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Progressively dry throat when singing

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hi folks, i typically hang out in the "vocal technique" forum but i jumped over here to ask for your expertise on this issue if you would be kind enough to help. i didn't see this particular question posted, so i don't think i'm asking a question that may have been addressed already.

i drink 1/2 gal. of water every day, and i take prilosec for my reflux, but i noticed lately my throat gets progressively dry as a sing. i was singing an ambrosia song "how much i feel" last night and i noticed i became very dry in the throat. it starting to happen more frequently, so i'm a bit concerned

i drink 3 cups of decaf, no soda or sugar in any drinks.

any help is greatly apprecaited. bob, 56, age may matter? (videohere)

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hi folks, i typically hang out in the "vocal technique" forum but i jumped over here to ask for your expertise on this issue if you would be kind enough to help. i didn't see this particular question posted, so i don't think i'm asking a question that may have been addressed already.

i drink 1/2 gal. of water every day, and i take prilosec for my reflux, but i noticed lately my throat gets progressively dry as a sing. i was singing an ambrosia song "how much i feel" last night and i noticed i became very dry in the throat. it starting to happen more frequently, so i'm a bit concerned

i drink 3 cups of decaf, no soda or sugar in any drinks.

any help is greatly apprecaited. bob, 56, age may matter? (videohere)

Bob: Decaf does not mean 'no-caf'. It will still dry you out a little bit, but that is not the chief concern I have.

I think the sense of dryness may be coming from environmental circumstances as they combine with your way of singing. If, for example, you are singing in a low-humidity room, routinely mouth breathe rapidly and do not swallow much during a song, you can dry out the surface tissues of the throat and larynx. This situation can be made more intense if when you are onsetting a note, you allow some air to escape before phonation starts, what is called an 'aspirate' attack (or onset).

My recommendation is multiple:

1) Drink that 1/2 gallon of water starting with 16 ounces right after you arise from sleep. A low-humidity room where you sleep will dry you out overnight. An hour later, have another 16 ounces. From there forward until your singing is to occur, have 4-8 ounces every hour. As you are singing, keep a bottle of water handy, and have a good sip every 15 minutes. Not too be too crude, but its the same advice that the American Airlines flight surgeon gives to the pilots: If you are not peeing every 2 hours, you are not drinking enough water. :-)

2) While singing, make sure you take the longer periods of vocal silence in the song as opportunities to breathe through your nose. This reduces the rate at which moisture is removed from the throat surface tissues.

3) When you can, inhale slower, even if its through your mouth.

I hope this helps

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Hi Singers,

If you have the dries first you want to up your water intake. Try a gallon of water everyday for a week. The rough water rule is at least half your body weight in ozs daily, and one may need more, depending on where one lives and how one lives.

If your diet and lifestyle are full of foods, drinks, other substances that dry out your voice you need even more water. Try also going on a real food diet. Many chem lab foods loaded with salt, sugar, man made chemicals, dry out the entire body, not just the voice. And cause reflex problems.

Almost all drugs dry out the voice. I would go to a health food store and check about alternatives for your reflex meds. Also read up on how to prevent and cure your reflex problems. It is always things missing in your diet or things you need to add.

Any good alternative health doc should be able to cure your reflex easily.

Its a multiple billion dollar industry to not cure anyone's reflex problems.

Happy and Healthy Singing

Timothy Kelly

www.teachyourselfsinging.com

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Hi Singers,

If you have the dries first you want to up your water intake. Try a gallon of water everyday for a week. The rough water rule is at least half your body weight in ozs daily, and one may need more, depending on where one lives and how one lives.

If your diet and lifestyle are full of foods, drinks, other substances that dry out your voice you need even more water. Try also going on a real food diet. Many chem lab foods loaded with salt, sugar, man made chemicals, dry out the entire body, not just the voice. And cause reflex problems.

Almost all drugs dry out the voice. I would go to a health food store and check about alternatives for your reflex meds. Also read up on how to prevent and cure your reflex problems. It is always things missing in your diet or things you need to add.

Any good alternative health doc should be able to cure your reflex easily.

Its a multiple billion dollar industry to not cure anyone's reflex problems.

Happy and Healthy Singing

Timothy Kelly

www.teachyourselfsinging.com

thanks my friend, apprecaite th advice.

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I agree that moisture in the air is as important as hydration-via drinking, this is something I discuss at length in my book [www.tinyurl.com/cazden-book].

Here are a couple of tricks that my students like:

(1) when there is a break -- even a couple of measures -- lift your tongue into position for a letter "L" or "N". Any air coming in through the mouth will blow over even more wet surface-area, & rehumidify throat faster. It is a small difference but sometimes that's all one needs.

(2) bring a thermos of hot tea (or hot water with any flavoring) to gigs. When you have a moment to sip, also INHALE the steam coming off the beverage. Another quickie-humidifier.

(3) add a small amount of Gatorade to your beverages, or a couple shakes of salt per quart, just to help body tissues hold onto the water you are faithfully drinking. Of course this is only if you don't have problems with high blood pressure.

You also might try Mucinex, which is guafenisen / mucous thinner, helps keep throat area moist. packaged dose says 2x day, but MD friends recommend 4x day. At the very least, time it so that dose does not wear off during singing; the change can be annoyingly sudden. And if it draws water from elsewhere in the body, enough to make you thirsty, drink even more.

cheers - Joanna

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I agree that moisture in the air is as important as hydration-via drinking, this is something I discuss at length in my book [www.tinyurl.com/cazden-book].

Here are a couple of tricks that my students like:

(1) when there is a break -- even a couple of measures -- lift your tongue into position for a letter "L" or "N". Any air coming in through the mouth will blow over even more wet surface-area, & rehumidify throat faster. It is a small difference but sometimes that's all one needs.

(2) bring a thermos of hot tea (or hot water with any flavoring) to gigs. When you have a moment to sip, also INHALE the steam coming off the beverage. Another quickie-humidifier.

(3) add a small amount of Gatorade to your beverages, or a couple shakes of salt per quart, just to help body tissues hold onto the water you are faithfully drinking. Of course this is only if you don't have problems with high blood pressure.

You also might try Mucinex, which is guafenisen / mucous thinner, helps keep throat area moist. packaged dose says 2x day, but MD friends recommend 4x day. At the very least, time it so that dose does not wear off during singing; the change can be annoyingly sudden. And if it draws water from elsewhere in the body, enough to make you thirsty, drink even more.

cheers - Joanna

thank you for your help

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Singers,

If you have the dries first you want to up your water intake. Try a gallon of water everyday for a week. The rough water rule is at least half your body weight in ozs daily, and one may need more, depending on where one lives and how one lives.

If your diet and lifestyle are full of foods, drinks, other substances that dry out your voice you need even more water. Try also going on a real food diet. Many chem lab foods loaded with salt, sugar, man made chemicals, dry out the entire body, not just the voice. And cause reflex problems.

Almost all drugs dry out the voice. I would go to a health food store and check about alternatives for your reflex meds. Also read up on how to prevent and cure your reflex problems. It is always things missing in your diet or things you need to add.

Any good alternative health doc should be able to cure your reflex easily.

Its a multiple billion dollar industry to not cure anyone's reflex problems.

Happy and Healthy Singing

Timothy Kelly

www.teachyourselfsinging.com

i wanted to let you know i am (not that easy though) up to a gallon a day of water. i feel waterlogged lol!

let's see what happens

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a gallon a day is not healthy for everyone. Voice scientists I trust recommend 2 qts/day as a minimum, 3 qts for big-bodied or athletic people.

Dry sensations in the throat can be from surface dryness: medications, climate, mouth-breathing (plugged nose/ sinus problems). Try running a steam vaporizer near the bed everynight; get a steam-inhalation gizmo (sort of a funnel you put your face in, not too expensive) and use it twice a day, including right before a performance; at the very least, take longer showers especially right before the show.

Talk to your MD or dentist about products for drymouth, such as mucinex, special toothpastes etc. If you can't breathe through your nose (nature's humidifier), talk to ENT about that too.

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a gallon a day is not healthy for everyone. Voice scientists I trust recommend 2 qts/day as a minimum, 3 qts for big-bodied or athletic people.

Dry sensations in the throat can be from surface dryness: medications, climate, mouth-breathing (plugged nose/ sinus problems). Try running a steam vaporizer near the bed everynight; get a steam-inhalation gizmo (sort of a funnel you put your face in, not too expensive) and use it twice a day, including right before a performance; at the very least, take longer showers especially right before the show.

Talk to your MD or dentist about products for drymouth, such as mucinex, special toothpastes etc. If you can't breathe through your nose (nature's humidifier), talk to ENT about that too.

thank you

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  • 7 years later...

You guys don´t understand the culprit of dryness. Chronic dryness in larynx or drier throat comes from malfunction or slight lesion  to superior laryngeal nerve branch or vagus. From what I read it should be the internal laryngeal nerve which is a sensory branch of superior laryngeal nerve.Either way submucal glands above vocal cords in larynx are controlled neurally through superior laryngeal nerves. I get dryness after singing too quit soon, it mean that nerve is the problem. I get dry throat every single time upon waking up, and it is not hydration, enviroment, mouth breathing nor other nonsense. Dryness is clinically related to globus pharyngeus- lump in throat. There is a thread in one forum called " One way of explaining the globus phenomenon" where a very experienced ENT with 40 year long practice explaines how globus sensation comes from dryness in larynx. Once you have chronically drier throat - thick mucus is the result and swallowing comes with discomfort and sticky mucus. Excluding Sjogren syndrome or mucosal atrophy, chronic dryness is always nerve related and it impairs the voice in huge way. Guiafenesin is not bad, I haven´t tried for less than couple days so it is hard to judge the results. I havent resolved this problem, However as dryness is related to globus sensation, there is a chinese formula called Ban xia houpo tang, that is very effective for globus pharyngeus. In a couple of days I might receive my order of it , so I will write here later about how it will turn out. Another interesting idea would be to try low dose amitryptiline or baclofene. Still doing a research on what should be effective. Hydration will not cure dryness trust me, because if  the nerve is even slightly dmamaged  it permits the chemicals that dries laryngeal mucosa and they wouldn´t be normaly permited into mucosa. Also I have been researching the chinese herbs and others too. 

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  • 3 years later...

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