Monthly Archives: February 2018

Voice – Episode 116

 in Podcasts  tagged communication / larynx / singing / sound / speech / talking / throat / voice / words by

A black and white photo looking directly at the metal-grated end of a microphone on a stand, as if it's ready for you to use your voice and speak or sing. The microphone is clear and in focus, while the background is blurred to the point that nothing pasted the microphone is recognizable.

Voice Anatomy

Larynx: a structure on top of the trachea (windpipe) and holds the vocal folds

Vocal Folds: also known as vocal cords; the soft tissue that vibrates and creates sound when air passes through them.  There’s one on each side.

Vocal Box: the structure that surrounds the vocal cords.  It’s made of 3 parts – a cover that is made of epithelial cells (similar to the inside of your mouth), vocal ligaments that hold it all in place, and the thyroarytenoid muscle that is responsible for relaxing the vocal cords into place.

Glottis: the opening in the middle of the vocal folds where they sperate for breathing and closes for talking and swallowing.

Voice Production

There are 3 levels of sound production to equal talking.

  1. Voiced Sound: this is the basic vibration of the vocal cords and creates a “buzzing” sound.  This is the first step of babies learning to talk and communicate.  We say the baby is “discovering their voice.”
  2. Resonance: the “buzzing” sounds are amplified by resonating chambers that include the throat, mouth, and nasal cavity.  The sound produced by these chambers is what give you your distinct voice. To produce sound without using one or more of these resonating areas alters your voice significantly.
  3. Articulation: movement of the tongue, soft palate, lips, and jaw modifies and changes the sound to produce words and intelligible speech.

Singing

Singing adds the breathing system to regulate the air pressure that vibrates the vocal cords.  The rhythm of putting words to music to create singing changes the pattern and length of words and syllables, and the strength of the diaphragm plays a big part in that.

Just like guitar strings, the tighter the vocal cords, the higher the pitch.  More relaxed vocal cords produce a lower pitch. *If you listened to this episode, I’m so sorry for your ears!*

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Music Credits: Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by – Kubbi https://soundcloud.com/kubbiCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Gag Reflex – Episode 115

 in Podcasts  tagged esophagus / gag reflex / hypersensitive / larynx / pharynx / reflux / swallow / vomit by

A cartoon image of a white male with short brown hair, in a blue, long-sleeved collared shirt and reck necktie, with his face tipped upward. He is holding a coffee pot at arm's length above his face and pouring coffee straight down his throat. Your gag reflex protects you from things improperly entering your throat, airway, and esophagus - whether it is a liquid like coffee or something solid like a sword.

Gag Reflex Basics

The official name of your gag reflex is the pharyngeal reflex or laryngeal spasm.  Trigger points for the gag reflex can be found on the roof of the mouth, back of the tongue, in the tonsil area, the uvula, and the back of the throat.  The purpose of this reflex is to prevent objects from entering the throat that did not first progress through the normal swallowing process.  It also helps prevent choking.

Gag Reflex Progress

When the reflex is triggered, the soft palate raises to close off the nasal passage.  Then the pharyngeal muscles contract on both sides to try and force whatever made it too far down back up into the mouth.  If the input is strong enough, it can also trigger vomiting (this is how vomiting is induced in eating disorders such a bulimia).

Do you Gag?

One in three people lacks a gag reflex, which means rather large things can enter their throats without triggering a reflex.  This is possibly how sword-swallowing got its start.

The other side of this coin is someone with a hypersensitive gag.  They can have trouble swallowing large pills and large bites of food.  Dentist visits and even neckties can trigger this unpleasant reflex.  It can be a part of a larger issue, such as Sensory Processing Disorder or Autism.  Or it can be a preconditioned issue due to a previous experience.  In either case, speech or occupational therapy can be done and will include desensitizing areas of the mouth to touch.

Other Protective Reflexes

  1. The Reflexive Pharyngeal Swallow is a triggered swallow that clears the pharynx of residue.  The glottis will close and allow the pharynx to move stuff to the digestive tract.  This is a protective mechanism to keep stuff out of the airways.
  2. Phayngoglottal Closure Reflex happens when the glottis closes inside the larynx without the continuation of a swallow.
  3. Phango-Upper Esophageal Sphincter Contractile Reflex occurs during any type of reflux from the stomach.  While some stomach contents may make it past the lower esophageal sphincter, so the upper one prevents it reaching into the throat and mouth.

Bottom Line

All of these reflexes are protective to prevent choking or improper ingesting of things.  They can be damaged to different degrees during head trauma or stroke.  But surprisingly, smoking causes the most damage to the protective reflexes on the pharynx.

Callbacks

Swallowing

Mouth Parts

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Music Credits: Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by – Kubbi https://soundcloud.com/kubbiCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI

Special Edition: On-Air Advocate Live – Natural and Holistic Recommendations from a Pharmacist

 in Blog / Special Edition by

Who Am I?

If you were present for our Facebook Live broadcast, I’m terribly sorry for “unstable” internet connection.

Cold and flu season is on the front of everybody’s mind.

What natural products do you recommend for a cold?

How exactly does a neti pot work?

Are there added benefits from a steamy shower?

Where can someone get a neti pot?

Neti pots and saline rinse kits are sold at any drug store or big box store.  Generally, you purchase the kit first that comes with the container and some packets of the saline mix.  Later, you can buy saline refill packets.  Or, if you’re really savvy, you can find recipes for isotonic saline solutions on Pinterest and make some yourself.

Why or when would you use a neti pot?  For cold and Flu?

How often should someone use a neti pot or sinus rinse?

Bad Breath – Episode 114

 in Podcasts  tagged bad breath / dentist / Diabetes / disease / dry mouth / food / halitosis / liver kidney / oral health / reflux / smoking by

A cartoon of two guys. One with black hair and blue shirt is laughing with a green cloud of bad breath. The green cloud of bad breath has surrounded the second guy with brown hair, goatee, and brown shirt. The second guy is grimacing with crossed eyes at the smell.

Bad Breath Basics

Halitosis, aka bad breath, can have many causes.  Some bad breath you can prevent with the choices you make, but some bad breath can be a sign of a more serious issue or disease.

Oral Health

You should brush your teeth for at least 2 minutes twice a day, including the surface of your tongue, then rinse your mouth with an antibacterial mouthwash.  Follow one of your brushing sessions with a good flossing.  This allows you to get any food debris and bacteria build-up out of the way on a daily basis.

You should see your dentist twice a year for a deep cleaning and a check-up on your overall oral health.  Your dentist will be able to help you with bad breath issues that may stem from more complicated issues like cavities, gum disease, poorly-fitting dentures, or thrush.

Dry mouth, whether due to your natural biology, medication side effects, or mouth-breathing, can lead to bad breath due to the imbalance of bacteria growth.

Your Choices

Smoking and other tobacco products can make your breath smell bad even when you are not actively using it.

The foods you eat also affect the status of your breath.  The compounds that cause eaten and digested foods to smell contain sulfur-based compounds.  These include broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, onions and garlic, coffee, and fish.  The funny thing about these smelly compounds is that they can actually make your WHOLE BODY smell (including your breath as well as other exiting air) until they have passed all the way out of your body!

Diseases

Infections, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, and sinusitis, can lead to distinctive bad breath.  Postnasal drip can lead to bad breath as well.  Pharyngeal diverticula that trap old food bits can make your breath smell, as well as tonsil stones that are calcified debris trapped by the tonsils.  Bad breath can also be indicative of acid reflux or GERD.

Certain diseases that have telltale breath smells include diabetes, liver disease, and kidney disease.

People with diabetes are at risk of a medical emergency known as Diabetic Ketoacidosis, in which a lack of insulin renders the body’s cells unable to use the available sugar.  The body starts burning fatty acids for energy and the waste product is ketones.  Ketones cause the body to become very acidic.  This leads to a rapid transfer of water (extracellular fluid rushes into the blood to try and neutralize and dilute the ketones and then the kidneys rapidly try to flush out the acidic fluid through the urine) which can lead to fatal dehydration.  Clinicians are taught that people experiencing ketoacidosis may have fruity-smelling breath or breath that smells like acetone or nail polish remover.

People with liver disease may have breath that smells musty or like a mildewing basement.  And people with kidney disease may have breath that smells fishy or like urine or ammonia.  Ammonia is a typical by-product that is released in urine.  Someone with kidney disease may not be able to filter out the ammonia compounds effectively.  Therefore, the ammonia compounds will circulate in the blood.

Call Back

Brush your tongue – Tastebuds
Tonsil stones – Tonsils
Pharyngeal diverticula – Dysphagia

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Music Credits: Up In My Jam (All Of A Sudden) by – Kubbi https://soundcloud.com/kubbiCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…Music provided by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tDexBj46oNI