Asthmatic Singers

Roozter

Roozter

New member
I thought I would bring up a topic that pertains to me but also to others as well I'm sure.

I am a singer and also have asthma. I was wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks to improve upon weak lung function while also suffering from asthma.

I'm not just talking exercises but anything you can think of, such as medications that may irritate your bronchial tubes, ect.
 
I have asthma, I'm also a RN. What do you mean by medications that irritate bronchial tubes? Is your asthma controlled with a steroid? Dulera works well for me and I use my Ventolin rarely...maybe once a week. I do lots of breathing exercises, daily - particularly while driving around. Since my ashtma is controlled pretty well, I don't attribute it to be much of a factor in my singing at all.
 
I have asthma and my inhaled medications often make my throat feel scratchy. Since I started on Symbicort I often feel like I have a irritation and I constantly feel as though I have to clear my throat. My wife suggested I try an herbal tea called "Throat Coat" and I despise tea but I was willing to try. It tastes awful, but it really helps. If it was medication that tasted bad I would take so.....Not only did I get used to it but I actually acquired a taste for it. Now I buy "Throat Coat" and another called "Breathe E-Z" and put one tea bag of each in a cup and drink it every day. It helps my voice, my throat and my breathing. I'm not really big on herbal remedies but I was so frustrated I was willing to try anything.
 
Great topic - valuable to singers for sure. I don't have asthma but I'm going to follow this thread to see what solutions/remedies are recommended.
 
It's really tough, because steroids are terrible for the voice, as are inhalers. I don't have asthma anymore, but I had mild asthma due to allergies. I changed my diet and fixed that, but at the time I was taking Claritin every day to help. My father was a singer and had terrible asthma, and there were just some days that he couldn't sing.

The throat coat stuff may be fine. Things that are good for opening up bronchial tubes: green tea, peppermint, cayenne pepper. Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon and honey are good for irritation in the throat.

To OFrankieJ, ya constantly clearing your throat is really not a good thing, especially if you aren't sick and trying to get rid of phlegm. I hope you are able to try out some different medications to find something that will help you to be more comfortable.
 
I've fought with asthma all my life. As a kid it had me on the ropes most of the time, and much of it I outgrew with adulthood. But there are long term consequences. I lived on steroids - hydrocortisone pills - all through my childhood. It was what you did. Inhalers were basically ephedrine and epinephrine (anyone remember Primatine inhalers?), which felt like getting kicked by a horse. Meds were horrific things like Tedral and Theophylline, both of which I took for years.

Apologies if this is too long or windy, but some background may be useful for people who don't deal with asthma. Basically it scares the hell out of us and beats us up on a regular basis.

The general approach to asthma management has been with a combination of drugs to accomplish two things. First, a bronchodialator is applied for immediate relief. These are thought of as "rescue inhalers" because they act in seconds to open up the blood vessels inside the lung. The can offer relief in a matter of minutes for someone having an acute attack. The second is a companion drug to be used for a longer period of time to reduce the chronic aspects of the condition. These are anti-inflammatory drugs that are intended to be specific to the lung itself and reduce swelling that will lead to fluid buildup and pneumonia. The acute attack is what scares us, but the chronic inflammation is more likely to kill us.

This has been the general approach for the last 50 years or so, and the drugs have gotten more effective and more focused - less systemic - to minimize side effects. Albuterol has been the rescue inhaler of choice since the early '80s because it is fast acting, comparatively effective and has minimal side effects (it can make me a little jittery, but the tradeoff for another breath is a no brainer). Current preferred treatment includes a non-systemic steroid anti-inflammatory inhaler (like beclomethasone) to reduce inflammation within the lung itself, or a non-steroid equivalent.

So we walk around looking OK but feeling battered. "Bloodied but unbowed" as they say. An asthmatic can develop unusual upper body strength because the neck muscles are worked so hard to assist the diaphragm in breathing. I'm a pretty good sized guy - 220 lbs. My arms have muscles like a sedentary paper pusher. But I have a body builder's neck - out of proportion to the rest of me, which is of basic pepperoni pizza loving dimensions. So I wear size large shirts but can't button the collar unless it's over 18". My neck is full of breathing muscle.

One thing that has helped me with breathing (and consequently singing) has been taking voice lessons with a real voice coach. I'm talking operatic lessons here - the real thing. The key with these isn't to learn how to sing in Italian. The key is that a professional voice coach will teach you how to relax your neck and vocal chords to allow you to sing without overdoing it, without cramping muscles, without pain. And by learning how to maximize the use of your diaphragm when breathing, you can make the most of the lung capacity you do have. The results are amazing; I learned not only that my true range is mid-tenor and not baritone, where I had been singing for years, but also that when I was in my true range and relaxed, my voice had ten times the power I had thought possible. So voice lessons with a professional coach will make an astounding difference.

The second thing I'll toss out - YMMV - is to analyze your diet and make changes. In the last four months my wife and I moved to a vegan diet, for different reasons. She is trying to address some chronic pain issues and I have to manage heart failure issues, which usually do not improve with time unless you focus on it. I've lost weight and all that, but also found that I have a lot less crud in my sinuses and trachea. I attribute this to moving away from dairy foods - milk, butter, cheese (much as I like them) which correlate with increased mucous production. I am also on the mend from a nasty lung thing that is going around town, and this time did it without needing antibiotics. Usually the concern is pneumonia, but this time my system seemed to handle it without help. I think getting away from dairy is helping.
 
Treeline said:
One thing that has helped me with breathing (and consequently singing) has been taking voice lessons with a real voice coach. I'm talking operatic lessons here - the real thing. The key with these isn't to learn how to sing in Italian. The key is that a professional voice coach will teach you how to relax your neck and vocal chords to allow you to sing without overdoing it, without cramping muscles, without pain. And by learning how to maximize the use of your diaphragm when breathing, you can make the most of the lung capacity you do have. The results are amazing; I learned not only that my true range is mid-tenor and not baritone, where I had been singing for years, but also that when I was in my true range and relaxed, my voice had ten times the power I had thought possible. So voice lessons with a professional coach will make an astounding difference.

The second thing I'll toss out - YMMV - is to analyze your diet and make changes. In the last four months my wife and I moved to a vegan diet, for different reasons. She is trying to address some chronic pain issues and I have to manage heart failure issues, which usually do not improve with time unless you focus on it. I've lost weight and all that, but also found that I have a lot less crud in my sinuses and trachea. I attribute this to moving away from dairy foods - milk, butter, cheese (much as I like them) which correlate with increased mucous production. I am also on the mend from a nasty lung thing that is going around town, and this time did it without needing antibiotics. Usually the concern is pneumonia, but this time my system seemed to handle it without help. I think getting away from dairy is helping.
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Excellent advice. My father was an opera singer, however, and his asthma did still plague him. I firmly believe that if he made diet changes he would have been able to manage much better. But certainly his training helped him overcome a great deal.

As far as what diet changes to make, that's really up to the individual to discover. There are trigger foods. For me, my asthma was triggered by eating grains - mainly wheat - but anything. Gluten isn't the culprit, but grains themselves. So when I went grain-free I no longer needed medication. My asthma, of course, was very minor. I only had an inhaler for emergencies, but I didn't have to use it regularly. But I do think that for some it is dairy. Mainly for everyone, I recommend looking at the ingredients of everything you put in your mouth. Not just the nutrition info, but the actual ingredients. You may be surprised as to what's in your food. Try to eat mostly whole foods and foods with few ingredients to them. It's amazing what changing your diet like this does for your health. :)
 
Morodiene said:
For me, my asthma was triggered by eating grains - mainly wheat - but anything. Gluten isn't the culprit, but grains themselves. So when I went grain-free I no longer needed medication.
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At the risk of hijacking the thread and turning it political, consider this scenario. It may not actually be the grains that triggered your immune system, but the poisons those grains are soaked in. If you do some wiki research on roundup and roundup ready grains, you may find it sobering.

[brief soapbox mode on]The concept is that the GMO grains that are "roundup ready" have been engineered to be resistant to those chemicals. That means the fields are hit with massive doses of roundup that kill everything in sight - and are then planted with the modified grain. It grows beautifully because it has no competition. It also incorporates everything in its environment. In some cases, the crop is again washed with pesticides shortly before harvest. This stresses the plant, which responds by flowering and then by dying. When it flowers the yield is significantly increased. But what is being harvested here?

The domestic grain factories are farming operations on a colossal scale - nothing like what we think of as a "farm." More like an industrial park. This grain is in virtually everything and with its increased use is seen an increase in immune system diseases, gluten intolerance and so forth. I'm not so quick to blame the wheat for it.

You can find suppliers of wheat, other grains and baked products who obtain their ingredients from known sources. They are in a position to say whether the grains are contaminated or not. You might find your wheat sensitivity is actually something else.

[/brief soapbox mode]
 
Treeline said:
At the risk of hijacking the thread and turning it political, consider this scenario. It may not actually be the grains that triggered your immune system, but the poisons those grains are soaked in. If you do some wiki research on roundup and roundup ready grains, you may find it sobering.

[brief soapbox mode on]The concept is that the GMO grains that are "roundup ready" have been engineered to be resistant to those chemicals. That means the fields are hit with massive doses of roundup that kill everything in sight - and are then planted with the modified grain. It grows beautifully because it has no competition. It also incorporates everything in its environment. In some cases, the crop is again washed with pesticides shortly before harvest. This stresses the plant, which responds by flowering and then by dying. When it flowers the yield is significantly increased. But what is being harvested here?

The domestic grain factories are farming operations on a colossal scale - nothing like what we think of as a "farm." More like an industrial park. This grain is in virtually everything and with its increased use is seen an increase in immune system diseases, gluten intolerance and so forth. I'm not so quick to blame the wheat for it.

You can find suppliers of wheat, other grains and baked products who obtain their ingredients from known sources. They are in a position to say whether the grains are contaminated or not. You might find your wheat sensitivity is actually something else.

[/brief soapbox mode]
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Oh yes, I totally believe this is a problem as well. However, it happens with organic as well. I bought organic wheat berries and made flour from them. From learning more about the ketogenic diet and how that has helped me tremendously, I'm more inclined to believe that we don't need carbs. Historically, people ate wheat that had sprouted, so whenever I do have grains they are in organic sprouted form.

Anyone would do well to do their own research on any of this stuff. We are what we eat, after all! :)
 
andrushkiwt said:
I have asthma, I'm also a RN. What do you mean by medications that irritate bronchial tubes? Is your asthma controlled with a steroid? Dulera works well for me and I use my Ventolin rarely...maybe once a week. I do lots of breathing exercises, daily - particularly while driving around. Since my ashtma is controlled pretty well, I don't attribute it to be much of a factor in my singing at all.
Click to expand...

OFrankieJ said:
I have asthma and my inhaled medications often make my throat feel scratchy. Since I started on Symbicort I often feel like I have a irritation and I constantly feel as though I have to clear my throat. My wife suggested I try an herbal tea called "Throat Coat" and I despise tea but I was willing to try. It tastes awful, but it really helps. If it was medication that tasted bad I would take so.....Not only did I get used to it but I actually acquired a taste for it. Now I buy "Throat Coat" and another called "Breathe E-Z" and put one tea bag of each in a cup and drink it every day. It helps my voice, my throat and my breathing. I'm not really big on herbal remedies but I was so frustrated I was willing to try anything.
Click to expand...

Morodiene said:
It's really tough, because steroids are terrible for the voice, as are inhalers. I don't have asthma anymore, but I had mild asthma due to allergies. I changed my diet and fixed that, but at the time I was taking Claritin every day to help. My father was a singer and had terrible asthma, and there were just some days that he couldn't sing.

The throat coat stuff may be fine. Things that are good for opening up bronchial tubes: green tea, peppermint, cayenne pepper. Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon and honey are good for irritation in the throat.

To OFrankieJ, ya constantly clearing your throat is really not a good thing, especially if you aren't sick and trying to get rid of phlegm. I hope you are able to try out some different medications to find something that will help you to be more comfortable.
Click to expand...

Very good responses here. I should probably clarify what position I'm coming from here to get the thread more laser-focused...

I am on Symbicort, and very suspicious of its side effects at this point. Not sure what the least damaging medicine on the market is, but this is definitely something I was alluding to in the original post. I have experienced some throat/sinus irritation and have had the throat clearing issue at various points in time (but this may be related to a TMJ/TMD issue).

I have altered my diet many times over the past 5-6 years. I've gone vegan to lose weight, but didn't stick to the diet after dropping the 70lbs. I've been meaning to see an allergist to have a full array of testing done to be absolutely sure of my food allergies and to get a better understanding of where my asthma might be coming from.

My main concern is how to strengthen my overall breathing in general. I've never been able to really physically excersice for any long period of time so its very difficult to make any progress with that.

Since I'm no longer in school sponsored chiors, and since I took a hiatus due to injury (still have the injury which I believe is TMJ based), I got out of practice and then the performance level dropped to a new low. After quitting cigarettes cold turkey just recently (4yr smoker) my performance level has slightly improved, but its not anywhere near where I was when I began songwriting. I've quite literally gone from a world class talent to barely being able to make it to the bridge of a song. It's soul crushing and absolutely embarassing to be a songwriter who can't even sing his own lyrics anymore.
 
Treeline said:
One thing that has helped me with breathing (and consequently singing) has been taking voice lessons with a real voice coach. I'm talking operatic lessons here - the real thing. The key with these isn't to learn how to sing in Italian. The key is that a professional voice coach will teach you how to relax your neck and vocal chords to allow you to sing without overdoing it, without cramping muscles, without pain. And by learning how to maximize the use of your diaphragm when breathing, you can make the most of the lung capacity you do have. The results are amazing; I learned not only that my true range is mid-tenor and not baritone, where I had been singing for years, but also that when I was in my true range and relaxed, my voice had ten times the power I had thought possible. So voice lessons with a professional coach will make an astounding difference.
Click to expand...

Quoted for emphasis. I don't know much about athsma (I've got bad allergies, but they don't significantly impact my voice), but as with most things related to singing, it's always a good idea to be taking lessons. Getting good at breathing and figuring out what reduces strain on your throat is helpful no matter what style you use and difficulties you have.
 
I think there's a character created by ripping tonsils and droplets of blood hitting the mic capsule that's tough to emulate without a little sacrifice. :)
 
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