Disability and music

[jazzalta]

I'm curious to know if there are any other folks out there playing guitar that suffer from any disability or impairment that keep them from working full time. Do you find playing theraputic? I have multiple sclerosis and manage to somehow play both guitar and keyboard. Fatigue keeps me from full employment though.

[kawe]

Hi Ja!
What are the symptoms of this disease?

[jazzalta]

Hi Kawe. They are many and varied, but basically anywhere a nerve runs it can be affected. The common ones are spasticity, numbness, visual impairment, bowel and bladder control, and fatigue. I suffer primarily from fatigue, sensory numbness and cognitive difficulties. When I get the fatigue, imagine playing the guitar and having two strings running down from your wrist to 10 pound weights dangling off the floor. That's what it feels like.

[kawe]

When and how did first notice this disease? What can you do against it? Is there any medicine or physical training?

[Professor1]

I do not have as serious a problem as jazzalta does. But I do have tendonitis or carpal tunnel or something wrong with my left wrist. It is particularly aggravated by piano practice, but also by long hours of practice or overuse. My wrist snaps, crackles and pops. It can be very painful at times. I've taken to wearing my watch on my right hand for several years now. It will need an operation, but I've been putting it off.

[jazzalta]

Thanks for your interest Kawe. I noticed this disease first in my vision (optic neuritis) in 1986. The next exacerbation was in 1987, with major leg numbing. I was diagnosed in 1991 after an MRI and numerous tests confirmed it. I take daily injections of an immune modifying drug. There is no cure or known cause for MS, only treatment.

[kawe]

Thank you for all those informations.

All the best, JA!
kawe

[epi]

Hi JA,

I think I can understand some of your health difficulties. In 2001 I suffered 2 strokes that affected my left side. Fatigue is an ongoing problem; like you I have the feeling of 20 lb. weights on each leg. I have difficulty remembering certain things and had to retrain my fingers for chord soloing...as sometimes they work, other times not. Where I once used all my fingers now i'm up to two that I can rely on.

I had quit playing in '94 and rarely picked my Guitar up except to teach. After the ist stroke I immediately went back to Guitar.....it was like starting over....I struggled for over a week to play a 1st position E MAj chord and several weeks before I could analyze it.

The pace really picked up until the 2nd and worse stroke 7 weeks later. I went back to it again and it was 6 mos. before I could play a rudimentary Chord Solo. The Guitar was my salvation (so to speak), in that all the years of playing were in the brain somewhere and the Guitar was bringing it to the surface. The Guitar is a remarkable instrument!

[mahayana]

I was just wondering if anyone has opinions about health and diet, preventative things, exercise, whatever?

I do yoga stretching every day, eat mostly vegetarian, take megadoses of vitamin C if I start to feel run-down. I'm not a nut about it, but I do eat certain foods for their purported health benefits.