OT: Vocalists and Allergy Sufferers...

[The Weed]

For all who use their voice or are allergy, cold, flu and sinus sufferers, I went to my new ENT guy this week. While there I asked him what he recommended for keeping my voice in "shape" and dealing with allergies in a non-medicinal way. Most if not all of the cold and allergy medications dry me out and usually cause rebound over time. Here's what he recommends:

A personal steam inhaler like this (use distilled water to prevent scale);

Nasal irrigation with a kit like this (here's a great article on the web about why to do it and also complete instructions for a home recipe);

Grether's Pastilles for dry throat;

And gargling with the following:

½ teaspoon of sea or kosher salt

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of corn syrup or honey

Mix ingredients together in 8 ounces of warm tap water and gargle. Repeat up to 3 times per day.

He also recommended never using anything with menthol in it, like cough candies or Vick's Vapor Rub. Does something to the voice apparently.

Cheers,

[TheLP]

Theres some type of spray you can buy, it looks like a little spray can, and you spray it in your mouth and it prevents from your voice jumping all over the place.

[cybership]

Theres some type of spray you can buy, it looks like a little spray can, and you spray it in your mouth and it prevents from your voice jumping all over the place.

Is that the new Auto Tune Oral Mist ?

[The Weed]

I would very much like to know what that spray is called.

Cheers,

[basschair]

Thanks for the post, Bruce! We live in a high pollen, dust, everything area, so I get it pretty bad. I'll try these out.

[Paul14]

Bruce-
Thanks, man! I've been having problems with my voice for a few weeks now, and with a big show coming up this week, I've been pretty freaked out about it. After I read your post yesterday, I googled a place to buy those pastilles. A quick trip to Trader Joe's and I had 'em. Four lozenges later my voice was back!

Thanks a million!

Paul

BTW, I can't remember what that spray is called, either, but every health food store (except GNC) sells that stuff. I never had any luck with it, though...

[The Weed]

Glad the information was helpful.

Cheers,

[The Weed]

bass,

Let me know if any or all help in any way.

Cheers,

[gpgarner]

lol @ oral mist