Ms Donnel asked: "is it really your place ( or our place), to educate others about specific medications if we are not physicians, pharmacists or chemists? "
I believe when we are talking about our students' vocal health it is important and necessary that we know as much as we can about the effects of meds on the voice. The students themselves (any age student, children or adults) and their parents, in fact even their family physician, may not be aware of the subtle effects of some drugs on the voice. It is necessary for the family physician to know the general uses and effects of meds on general populations and to know the contraindications. However, hearing a 9th grader say "I sing" doesn't really bring to mind for most doctors the idea that an antihistimine that drys faster and 'better' might be worse for the singer than one which lasts a shorter time and doesn't dry as much. This is just one example.
It behooves us all to be our own and, by extension, our students' health care advocates. Even medical specialists in fields other than otolaryngology may not understand the extent to which common meds can affect the singing voice. An adult student in one of my group voice classes at the university had some exploratory surgery recently, and came into class thinking she had a little sore throat. She had been intubated, and hadn't mentioned to me that she would be. I could have easily told her to warn the anesthesiologist that she would be auditioning for a musical soon and to use a smaller breathing tube, but I wasn't aware of the surgery, and she wasn't aware that there would be something she should ask or tell.
Best wishes,
Candace A. Magner, DMA University of New Mexico - Los Alamos Dept of Fine Arts/Music magner@l... magner@l... homepage http://clik.to/candace
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