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Ok Ive posted this once before in another topic and got 0 replies so im going for another shot. Right now i am completely annoyed at the fact.....i cant breathe. Im not just talking about during playing but i feel like im short of breath all the time and its also restricting my high notes and the length of a breath. I know you arent medical doctors but this is driving me to the point where ive almost quit euphonium playing. Anyway, 8/10 times i take a breath it feels as if the air is not even reaching my lungs, it gets all restricted feeling somewhere in my throat/chest area. It feels so good when i can breathe yawning so i pretty much tire myself out so i can breathe lol. Sometimes its better if i Lay on my stomach but like I say, I will probably make a doctors appointment but I think it might be some kind of hidden anxiety. seems to be anyway. I hope you guys can help me out here, I know its kinda stubborn to be asking you but your help would be appreciated.

Ok. But you already know what I'm going to tell you...

It's probably anxiety.

If it is it's a serius matter and you should get professional help.

But it can also be other problems. With your lungs, with your abdominal muscles, with your heart, with your back (bones), it could be the position you sit (or stand), etc, etc.

Again, you should get professional help to find out what the problem is.

I hope you get well soon.

Antero "I'm not a doctor but I think that your situation is not normal and should be investigated" Avila

k thanks. ANyone else? Ive done everything from ..........................overly sucking in air to undoing my pants to breathe lol.

well, you pretty much answered your own question. You need to relax. When you tense up, When you tense up, your breathing constricts, and everything gets tight. RELAX. Also, you might want to consider purchasing Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan's book "The Breathing Gym" (available from www.patricksheridan.com).

Well your post brings up a lot of questions. First do you or your family have a history of Asthma? How old are you? Are you in shape? How tall are you? Is this a problem you feel all the time ie. while resting?

My first bit of advice is to seek medical help. However you could be experiencing anxiety while playing. Maybe a local musician could help you by watching your playing. I used to tense up while playing and did not realize it. Also, I am an Asthma sufferer who has managed to play tuba, soccer, baseball and basketball for most of my life. So don't give up but talk to a doctor. If you need some suggestions for breathing exercises you can search the tubenet or drop me a pm and I can give you a few. The playing ones are great but there are also Asthma specific exercises that can help too.

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

Henry Gertcher

This must be affecting more in your life than just your euph playing...

Go to your doctor and (s)he'll be able to figure out what's going on. And of course, there's the old standbys of not smoking, getting plenty of exercise, and eating "right."

Here's to being back to normal soon...

Ya if it doesnt stop in a week, the doctor it is. As for further info, there is not a strong history of asthma in my family, if any but it does occur all the time and not just playing. I think (and hate to think) that it is asthma because I have always had a short of breath during exercises (shorter than usual, but nothing severe) and in the past month I guess it seems to be much worse, Im not dying YET lol but I should get it checked. I would consider myself a healthy kid, yes I like my popcorn lol but I stand at 5'9, weigh 135 lbs, and 'eat properly', for a teenager anyway . No I dont smoke but i am exposed to a GREAT amount of it because when my mom is home, there will be smoke in the air and i hate it. No there is less than a 1% chance that i'll convince her to quit so .

I never have any coughing problems and when it weeze it is EXTREMELY rare, I have after excercise a LITTLE bit a few times in my LIFE. Id really hate to go on meds cuz apparently you cant really get off them for the rest of your life.

And Henry, I would greatly appreciate it if you could let me in on some excersises.....just give me a pm, dont expect one just type and click please . Thanks guys, I hope all goes well.

Yay getting a YEP 642 to try tomorrow YAY.........then a Meinl Weston 451 in a few weeks along with either a Miraphone 1258 or a Besson prestige. But the best of all, In May i get a YEP 842S to try which I think I will probably go with, if not, the 642.

Xtreme "once gets his breath back, gets off topic" Euph

/rant/

Go to the doctor. Don't wait a week, i.e., don't be STUPID. You are describing a persistent difficulty in breathing, not a persistent itch, or a persistent bad hair day.

November, 2004- No other symptoms, but I start having difficulty breathing, tiring really easily, etc. (sound at all familiar?) I've been treated for asthma for over 30 years, and I know this is different. It gets to where I can't walk through the house or climb a flight of stairs without having to rest half-way. No wheezing, no productive cough. Just difficulty with persistent fatigue and feeling for the life of me like I just can't get one good breath. I'm using Advair and Proventil (albuterol) and they barely make a dent. So I go to the doctor. DOUBLE PNEUMONIA. I had not coughed once yet. According to the bloodwork, it was already starting to turn beyond pneumonia and was impairing liver function. I was on the verge of immediate hospitalization, but the doctor gave me 24 hrs and said that if the antibiotics didn't make a remarkable difference in that time that he would have the ambulance pick me up right there to go to the hospital.

Don't mess around with this.

Go get checked. Now.

I've never understood why people will wait to see a doctor, even when they recognize something just isn't right. Why is lung cancer is one of the number one killers? Beside the smoking issue? Because smokers, who are prone to coughing anyway, figure it's just a cough, and they "give it a chance to clear up." "I'll give it a little while, and then if it hasn't cleared up, maybe I'll give the Doc a call." By the time they're actually diagnosed, after the cough is so bad, they're usually so far advanced that nothing is going to save them.

Why wait? See the doctor now.

/rant/

This sounds interesting-

On the surface, it's a no brainer - see a doctor.

Maybe this is something else, let's face it, he is breathing or he's be a goner. Breathing to play a wind instrument is more specialized than everyday breathing and we all know that there are more myths out there tan you can imagine.

Here are a few questions:
Are you confusing air pressure with air flow?
Are you tensing up on the abdominal musculature?
Could you be triggering Valsalva?

These are common with brass players and are corrected by understanding how the body's physiology works and not tieing the body in knots by working against it.

Maybe he needs a lesson with someone who understands the body.

Sounds like you have asthma, if not something else that needs attention. I played for years, struggling to breathe well before I found out that I had asthma.

I was lucky enough to develop allergies to go along with the asthma. I can blame that on 700 rodeos.

Medication makes it manageable but I still hate taking medicine. Go to the doctor.

Many of the muscles in our body act in opposition to one another, examples of which are the biceps and triceps, which, if contracted at the same time (like you're making a "muscle"), inhibit arm movement at the elbow. Similarly, the muscles used in inspiration and respiration can also be contracted simultanelously, inhibiting the expansion of the rib cage and lowering of the diaphragm necessary to take in a large volume of air. This is what Arnold Jacobs is referring to when he says "strength is my enemy, weakness is my friend." When you say you need to tire yourself out in order to breathe, this indicates to me that you are contracting opposing muscles in the torso, limiting your ability to take in air (or blow it out for that matter).

A good exercise to help with this problem is to breathe in and out through a straw. The resistance will force you to use primarily the muscles required for inspiration or expiration, and not the opposing ones. Breathe in and out using one straw, then add one more, lessening the resistance, and repeat the exercise. Continue adding straws until there is very little resistance, similar to breathing normally. I think that Brian F has a device for sale that will do much the same thing

A couple of notes.

Do this, and all breathing exercises, away from the horn, in front of a mirror if possible.

The other thing to remember is that the physiology of breathing and the stimulus in the brain are two different things. Technically, we expand to breathe, meaning that the rib cage expands and the diaphragm lowers, resulting in lower air pressure inside the body, and air comes in to balance the air pressure. However, because we can simulate shape change without moving any air, the stimulus should always be to suck the air in past the lips. In other words, always breathe to expand.

A good exercise for this is to stand or sit with you arm extended in front of you and visualize a thick column of air between your hand and your lips. Then suck in the column of air, moving your hand to your face, as if you were a string played moving a bow across ther strings. When you blow out, the hand moves away from the lips in a similar manner. Do a few breaths like this, bowing in and out, then rest. You can also do variations where you take in the column of air in segments, such as 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, or 2/3, 1/3, or 1/3, 2/3, 1/2 1/2, etc.