Any singers who used to be stuffy or have deviated septum?

[Phait]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviated_septum

 

I don't 100% know that I have this but I can tell you for all of my life that both of my nostrils have not been 100% breathing capacity. If I had to gauge left/right it'd be 70/30, sometimes 80/0. So, I suspect it. And because of this I think it lends a stuffy quality to my voice. I can hear it in my normal speech if play myself back, which does not disappear when I sing. Oddly enough my talking voice sounds close to Trent Reznor's and he seems like he has a stuffy voice a bit, or maybe it's just deep... but that doesn't seem to impede his singing (he may not be the greatest singer but for his material it works).

 

So I was curious has anyone had this, or at least the stuffy sounding problem, and was it a night and day difference after remedying it?

[OldMattB]

By remedy are you considering surgery? I have a visibly deviated septum and for most of my life was working on one nostril. The solution? I stopped eating wheat. Turned out I was the one of many with a wheat allergy. After eliminating wheat from my diet, my congestion mostly went away, both nostrils work, my vision improved, I lost weight, digestion improved, complexion improved.

 

Apparently I had spent my first 40 years in the middle of an allergic reaction.

 

You might consider a bit of research, removing wheat for a while, and seeing if it improves your condition.

 

oldMattB

[Phait]

Very interesting. I would imagine by having an allergy to it, I'd have a definite reaction in some way huh? Or is it just mild... something to look into at least, but I doubt it's the case.

[OldMattB]

I was never aware until a doctor suggested it and I changed my diet. I have read figures as high as 40 percent of people have some reaction to wheat products. Celiac disease is somewhat rare, though most cases are undiagnosed. Simple allergy is very common, but almost never diagnosed.

 

oldMattB

[Consume]

Very interesting. I would imagine by having an allergy to it, I'd have a definite reaction in some way huh? Or is it just mild... something to look into at least, but I doubt it's the case.

 

 

 

Many people of European descent have some form of allergy to wheat because it hasn't been in our diets long enough for us to be able to digest it as well as those from the Middle East (where wheat came from. Evidently it has been in their diet for thousands of years longer than ours.)

 

I can eat wheat, but how it affects me depends upon whether it is whole wheat flour or bleached, white, flour. White beard, biscuits, doughnuts, white gravy (combines milk and wheat), etc. - will completely clog me up within 45 minutes. Whole wheat makes me slightly congested, but nothing like bleached white flour does.

 

It sucks because I LOVE bread....

 

 

As for a deviated septum: Lots of people have them. I know I do. Get a Nasal Rinse bottle from Neilmed and start rinsing out your sinuses every day with salt water. I do it first thing in the morning - it is just part of my daily ritual. It helps a lot, and it keeps your sinuses free and clear and keeps down the bacteria and hleps you keep from getting infections.

 

My whole family got H1N1 (Swine Flu) but I didn't, and I attribute part of that to the fact that I drinka Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, kept washing my hands and spraying them with alcohol, and I rinse my sinuses with salt water on a daily basis. They all thought I was being silly about the alcohol, but when they all got sick - and I didn't - they quit laughing.

 

I also periodically use Raw Apple Cider Vinegar mixed in water to clean my sinuses because they will kill just about ANYTHING!

At first it burned a little, but I've done it enough now that it doesn't bother me anymore.

[rhat]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviated_septum I don't 100% know that I have this but I can tell you for all of my life that both of my nostrils have not been 100% breathing capacity. If I had to gauge left/right it'd be 70/30, sometimes 80/0. So, I suspect it. And because of this I think it lends a stuffy quality to my voice. I can hear it in my normal speech if play myself back, which does not disappear when I sing. Oddly enough my talking voice sounds close to Trent Reznor's and he seems like he has a stuffy voice a bit, or maybe it's just deep... but that doesn't seem to impede his singing (he may not be the greatest singer but for his material it works). So I was curious has anyone had this, or at least the stuffy sounding problem, and was it a night and day difference after remedying it?

 

 

 

I had a very serious deviated septum. I had it fixed. No real change in my vocal timbre. Mine was bad enough that my nose isnt straight anymore after the fix,, but i can breath though it like a rhino.

[rhat]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviated_septum I don't 100% know that I have this but I can tell you for all of my life that both of my nostrils have not been 100% breathing capacity. If I had to gauge left/right it'd be 70/30, sometimes 80/0. So, I suspect it. And because of this I think it lends a stuffy quality to my voice. I can hear it in my normal speech if play myself back, which does not disappear when I sing. Oddly enough my talking voice sounds close to Trent Reznor's and he seems like he has a stuffy voice a bit, or maybe it's just deep... but that doesn't seem to impede his singing (he may not be the greatest singer but for his material it works). So I was curious has anyone had this, or at least the stuffy sounding problem, and was it a night and day difference after remedying it?

 

 

 

I had a very serious deviated septum. I had it fixed. No real change in my vocal timbre. Mine was bad enough that my nose isnt straight anymore after the fix,, but i can breath though it like a rhino.