“Here I am. Will you send me an angel?”
It’s one of my favorite songs, and it became my gauge for what helps my body—and what doesn’t.
At three, my mom, a piano teacher, sat me at the keys. She had us sing through exercises. My sister and I loved it, and during lessons my voice sounded okay. Outside of singing out loud, it was different—tight, effortful. Like my sound lived behind a door I couldn’t open.
Later, my sister sang daily (she’s so good), and a friend mentioned some speech therapists also teach singing. I was intrigued.
In my first lesson we tried bubbling in a bottle with a specially designed thick straw. I had to stop. My esophagus cramped, and the more I pushed, the worse it got. It reminded me of eating when my mast cells act up. Not swelling, but a choking feeling because food won’t go down.
I told Christine, my therapist, I’ve always struggled blowing out—like during police alcohol checks. I don’t drink, so that part’s easy. The hard part is the long exhale. She also noticed a squeak and suggested I get it checked. She said there wasn’t more she could do right then, though she’d noticed I could keep talking without the same effect. Good thing, since I speak and go live about an hour every weekend on YouTube.
I started singing “Send Me an Angel” by Scorpions and realized I could sing without those effects. I recorded it and sent it to her.
Meanwhile, my MCAS specialist referred me to a doctor to examine my vocal cords. With the camera through my nose, I could see it on the screen: small nodules, like calluses, and incomplete closure.
Googling pointed to reflux. I have it daily, sometimes worse at night, and my throat often hurts. What I hadn’t realized is the “fumes” rising up are what irritate my throat and voice box.
My MCAS doctor had prescribed two meds previously:one calms the mast cells, and the other protects the inner lining so I don’t react at all. I didn’t get the latter at first. Reading about EDS, MCAS, and dysphagia helped me see the pattern: EDS dysregulates things neurologically; MCAS reacts to a lot, including foods; and fumes from my stomach rise to my throat and irritate my vocal cords.
This week I started adjusting when to use each medication and what to eat or avoid, especially when I work late. I returned to speech therapy, and she switched me to the “Starbucks cup” setup—smaller straw, less water. Whoa. That worked. I shared I’m now using medication to keep mast cells calmer, and the combination helped a lot.
Shopping with Google AI in one hand and grabbing items off shelves felt new. So did doing my exercises. Nowadays I’m using both meds—not just the one that calms mast cells, but also the one that coats my stomach lining to prevent fumes from rising and reaching my vocal cords.
Since it’s all new, I recorded a video of the exercises so I can monitor improvement. You can hear that in the reel, even though I sped things up to keep it moving. At some point I’m singing “Send Me an Angel.” During the reel, my cords are already “shot,” but the track shows what EDS can look like and what you can do to improve vocal performance without getting out of breath.
If you know anyone dealing with EDS/hypermobility, please share this. Life can be challenging by the day, hour, even minute. When there’s a win, it’s huge—and it helps the next one.
If the need to speak up and be understood with clarity resonates, join my 7‑day Rewriting Your Inner Story Challenge. It’s a simple daily practice to understand others better and speak with more clarity.
After registering, you’ll see an optional upgrade to the CORE Communication Gap Handout—my compact playbook to script messages, set energy windows, and remove friction before high‑stakes conversations.
*Glossery:
- Ehlers‑Danlos syndrome (EDS)
- Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)
- Dysphagia
- Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR, sometimes called “silent reflux”)
- Vocal cords
- Lax Vox (Starbucks cup setup), then “straw phonation” afterwards.
#WeekendNightLive #RYISC #EhlersDanlos #Neurodivergent #MCAS
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