It might be due to allergens -- milk allergies are
among the three or four most common food allergies, I
believe.
New definition: milk glops up (produces glop,
obviously indirectly, by causing extra mucous
production after consumption) the voice (cords, lower
throat, back of tongue, etc). My repertoire of
remedies are below.
> that humans have lived on the thousands of years
> and helped us be strong and healthy and conquer
> the world etc,
Actually, humans first showed up 2 million years ago.
"Modern" humans (behaviorally and physically) appeared
140,000 years ago. Dairy appeared in the human diet
10,000 years ago. Not necessary, from a physiological
standpoint.
Perhaps necessary psychologically. I've certainly
been known to succumb to the cheesecake monster once
in a while. I have found that humibid (by
perscription if you have an ENT, or available in plain
old expectorant Robitussen at the store) helps a *lot*
in rendering post-dairy cords singable.
It thins the mucous and makes it less viscous, which
is why it is perscribed both for allergies (food and
enviornmental, which can lead to thick, gloppy mucous
production) and also infertility (becuase, I assume,
thin, fluid mucous is a better enviornment for sperm).
The age-old milk-glop remedy of hot water with lemon
seems to work fairly well for me, although I'm not
sure why (perhaps inhaling the acidic steam onto the
cords helps clear them?). Sucking on lemons is NOT
recommended, as it is terrible for your teeth. I have
to be careful not to take in too much lemon, which can
dry out and irritate my voice somewhat. I'd rather
sing over-mucousy than over-dry any day -- dry leads
to cracking and loss of high notes; too much glop is
usually something I can "sing" off, with an extra-long
series of warmups. It takes me maybe 90 minutes
(broken into 20- or 30-minute chunks) to sing normal
glop off of my cords and be normal again.
Plain old steam inhalation (hang your towel-draped
head over a pot of recently-boiled-now-off-the-heat
water) has also been remarkably effective in ridding
myself of the ice cream glop.
If you must clear your throat, do it with a short
cough, cushioned with lots of air -- a big blast of
exhalation with a tiny cough at the beginning. The
more common "clearing" is like rubbing sandpaper into
your throat (in my experience), while the light cough
can often expel the offending glob of mucous without
quite as much irritation.
Drinking hot, hot water also seems helpful (perhaps a
combination of inhaled steam and superhydration). If
you do take humibid, make sure to take it with tons of
water for maximum effectiveness. In all of my
experimenting, I have found humibid, followed by long
and gentle singing, to be the most effective remedy to
the occasional attack of cheesecake.
Isabelle B.
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Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
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