:55:56 AM
Sorry to hear that, Anjaq. Maybe the breathiness will go away with time? And the pitch increase will take longer than usual?

Yes, i think the breathiness is something I can train away - but the pitch was increased by some portion by week 6 and since then it did not really change much, so I don't think it will go up, but it definitely went up, just not by as much as Dr kim estimated. But it may also be that it is because I am not young anymore or that it may be because he overestimated my original base pitch since I could not reproduce my "male voice" at the consultation - its just been 17 years since I really used that.,..