The common STI which left a woman unable to speak
19.08.2023 - 07:29
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A mum spent years being misdiagnosed while a devastating condition left her feeling ‘locked in her body’ and unable to speak.
Natalie Thompson first started losing her voice repeatedly in November of 2015. The 30-year-old asked her GP for help, but it turned out to be the beginning of a horrific seven year struggle to find her voice.
Natalie says she visited the GP ‘five times’ over the course of two years about her voice problems, which were leaving her completely unable to speak. She was told she had tonsillitis at first, before being referred for speech therapy.
It was not until December 2018 when she was finally sent to ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, who found growths on her vocal cords – caused by common STI human papillomavirus (HPV).
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Natalie, from Stockport, was left frustrated as doctors misdiagnosed her for years, she says. Now, she wants to raise awareness that HPV can affect the vocal cords, causing growths known as vocal papillomas. It mean she has now ‘forgotten how to speak naturally’. She spoke to the Manchester Evening News via email, because of the risk speaking would pose to her voice.
“I started to lose my voice in November 2015 so I saw the GP who told me I had tonsillitis,” Natalie says. “My first symptoms were my voice cutting out mid sentence and as it got worse it ended in voice loss. I then struggled with my voice for two years in which (time) I visited the GP five times and wasn’t referred at any point for a camera check.
“They prescribed me a steroid nasal spray at one point in case it was post nasal drip that was causing it but they just seemed quite baffled the whole time. In the first two years I wasn’t