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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby Piter Lauchy » Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:51 pm

I've been having pain in my left jaw for quite some time now, right underneath where the bone slopes upwards towards the ear. Some days it's not there, some days I can barely eat. In addition to this, my left ear gets hot inside when I eat for the past few days. And I just sneezed and pain exploded in my ear.

Any idea what this could be?
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby Marcuse » Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:38 pm

Piter Lauchy wrote:I've been having pain in my left jaw for quite some time now, right underneath where the bone slopes upwards towards the ear. Some days it's not there, some days I can barely eat. In addition to this, my left ear gets hot inside when I eat for the past few days. And I just sneezed and pain exploded in my ear.

Any idea what this could be?


You got an ear infection. The other option is that you have a TMJ dysfunction and would benefit from seeing a dentist. I would suspect it'd be quicker and probably cheaper to check it out with a GP first then if they say it's not an ear infection consult a dentist.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby Piter Lauchy » Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:44 pm

An ear infection that started in the jaw? Is that a thing?
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby Marcuse » Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:47 pm

It's often common for pain from an ear infection to be referred to the jaw, and vice versa, such that it's hard to tell what's causing the problem until someone assesses it professionally.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby sunglasses » Sun Jun 18, 2017 9:26 pm

Piter Lauchy wrote:An ear infection that started in the jaw? Is that a thing?

Marc is right about referred pain.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby Tesseracts » Wed Jun 21, 2017 5:19 pm

Does anyone know anything about hearing loss? Should I be concerned about losing my hearing from playing an instrument?

I'm playing ocarina and it causes ringing in my ears. I never had this issue when I played harmonica or trombone. It's probably because the ocarina is loud and high pitched. I'm going to try wearing etymotic earplugs, and there is a product I can buy which will make the ocarina quieter.

Apparently this is a big problem for musicians. Acoustic instruments are louder than they have ever been in history.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby Kivutar » Wed Jun 21, 2017 6:44 pm

Can you settle the following debate between me and my workout buddies:

Does massaging sore muscles more aggressively cause them to get un-sore more quickly than a less aggressive massage, or no?
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby ghijkmnop » Wed Jun 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Redacted
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Last edited by ghijkmnop on Thu Mar 14, 2019 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby D-LOGAN » Thu Jun 22, 2017 12:19 am

ghijkmnop wrote:Is it possible that you are simply blowing too hard?


Giggity.
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Not just yet, I'm still tender from before.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby Tesseracts » Thu Jun 22, 2017 6:14 am

ghijkmnop wrote:
Tesseracts wrote:Does anyone know anything about hearing loss? Should I be concerned about losing my hearing from playing an instrument?

I'm playing ocarina and it causes ringing in my ears. I never had this issue when I played harmonica or trombone. It's probably because the ocarina is loud and high pitched. I'm going to try wearing etymotic earplugs, and there is a product I can buy which will make the ocarina quieter.

Apparently this is a big problem for musicians. Acoustic instruments are louder than they have ever been in history.


It's not so much that the instruments are louder (my 50-year-old Yamaha acoustic guitar is noticeably louder than my Taylor 814)-- it's that the ensembles are getting larger--as recent as 20 years ago, orchestras were typically 60-70 musicians--now they top out at over 100. The sheer number of sound generators increases the sound pressure level (SPL) in the environment. This environment was built to amplify sound for an audience--it's like sitting inside a speaker. Additionally, the rehearsals are getting longer, and the conductors are under pressure to throw the biggest, most bombastic performances. Of course, the conductors are passing that pressure to the musicians.

Why aren't the musicians wearing ear protection? Speaking as a musician, I can honestly say that it's really tough to play with earplugs. It's tough to get a sense of dynamics when you can't hear what's around you. What musicians use now are in-ear monitors, where they can hear everything clearly, but they also block a lot of the on-stage SPL. An electric band uses amplification and a mixer to control the stage sound-- at least they try, but there's always some asshole in the band that says "unless I can feel my clothes billowing, I'm not doing it right," but in an acoustic environment, the conductor is the mixer, and you can't feed 100 sets of in-ear monitors from a human, which leaves the musicians vulnerable to the SPL on the stage.

And that doesn't even cover the frequency differences. The pitch of the ocarina (or piccolo, or referee whistle) can be high enough to trigger temporary tinnitus. The key is to take breaks and/or wear ear protection.

As far as muting an ocarina, I don't think there is a standard device to do it (but you can make something out of paper to partially plug the fipple)-- but consider what's powering it in the first place. That's where you have control. You've played trombone and harmonica, so you know you need to modulate your breath to achieve dynamics. Is it possible that you are simply blowing too hard?

I don't think I'm blowing too hard. With most ocarinas you have to increase the breath pressure to hit the high notes, because the high notes have less holes covered, so more air escapes the instrument. I'm trying to play a 12 hole, and 12 is the maximum amount of holes you can put on an ocarina, so you need a lot of pressure. I've been playing with a tuner and I there is a significant breath curve to get the right pitch.

Here is a video demonstrating what I just said. Skip to 1:52 to hear the instrument.


Skip to 42 seconds for another example on a 12 hole similar to the one I'm playing. The low notes are much quieter than the high ones. The difference is so extreme that the low A can barely be heard, which is why a lot of manufacturers use less than 12 holes.


This isn't an issue with the harmonica because the harmonica can play the same pitch either soft or loud. It tends to be a quiet instrument, which I used to dislike, but now I'm grateful for it.

I used this website to measure the loudness of my ocarina. According to this a low A is 22 decibels, while a high C is 97. There are notes even higher than that also. Meanwhile my C harmonica is around 10 decibels normally, and up to 60 if I try really hard to make it loud.

I tried playing with Hearos earplugs today. I still got ringing. Although, that may be ringing left over from this morning, it's hard to tell. I might buy some Decibullz, which block out a lot more noise and see how that works.

There is a product specifically for muting the ocarina, called Mr. Mute, which I will probably buy.


If I ever play in front of an audience I probably won't want earplugs, but hopefully they will help just for playing indoors.

I'm also concerned I might just be more sensitive than most people. I played the ocarina briefly just now to see exactly how loud it is, and it caused my ears to ring. A few seconds of exposure probably shouldn't do that.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby IamNotCreepy » Sat Jun 24, 2017 11:25 pm

So I am having pain on the left side of my chest just below my nipple. It's not my heart that is having pain, but more like my stomach/esophagus.

It really hurts when I bend over or twist my upper body. The position I'm sitting or lying in makes a big difference. It also hurts when I take deep breaths, and it feels like my insides are squished. Earlier, I hiccuped once and it was extremely painful.

After googling the symptoms, I think I have a hiatal hernia. But the symptoms are similar to GERD, and those two conditions are related.

How would I tell the difference between them?

It doesn't feel so much like there's acid reflux, and the pain when I twist my body makes me think it's the hernia.

I had this same situation about a month ago, but it went away on its own.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby sunglasses » Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:48 am

You can tell the difference by going to the doctor and having tests done.

Srsly, that's about the only way.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby IamNotCreepy » Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:03 pm

So ... I think I have tonsillitis or a peritonsillar abscess, or both.

Spoilered for squickness:

Spoiler: show
It started with a sore throat and a cough last week. Then on Saturday, I did some drinking. A lot of times, this causes me to snore. When I snore really badly, the back of my throat gets torn up and swollen.

It was painful, and I was having difficulty swallowing. The weirdest thing was that it looked like my uvula was fused to the side of my tonsil. I did some googling, and apparently that can be a peritonsillar abscess. I'm pretty sure I had a fever, too.

The good news is that since then, the rawness in the back of my throat has subsided (that was more a product of the snoring than anything) but it's still a little sore and I still have a persistent cough (this morning I was coughing up some extremely thick greenish yellow slime).

The thing that currently worries me is that one of my tonsils (on the same side the uvula was stuck to) is swollen and very tender.

Due to my untreated sleep apnea, I frequently snore, and due to this I get tonsil stones all the time. Normally I can just squeeze the tonsils a little and they pop right out. Once before, I had it where my tonsil was swollen like this and I squeezed really hard, and a giant pus- and blood-covered tonsil stone came out. It was seriously one of the grossest things I've ever seen.

It feels kind of like that, but it doesn't seem to want to pop, and I can't squeeze too hard because it's very tender.


Things seem to be getting better, so I am trying to avoid going to the doctor if possible. Is this something that could possibly go away on its own?
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby sunglasses » Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:29 pm

I'm gonna be honest with you.

I know dick about tonsils as they gross me out ( I don't have them).

BUT if you're feeling better and you don't have a fever then I wouldn't be concerned.
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Re: Ask a nurse

Postby Tesseracts » Sun Jul 09, 2017 6:51 pm

Sometimes after walking a lot I get dull pain in one particular spot on my foot. The pain coincides with a big bump in my vein. I don't always get the pain. I don't have it right now even though my feet are sore from walking.

Should I see a doctor?
foot
IMG_6920.JPG
IMG_6920.JPG (1.37 MiB) Viewed 6633 times
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