Need help with a lip problem,guys.

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Sun Nov 07, 2004 11:23 am

I played a four hour gig immediately after shaving my lower lip too
closley with a blade.the next morning,I had at least five whiteheads break
out on the lower lip where I shaved.I treated the area with "origins"to
bring them to a head and dry them out.Seven days later the area was almost back to normal when we gigged at a local bar and played hard for four hours almost without a break.The next morning zit city again.That did it.I saw a skin doctor and he treated me for possible cold sores of the herpes variety.He drew my blood,added B-12 to it and shot it back into my booty.He also prescribed some horse pills to kill anything in my body that should not be there.I had a two week break and played a four hour
gig last Friday and Saturday woke up to five more zits on the lower lip.
Practicing for an hour doesn't set this thing off,but a four gig with a trio
of tuba,guitar and harmonica (with some blatting) does.We are playing the
Tropical Isle on Bourbon Street in New Orleans Friday four an hour and
another joint in Fat City on Saturday for four hours to showcase our new
C.D..Our schedule is increasingly busy from now to the spring where I might have to play up to five full nights a week and I really worried about
this stuff with the lip.I think my doctor is wrong about the herpes thing because I have never had cold sores and at age 63 I don't go "round kissing strange girls.
If any of you tubists have any insight into a problem like mine, I would
appreciate your comments and I thank you in advance for an opportunity
to pick your brains.
Regards,
Dennis Gray Tubatooter1940

MaryAnn · Post by **MaryAnn** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 8:00 am

My guess is allergy. A very quick try-out for a fix is to put nail polish on the rim (you can find clear, it doesn't have to be red!)

I ended up with gold plated rims (both tuba and horn) because of an allergy to the silver plating; it doesn't bug me unless I play for a long time too. Then I was also allergic to the nail polish, but a friend of mine has been using it for years. Cheaper than gold plating.

It also could actually be your soap, or shaving cream or whatever if you use it. Allergies can be very weird things, showing up in the oddest of circumstances, and you have to be quite the detective to find them. (Detection = removing all possible offending substances and re-introducing one at a time until you find which one(s) it is.)

Even if it is the herpes virus, you could have had it forever and it just now is being "stimulated" due to some allergic type reaction. I read somewhere that by age 50, 97% of the population has antibodies to the herpes (cold sore) virus.

MA

MaryAnn · Post by **MaryAnn** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:55 am

Doc wrote:Have you changed anything regarding your shaving habits?

Doc

Nope.

MA

Ames0325 · Post by **Ames0325** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:18 pm

I don't know if you have problems with acne--i do as does my Dad--I have a similar problem getting small painful zits in the corners of my lips when I play for too long. You might try a topical antbiotic such as bacitracin or bactraban (RX) another thing that sometimes works for me is a littel vasaline before I play.

Ames0325 · Post by **Ames0325** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 2:48 pm

I don't know if you have problems with acne--i do as does my Dad--I have a similar problem getting small painful zits in the corners of my lips when I play for too long. You might try a topical antbiotic such as bacitracin or bactraban (RX) another thing that sometimes works for me is a littel vasaline before I play.

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:54 am

Hi,Tubatooter here,
I thank you all for your wonderful input.Since I wrote you guys,I revisited
Dr.Funk (great name for a skin doctor) and he agreed with you(Doc) that
I could allergic to raw brass.I showed him my mouth piece,a Shilke 66
silver coated(I think) and he advised me to coat it with something as I was
advised by Ms. Mary Ann(Your picture is so hot)and I thank you but your
statement that 97%of folks my age have some form of herpes is real
scary.The doctor perscribed Bactroban ointment three tines a day and
Clindomycin caps twice a day.I sprayed my mouthpiece with clear hi-gloss
polyeurethane yesterday and hope any poisons in that stuff will be dried
out enough by Friday's gig.Bryan's thread about developing "road chops"
is facinating and could be my salvation.He also asked for info about our
new C.D.
Our website "John Reno.com" is under construction to include the new C.D.,"A Bonified Social Club"by John Reno and the Half-Fast Creekers-
a live evening with a hundred of our closest friends-drinking free beer and
all the gumbo we could eat.Our webmaster says within the week the C.D.
will appear with free snippets of at least three songs.I will notify the gang
here when this happens.The price will be 15 bucks plus two for postage and handling.Reno-Veillon entertainment at P.O.box1765,Fairhope,Al.
36533 is our address and I thank you Bryan for asking.
Looking forward to playing for the folks in Louisiana this weekend.Those
guys know a lot about hornmen and only a 100%effort will suffice because
they can tell.So we'll give'em both barrels.
Thank you for your help and best to you all,
Dennis Gray

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:01 pm

Tubatooter1940 here to give the gang here "the rest of the story".Problem solved,no more zits.I got my gold mouthpiece (thanks,Mary Ann) and my allergies are in check,Doc diagnosed me on his first post and my doctor had to take two shots to figure it out.With the bactroban ointment(thanks Ames),it cleared right up.You guys on the tubenet steered me to a quick solution to a problem and I thank you.
Dennis Gray

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:22 pm

Got to tell you about gigging in New Orleans.For any hornman in the South East,New Orleans is Mecca for musicians.One can hear killer players playing for tips in Jackson Square,great music coming out of the bars in the quarter.It is an honor to play there.
Our Friday gig was to play 5 P.M. to 9 at The Tropical Isle on Bourbon St. at Tolouse.The crowds were great and ready to party.Management bought us a beer and away we went to have a fine time.The crowd was chanting,"tuba,tuba tuba"by the end of the night(okay,Istarted it). The house band was up and running by 9:15 because we tweaked thier P.A. very little.Saturday,we opened for our friends in "Hannas Reef"at Pappa
Joe's Bar across the street.Before we quit we had 'em chanting,"tuba,tuba,tuba"and I didn't even start it the last time.Big fun.
Tubatooter1940