Question for singers

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

I grew up in the Kansas City area, where the ragweed is so bad that during the allergy seasons the weathermen actually give pollen counts during the weather reports on the local news. One of the reasons I moved to Alaska - in all seriousness - is that it's too far north for ragweed to grow.

It's not due to any susceptibility on ragweed's part to cold weather; ragweed flourishes in billowing tall roadside stands of the stuff in the Dakotas and the Prairie Provinces of Canada, which are quite often colder in the wintertime than Alaska is. No, ragweed won't grow up here because of phototropism: there's too much sunlight up here during the summer, and that's what keeps it from establishing itself.

I, for one, am grateful.

As Rodger and others have mentioned, though, you can develop allergies later in life or when exposed to allergens that previously didn't trigger any immunological response from you. My first few years of Alaskan springs and summers were blissfully allergy-free, but after about five or six years I started developing seasonal allergies to some of the pollens in the air up here. (It still isn't as bad as ragweed...)

What I do is take a couple of non-drowsy medications for it. One is over-the-counter and very inexpensive: look for generic allergy medications that list Loratadine as the active ingredient. This is also what's in Alavert, but there's no good reason to pay name brand prices for it.

It is also the active drug in Claritin, which are made by the same company. In fact, if there are Fred Meyers near you they make a good generic knock off that is usually found right next to the Claritin at better than half the price. I am not sure that all Kroger owned stores carry it. QFC, which is another Kroger-owned chain around here, interestingly does not.

It does the job on the tree-pollen allergies that I am susceptible to. There are a lot of trees here on the wet side of the Cascades, you may have heard.

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

As for singing during allergy season, one longtime standby I rely on when I have a rough or sore throat is mixing a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with a tablespoon of honey in a mug of boiling water. The hotter you can stand it, the more therapeutic it tends to be.

When my kids were little and I didn't want them rejecting this surprisingly effective hot beverage because it had vinegar in it, I started calling the drink an "apple whammy." The kids loved drinking them because they essentially taste like hot cider, and they really do soothe your throat.

So those are my three recommendations: get some cheap generic loratadine tablets or capsules, if those don't work well enough get a prescription for montelukast, and if your throat gets sore or rough-feeling, make yourself an apple whammy and drink it. If the tablespoons of cider vinegar and honey seem like too much to you at the start, if the taste is too strong for you, use a teaspoon of each instead.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

My grandma also use to dose us little kids with hot cider, vinegar and honey. Interesting how many of the "old wive tale" medications have turned out to have a basis in biological fact.

I also had a miserable childhood allergy to ragweed. If anyone had come up to me at the peak of the May ragweed season and told me that they were going to shoot me in the head, I would have told them that I thought it a splendid idea.

My other major allergy then was to alfalfa, which, growing up on an Eastern Oregon cattle ranch as I did, I had almost no exposure to...

[Mycroft]

FYI my Bluegrass name is Cousin Phlegm...

[Earl49]

You do grow into an out of specific allergies at different times of your life and depending on where you live. Growing up in Michigan, I had no allergies as a kid, and probably still would not had I stayed there - and none when I visit. When we moved to California after college, 2-3 years later some allergies to grasses appeared. I could deal with those without drugs, mostly.

Then moving to Alaska after a few years I developed some new allergies, including dogs (severe) cats (strong) and the Birch trees growing in the back yard. I ended up taking allergy shots for almost three years which mostly solved the issue.

Now living in Idaho, it took a few years but some new sensitivities are developing again, including sagebrush - major blooms in the fall. I must shower immediately after mowing the lawn, for example. I can control the symptoms (so far) with Benadryl and Claritin pills, available at Costco, which are part of my daily pill box this time of year. But if that day comes, it will be back to the sequence of allergy shots to desensitize to these new ones. My advice: find a board certified allergist. Regular docs don't always understand the subtleties of the process.

[MichaelD23]

Just brewed up some chamomile/mint with some nearly local Tennessee honey, so that'll hopefully help. I'll hit the drugstore tomorrow for some Loratadine before tomorrow's shindig.

Thanks, everybody!

[mcduffnw]

OK...a quick reminder that all the liquid throat remedies, homebrew and OTC do not actually help the throat at the site of the vocal cords. As you have all experienced, liquid hitting the vocal cord area of your throat is not well received, and in fact when you swallow, your vocal cords are moved out of the way, so they don't get liquid on them.

So whatever you take to soothe your throat does not actually soothe your vocal cords, because it never makes it to them, by design.

Now...as far as can you damage your voice singing when you are all rasped up with allergy reactions...well...yes, and no. If your vocal cords are irritated and/or inflamed from your allergies and you have to strain a lot to sing through the hoarseness or whatever vocal symptoms that you are having, then there is a chance that you could do some damage. It really depends on the person. Some folks vocal cords are more durable than others, some folks, more fragile than others, so some folks can sing through it, and strain and push more without issues, and some folks wind up causing themselves immediate problems while performing, and sometimes bigger issues down the road.

duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

[Laughingboy68]

My “sing, even when I can’t talk” beverage is diluted pineapple juice. Doesn’t work for everyone, but I swear by it.

[rolleiguy54]

I sing and suffer from allergies.

I use in this order Claritin, Singular, Sudafed, then a nose spray.

I use one wait a while then move down my list.

good luck.

[Mandobart]

Allergies do get worse with prolonged exposure, yet another example de-bunking the "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" b.s. Turns out that disease, injury, terminal conditions and allergies (as well as some treatments for the above) actually make us weaker.

[gfspencer]

Originally Posted by Rodger Knox

Pollen is a sensitizer, so it's not uncommon to be immune for many years. My time in Austin left me with a sensitivity to cedar pollen, but I was there for more than 10 years before it started giving me trouble. If you can source locally made honey, and consume a small amount regularly, that does help to reduce the sensitivity.

Amen. I didn't have allergies until I spent three years in Kansas.

Just don't strain when you sing. You will be okay.

Our church choir has sung seven special anthems at five different services in the past four days. Between the services and the rehearsals and pollen my voice is shot . . . but I will get over it.

[PiousDevil]

This has been an unusually bad allergy season on the US east coast. I’m usually ok this time of year, but I and everyone I know have been suffering for the last couple of weeks.

[MikeBmusic]

You certainly can damage your vocal cords by straining them, and as has been mentioned you can develop allergies as you get older.
I know a number of singers who cancel all gigs for a week when their allergies kick into high gear.

[AxeDude]

I got a nasty cold last June that wouldn’t go away. I literally had to cancel all playing gigs for the entire summer! I kept going to my ENT specialist and finally got a CT scan. (I had three sinus surgeries back in 2011- deviated septum, maxillary turbinate reduction, and opening my ethmoid sinuses (which had scarred shut).

My sinus openings were fine, but I was still sick. The doctor put me on two different steroid treatments. The second heavy final doses eventually cured me. He said that it was due to inflammation. Doctor has me doing NeilMed extra strength hypertonic saline sprays twice a day, and Flonase. The big enemy is inflammation. I have gone through extensive allergy testing and I have none.

[Long Road Home]

Originally Posted by AxeDude

Doctor has me doing NeilMed extra strength hypertonic saline sprays twice a day, and Flonase. The big enemy is inflammation. I have gone through extensive allergy testing and I have none.

Allergy season certainly seems to have hit the Northeast earlier and harder this year. My ENT also put me on NeilMed (regular strength) and Flonase.

I also discovered two Hylands homeopathic remedies (Allergy Relief and Sinus) which also help temporarily (I take them right before I go on).

Then there's a couple of herbal teas - Throat Coat (Traditional Medicines) and Throat Comfort (Yogi Teas), a bag of each in 18 ounces of water at 160-ish degrees.

One key is to do proper vocal warmups, just a little more gently than when I'm feeling OK. If I'm really suffering (and would prefer not to have the listening public really suffer as well), I'll transpose down a half to a full step.

Maybe I should just do instrumentals... I'd save a lot of money.