Embouchure and Drugs

[CharlieB]

Posting this here since we lost the old TTF "The Healthy Trombonist."
Medical question for old guys. The ladies can skip this one.
Some data indicate that certain medications particular to the male anatomy, or to a heart problem, can have adverse effects on the embouchure. Supposedly, these med's are essentially muscle relaxants that relax the embouchure muscles in addition to the target areas, making playing more difficult. Is this information accurate or bogus?

[Corey]

Said medication relaxes muscle in very particular blood vessels in the body, but not the vast majority of them. I think it's unknown territory, and severity of effects may very substantially from person to person anyway. Give it a try and see what happens. The effects, whatever they are, are reversible. But if they last longer than 4 hours, see a doctor.

[ghmerrill]

Some data indicate ...

What data?

[PaulT]

If it works, who cares?

[Gary]

Is that why my face droops so much?

[harrisonreed]

ヤイックス

[StephenK]

Is it listed as a side effect in the advisory note packed with the drugs?

[brtnats]

I’m assuming you’re trying to play trombone and “play trombone” at the same time...

[CharlieB]

The intent of this thread was to bring attention to a potential problem to some who might benefit from the information. Understandably, those people were not expected to reply on such a personal issue. (I'm sure that the crass replies received are being ignored by mature readers.) Due to modesty, we may never know if any of the hundreds of readers of the post will ever benefit from the information, but they have all been given an awareness of a potential issue that some may decide to investigate.

[ghmerrill]

The intent of this thread was to bring attention to a potential problem to some who might benefit from the information.

But what exactly is the information?

The drugs apparently being referenced act primarily as (powerful) vasodilators and were originally pursued as treatments for hypertension. This is the reason you need to be careful taking them if you're on other hypertension medication and you really need your doctor's approval. The danger is that you can induce severe hypotension which can be quite dangerous.

I can't find any literature (clinical reports or epidemiological studies or even anecdotal reports in the literature) that the embouchure or lip muscles are affected by vasodilators in any noticeable way. (There seem to be a peculiar number of papers on "reflex vasodilation in cat lips", but I can't imagine what that's all about and haven't read the papers. It appears not to involve vasodilating drugs, but something about cat dentistry.) So although my search for a connection hasn't been exactly exhaustive, it seems that any relation between these drugs and affects on the embouchure is, let's say, "highly speculative".

[Eyedoc]

Another caution to add. There have been reported cases of ischemic optic neuropathy (essentially a stroke to all or part of the optic nerve) that seem to be associated with using sildenafil. In some cases, onset of vision loss was 30 minutes to 2 hours after ingesting which is consistent with the medication’s action. In each case, the person’s optic nerves have been small or described as crowded. The numbers are not large enough to prove cause and effect but enough to cause the ophthalmologist authors to recommend against use if you have had an episode in one eye.

[ghmerrill]

Another good reason to be seeing an ophthalmologist in advanced age. I have the highest respect for opthalmologists as clinicians and scientists.