How to avoid Colds & ways to save your singing voice through them.

For starters, here are a couple articles on the subject:

http://www.voicelesson.com/html/lessons/free_lessons_06.htm

"Singing With a Cold" - Mark Baxter

"Winter and show biz don't mix. Biting winds and piles of snow keep potential audiences at home and make things difficult for load-ins. Then there’s the additional burden of protecting your voice while everyone around is coughing and sneezing. As a singer, you can’t afford to succumb to the average two colds a year. Even if you’re a trouper and refuse to cancel, your instrument will be compromised and susceptible to harm. Not to panic, injury to the vocal folds is reversible, but taking time off to recover will put the brakes on your band’s momentum. Prevention is the answer. The good news is, for every cold-forming scenario, there is a counter measure. The bad news is, by the time the first symptoms show, it’s too late.

The germs which cause colds are always around. Constantly washing your hands and avoiding contact with others is not enough. The best defense is to keep your immune system strong by eating right (fruits and vegies), hydrating (two liters of water per day), sleeping (around six hours), and exercising for better circulation. Staying warm is also an important factor. In frigid conditions, your body works hard to retain heat. Dressing in layers, with a hat, water-proof boots and a scarf allows your body to focus energy on fighting off incoming infections. Use your brains. Wait until you stop sweating before going outside after rehearsal, and, leave a coat stage-side if a club requires a load-out directly after the set.

The winter holidays are a notorious time for coming down with something. Heavier foods and less physical activity increases the amount of toxins in our system. After a while, our bodies will clean house by producing mucus. So, find a way to stay physically active between Thanksgiving and Christmas -- and watch that third piece of pie. However, an abrupt change in lifestyle can also bring on a similar cleanse reaction. People who quit smoking cold-turkey or dramatically change their diet can expect cold-like symptoms to follow. I don’t want to discourage anyone from becoming healthier, merely suggesting a gradual change if you’ve decided to clean up as a New Year’s resolution.

Stress, of all the causes of illness, is number one. Juggling work or school with rehearsals and gigs, eating on the run with zero sleep, disrupts metabolism and forces the body to run on adrenaline. Anxiety saps vitamins, dehydrates, and leaves you vulnerable to whatever is around. That’s why colds always arrive right as your preparing for the big recording or showcase. Yes, you should be well rehearsed, but there comes a point where the push becomes counter-productive. Rest, like hydration, is an inseparable component of vocal ability. It’s important to remember that stress is 100 percent internal, and is always reduced by saying the word, "no." So, for your voice’s sake, open up your schedule -- and chill.

I know it’s seems uncool to worry about health, but ask anyone who has toured for a length of time -- getting sick on the road sucks. It is not inevitable that you will catch a cold every winter. Hold firm to a belief that you will not get sick. If it's too late for this season, then for next. Adopting healthy habits now will pay off in spades in the future when you’re in demand. There is no remedy as effective as prevention. I’m sure your mother already told you most of these things, but that was so you wouldn’t miss school. I’m telling you so you won’t miss a gig. Big difference.

Okay, now let’s pretend that, despite your best efforts, you’ve come down with a nasty, aching, head clogging cold three days before an important gig. Is there anything you can do besides crack open a bottle of Jack Daniel’s? The answer is yes, but they aren’t nearly as much fun. To minimize the effect a cold has on the voice you’ve got to act quickly. Keep in mind that congestion, mucus, is what your body produces to flush out toxins. Over-the-counter medications (anti-histamines) dry up congestion but prohibit the necessary house cleaning. They also dry mucous membranes, like your vocal folds, which will cause you to lose your voice. So, reach for the decongestants as an absolute last resort. However, it is better to experiment with medications at rehearsals, rather then waiting until gig day. You should always know the effect something will have on your voice before you use it under the spotlights.

If you have time, instead of squashing the symptoms, help speed up the cleanse. Flood yourself with water and real juices to thin the congestion, lubricate your folds and flush your body. The juice should be freshly squeezed in order to get the most benefit. The best types during a cold are Orange (vitamin C), Celery (retains fluids), Cucumber & Cranberry (cleans acid deposits) and Carrot (vitamin A). If you’re not into juices, take supplements. The water-based vitamins like C and B complex are the first to be depleted when you’re fighting a cold. Unfortunately, a Mountain-Dew slushy has no vitamins, but does give a great brain freeze.

An important benefit of hydrating is that it may keep a cold from reaching your lungs. Throat clearing and coughing, which normally accompanies a cold, is very irritating to the vocal folds. The delicate membranes in and around the larynx become swollen and rigid, which is why your voice gets so deep and restricted. Inhaling steam will help loosen congestion in the lungs as well as soothe the vocal folds. Be careful when inhaling steam, you can burn your lips and nasal passages. Gargling with warm salt water will also help draw phlegm away from your larynx. (If the salt is collecting at the bottom of the glass, you’ve put in too much.) This is a good routine to get into daily, to clean and increase circulation of the mouth and throat. Teas, honey, or any other coating therapy may soothe soar muscles but will not heal the vocal folds. To reduce the swelling and get singing again, you’ve got to vocalize (warm up).

Low volume, barely audible, humming is a great way to start. Let your larynx choose the pitches. It’s better to stay with one single note (whichever is most comfortable) than to push or force the range. Allow plenty of time for your voice to loosen. Rushing the warm-up when you have a cold will greatly reduce the longevity of your voice and make conditions worse the next day. I once did a ten hour warm-up for a forty minute set. Refer to the warm up routine in lesson three, but remember, it’s not what you’re singing to warm up, it’s how.

Sleep as much as you can during the days leading up to your performance, even if that means skipping rehearsals. But, on gig day, don’t hibernate. Get up, take a long hot shower and do some light stretching and exercising to get your blood circulating. Mentally prepare for the long day ahead. Yes, it would be much easier to numb yourself with a bottle of Jack, but your condition the next morning will be twice as bad. The bottom line is, if you want a career as a performer, you’re going to have to learn to sing with a cold. Might as well start now."

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http://www.singinglikepro.com/singing-tips/15-steps-of-voice-care-to-recovery-from-colds-and-vocal-strain

"15 Steps of Voice Care to Recovery from Colds and Vocal Strain

No matter how pro the singer is, there is an unavoidable task for them to take care of their voice especially in the cold and flu, and feel plain vocally awful situations.

However, here are 15 tips to allow you to bring your beautiful voice back to health and normal condition. The most important things are to reduce trauma to your chords and to create a comfortable environment for your throat.

1. ALWAYS drink constant amount of water. Please remember to drink 8-12 glasses of water daily especially when a cold is coming. You can try Alkalol if you really want to flush out a cold completely in 3 days or less. Just get it from the pharmacists. You use it intra-nasally.

2. Don’t force yourself to sing loudly in order to open your chords. Your vocal chords will automatically produce more mucus to protect themselves when vocal chords feel compromised, by cold, smoke or singing too loudly. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy: sing loud to blow open your chords = muddy sound and uncomfortable, swollen, “gunky” chords. Nobody likes to feel like this when they sing!

3. Don’t consume ice. It constricts your vocal chords and makes your chords feeling restricted.

4. Don’t touch alcohol at all. Because it will robs your body of water, and swells your chords. Dry swollen chords are the worst. Don’t do it.

5. Try to use a steam inhalant if your upper bronchial tree is congested Use a steam inhalant. It will help keep your breathing passages open and in turn will keep your chords clear of hazardous phlegm that would otherwise kick upwards onto your chords.

6. Ricola and Slippery Elm lozenges are good. Don’t use Halls Mentholyptus especially when you have to sing due to its stronger and drying in nature. In fact, in the situation of the cold and vocal strain, what you need is to lubricate and calm the chords. Therefore, the Ricola and Slippery lozenges are enough to take a healthy care on your chords well.

7. Rest your voice. Just speak when necessary. Try to write notes if want to inform something in advanced. Listen more, talk less, and Nod your head. Try to find alternative ways to communicate.

8. No Whispering. If you have to speak, do it in as normal a voice as you can manage. But, don’t over doing it.

9. No throat clearing, it’s hurt. It’s because this practices will bang your chords together. When you’re about to throat clearing, just try to take a deep breath in over your chords and yawn to release the tension of your throat. I’m sure the need and accruing times to throat clearing will lessen. Try to take it as a habit of deep breathing rather than clearing your lovely throat.

10. Do not smoke if you love your voice. It may make your voice even bad.

11. Avoid supper 3-4 hours before bed. There are many reasons for this. Most of the times, stomach acid is rushed up into your throat level and it causes some minor to major throat burning when you are digesting food in your sleep.

12. Try to eat bland food, avoid heavy spice foods. Because sometimes, the spicy foods will burning your throat and hurt your higher vocal notes.

13. Ensure cough less in the sleep. To achieve that, you can use 2-3 pillows, fluids will drain away from your chords more easily. Therefore, your breathing condition will stay easy and you will feel the need to cough less.

14. Use a nasal wash daily. AYR, NASAL, or SALINEX are the items you can use to keep your oral and throat fresh and healthy. Try to sprays it 3-6 times a day. Used regularly, they actually help keep you oral and throat healthier.

15. Don’t waste time. If you have been to a doctor and he or she has diagnosed nodes or lesions on your chords, get help immediately. Vocal therapy is necessary to save your voice.

Do you facing these kinds of problems sometimes? Hope you benefit from these 15 steps of voice care to recovery from colds and vocal strain."

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Yeah, all of the above is great advice.

I am lucky, I don't get the "average 2 colds a year". Not most years anyway. I haven't had a proper cold for...several years. 3 years at least I think...yeah.

However, strangely, my throat is feeling disgusting right now and I MAY be getting something...ugh. I knew sharing straws with 4 different people all drinking at the same time from the huge fish bowl-sized glass filled with blue alcoholic liquid last night at the office Christmas party was a bad idea!!! lol

There is but one proper response to this, LOL!!!!!

this a bull{censored}. vitamins are a form of preventative maintenace, they don't help once you have a cold. there are a studies on this on PubMed. Crap like Airborne and all that have done a brilliant job advertising to make you pay a 1000% markup on a few vitamins that cost pennies when you're sick. you should take a daily multivitamin anyway, but there's no need for extra stuff when you're sick.

i want to kill the people i work with, not share straws with them.

I think you were attempting to address the controversy around the statement "take supplements" while wrestling with a cold. Increasing certain vitamin and herbal intake once you get a cold is questionable in its effectiveness. But the rest of the advice you quoted and applied bull{censored} to was about attempting to cleanse and lubricate and was very sound.

Hopefully it will be murder/suicide.

Sure, for a copy & paste job.

I thoroughly enjoyed sharing straws in my Blue Lagoon drink at the Christmas party! Lol. And woo, no cold has developed. My throat was swollen I think just from all the shouting required to be heard over the loud music and talking at the place we went to. And the excess cigarettes consumed. Heheh.

Did this "expert" seriously write vocal "chords"? LOL!

Still there was some good advice. I would definitely avoid the cold "medicine" unless you absolutely have to clear your sinuses for a major performance. Your head will get more and more stuffed up and you will have to just go cold turkey to end it.

What I avoid is being near hot blowing dry air like space heaters. They dry out my sinuses and that starts the whole syndrome of nasal drip, sore throat and coughing. One time I took a couple Sominex and right away I could feel my sinuses drying out and I got another "cold" type thing for a week.

A couple years ago we started putting out a vaporizor in November because it's so dry here, and that has really helped prevent that first cold of the season.

fixed.

Major road to recovery.

Cold is pretty much gone after about 9 days, light congestion.

I tried just about everyday to see where my voice was at for a couple minutes, it was not good and since it's been so many years since I've had a cold I forgot what too expect.

I was off key, it was really hard to hold a pitch....lol that's scary...but made it obvious to stop and come back another day.

Starting 2 days ago I was able to sing for 4 or 5 minutes after lengthy-easy warm ups.

Today I got into the range I usually sing in and can see light at the end of the tunnel.

The session went about 20 minutes, so over the course of a couple weeks I'll continue adding a few minutes to practice as is warranted.

I took some advice from both articles + also...

I used light descending moos' (like a cow moos), they tend to relax and sooth

the cords. (A doc had suggested this to Andy Williams to help him get through a

node problem).

Easy scales , no stress just easy middle range scales.

Easy siren.

Lots of water.

Steamy showers helped my spirits and cleared up some congestion.

I feel that prevention through healthy diet is key, I don't mean avoiding certain foods as much as making sure you get real nutrition.

The biggest problem with too much junk food imo is that you sometimes forget all about what kinds of foods build health and don't get any of it.

I think one thing that brought me down not counting being exposed to the virus lol, is cold weather, I didn't properly avoid it and I think it wore down my resistance.

I'm not planning on getting any more colds this year.............

If you've found some things that have worked for you in preventing Colds and ways to ease the recovery , list them here or in your own thread for "singers" that might visit this site.

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5,000 IU Vitamin D every day or two. For prevention.

Regular exercise.

yeah baby.

If you get a cold...avoid drinks with lactose, no yougurts, no eggs (albumin), nothing that will produce flem. Load up with water, get rest and if you are very congested on the day of the gig, drink some salted warm water that will induce vomit, this way you will clear your airways by removing all flem from your system, I know it's gross but it works.

If you have a throat infection, don't sing.

Rod

yeah vomiting is great for your throat..especially when it comes up from the stomach through your windpipe...

This works very well and if the choice is to miss a performance because you are blocked full of flem, or to remove it from your system and be able to perform...your choice...not saying it's great for you, just saying it clears your sinus and allows you to perform.

I do this if I have to, and so do many opera singers as well as Broadway people that have to deliver every night since that's how they make a living...now if you can afford to cancel a gig because you are congested, then do that.

Rod

I'm surprised no one mentioned zinc lozenges. TheraZinc with echinacea has been a lifesaver for me for years. Lead and harmony singing after climbing telephone poles all day in the snow is tough, but TheraZinc with echinacea has never let me down.

Regarding the article, be wary of any kind of citrus juice on performance day. Phlegm abounds from citrus and dairy and, though it's good to clear out the passages, it's disastrous on a gig night, unless you play hard punk and phlegm is part of the show.

Ew. Vomit = lack of phlegm?? Really? I've always found (not to be disgusting here) that throwing up CREATES phlegm if anything...the act of vomiting makes my eyes water and other similar things, and afterwards my throat feels disgusting and NOT clear in the slightest.

I would have to find another career...........

Zinc lozenges sound like something I'll have to try.

I tried citrus a while back for phlegm break up, it didn't work for me, though lots of singers swear by lemmon/water and diff combinations of lemmon.

My phlegm build up (non cold season) was mainly due to the way I was singing.

I read recently to suck on any kind of hard candy, lozenge etc, and to avoid anything 'menthol' , suppossed to be 'drying' .

Let's get disgusting! Flem is liquid fat stored in the bottom of your stomach, when you get a cold it starts traveling up your throat and congests your nasal cavities, hence you feel stuffed with flem. When you throw up from being sick, you are pushing all that bad food in your stomach out via your throat, very bad feeling! When you are incudcing vomit, unless you just had a meal, you are pushing the liquid fat out of your stomach and nothing else...different altogehter, but very much not enjoyable.

This is a last resource if you must perform, not saying it's medicaly the right thing to do, just repsonding to the OP as a way to get through a cold and being able to perform.

Rod

Oh my god, that is so disgusting!! lol I didn't know phlegm was from your stomach...I thought it was just produced naturally by the body in the nose, throat, ears, etc, and when you have a cold or some other irritation that swells the lining of the nasal membranes etc, the mucus is produced more excessively, to cause the common cold or allergy-related problems. Phlegm and mucus and snot etc are all the same thing, just in slightly different consistencies and locations (eg, snot tends to be associated with the nose, phlegm with the chest, and mucus with the throat, but they're all the same!)

I disgust myself sometimes, I really do.

You are awesome!

Rod

Thank you. I know. LOL