[TPIN] Advil, surgery, and the trumpet

[Allegro69]

SNIPPED
I pumped myself up on ibuprofen went to the gig, and had one of the easiest
evenings in a long time (or since).  Playing felt extremely easy and my
upper register and endurance felt good all night.  Add to this the fact that
I had a church gig the next morning (also felt great) and a small jazz group
thing later that afternoon...

I pondered whether or not the ibuprofen was in some way responsible - it's
whole purpose is to prevent swelling and act as anti-inflamatory, as I
understand it, so it adds up. But...

The problem is, who wants to have their playing depend on taking some drug?
I don't advocate this...

..... overlooking coffee in the morning and Martinis at night of course. <g>

*********************************************
If you're hurting, then you've got to do what you've got to do. After being
outside for a while in the bitter cold my teeth hurt like crazy and like
yourself, I popped a couple of Ibu tabs. Felt much better because of it.
This isn't an every day occurrence, but I do keep them on hand in case of
'emergency' and don't consider myself to be dependent on them. As far as
using a medication on a regular basis, what about performers that use beta
blockers? While I've never tried them, I've talked to people that do,
including my daughter who is a voice performer and teacher and they benefit
from them. I have many a day that I feel 'jiggy' when playing my horn, but I
don't want to use the age old booze and / or herbal intoxicant methods which
can and has too many times messed me up. From what I gather, the beta
blockers don't give a buzz, but provide a degree of stability rather than
euphoria (which is OK from time to time, but not all the time - YMMV). Next
time I visit my doctor (long overdue), I'm going to run it by him. Maybe
he'll say yes or maybe he'll say no, depending on the general makeup and
present condition of my body. It goes without saying that people from all
walks of life are popping some kind of pill to get them through the day. But
taking a couple of Ibu tabs when in a pinch surely doesn't make you a pill
junky.
BOB