whoa. neet article on Beta Blockers

http://www.ethanwiner.com/BetaBlox.html

How crazy is this? Id like to see a review of studio musicians.

Will

Can I vote for, "I hadn't even heard of them until now?"

Crap. Now I'm anxious about the fact that I didn't know they existed!

I've never heard of musicians using beta blockers. The stresses and tensions of the orchestra world are much different from the pop/rock/jazz/blues world, though. I can see that in my wife, who's a violinist. In many ways the competition is much more unpleasant. I can see how it could be tempting, but it would be a much better idea to use the Alexander technique or some sort of relaxation technique like yoga or meditation. I wonder if anyone has ever tested the placebo effect of beta-blockers on musicians.

I've been taking beta-blockers for over a quarter century.

In the 1970s I began experiencing terrible migraines, bad enough that eventually I would have to take something like Demerol for relief. That's, as they say, bad shit, and after a while I was getting to the point of having a killer headache every 10-14 days. At that rate, I'd be a junkie pretty soon.

My doctor, a cardiologist, told me about a new class of drugs, beta blockers, that were used for high blood pressure, and it had been serendipitously discovered that they also could prevent migraines. He put me on Inderal (propranolol); I was one of the first patients in the country to take it. Over a period of a couple of months, the migraines became less common, then vanished. So far as I could tell, the propranolol had no side effects at all.

About three years ago, I began having very alarming heart symptoms -- pounding, tachycardia, irregular heartbeat, etc.. My regular cardiologist told me I definitely needed open heart surgery (a valve job). Being a kid from a medical family, I immediately sought out a second opinion; my dad found me one of the best cardiologists in the country. His diagnosis was different, and the condition he diagnosed was treatable with strong beta blockers. He switched me to Toprol (metoprolol). It worked; the heart stuff, while gone, is no longer horribly annoying or scary.

Here's the kicker: it is not good for musical performance, at least not for me. Beta blockers cause you to get, well, slower is the best word I can come up with. They make me a little less on-the-ball. I call them my Stupid pills. Any improvement in clammy hands, etc., the beta blocker may bring is overshadowed by the step-down in mental acuity. Simply put, I hit more wrong notes under the influence of the blocker, and I learned the hard way not to take one an hour before a gig. If I take one at 11 am, though, it's calmed down enough that I can teach by 4:00 pm, or play a gig by 7:00 pm, particularly when I drink some coffee.

So that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Peace,
Paul

I'm glad they worked for you, Paul. They don't seem to be an answer to performance anxiety. Orchestral musicians and soloists in particular seem almost like athletes in their competitiveness. It's not surprising that some look for what they believe to be performance-enhancers.

Paul, you might try adding (cautiously) the supplement Acetyl L Carnitine. By itself I find it is the closest thing to a "smart" pill I've yet encountered, with no apparent side effects.

I'll check it out. A quick look brought up a "PDRHealth" page with useful information, although they abbreviate "Nutritional Supplement Drugs" as "nutsupdrugs", an unfortunate term.

Peace,
Paul

[quote author="pstamler"]I'll check it out. A quick look brought up a "PDRHealth" page with useful information, although they abbreviate "Nutritional Supplement Drugs" as "nutsupdrugs", an unfortunate term.

Peace,
Paul[/quote]

Sounds like they are marching to Big Pharma with that implicative term!

EDIT spelling

I've used Inderal in the past for performance anxiety and while not a miracle drug, it does take a little bit of the edge off the nerves. Inderal is probably the mildest of BBs. I tried one of the stronger BBs once that my mom was taking for heart problems - forgot the name of it (this was 20 years ago), and it made me sluggish like Paul described, and even slurred my speech. I'd stick to Inderal or some other mild BB for performance anxiety.

whatever happened to a nice stiff drink before hitting the stage?

[quote author="solder_city"]whatever happened to a nice stiff drink before hitting the stage?[/quote]

My experience is that people who need a stiff drink to play rarely stop at one.

Does the stupidness and slowness go away if you don't take them anymore?
I've been taking Inderal (Propranolol) for 7 years or so, and the last year I've really noticed I've gotten very slow, stupid almost.
I've always considered myself to be a pretty smart person, but not anymore, and thats killing me