Musicians with Dystonia Bulletin Board

I've consulted with several "experts" and "non-experts" and am doing my best to follow ALL the advice I've been given. (1) I got a healing blessing from the elders in my church and have my name on a prayer role. (2) I'm learning to approach my horn from a new perspective focusing on relaxing & producing as beautiful and steady a tone as possible. (3) I've cut WAY back on my practice time and mostly play slow & gentle stuff. (4) I'm putting NO time limits on my recovery. (5) I'm learning to breathe more deeply & trying to take a singing approach to horn playing. (6) I've added some dietary supplements that are known for their positive effects on neurological ailments (vitamins B12, B6, alpha lipoid acid). (7) I'm receiving alphabiotic alignments (administered by a local chiropractor). Oh, and (8), I'm NOT giving up.

In the first week after I began the above regimen, I felt extremely blessed when I was able to play just a few steady tones. On most days, after a 15 minute gentle warm up, the amount of time I've been able to play a nice almost steady tone has gradually increased to about 40 minutes (give or take). This is usually accomplished using the full force of my attention to relax my body & focus on my tone. I'm very pleased and grateful to have made this much progress.

I have recently observed some rather noteworthy events regarding the alphabiotic alignments (ABa) that I believe merit sharing with others.

My general routine is on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I have an ABa in the morning then play my horn later in the evening (8 or 10 hours later). A couple weeks ago I began noticing that on days I have ABa, I have generally less difficulty sustaining a steady tone. This past Friday (the end of my third week of ABa), I departed from my normal routine and had my ABa at noon, then played my horn at 4 PM rather than later in the evening. When I placed the horn to my lips, a perfectly smooth, steady tone came out effortlessly. I was stunned and continued for another 20 minutes like this. There was no waver in the tone and I didn't even feel the quiver in my lips, and no clams. I felt perfectly "normal" mentally & physically as in my pre-dystonia days. I got so excited, I put my horn down, rushed to my PC and shot off an email to the friend who had recommended ABa to me in the first place.

An hour later, my heart still racing with excitement, I picked up my horn and ... well, I was back to my usual dystonia fighting mode. I was able to continue playing for another 40 minutes with an almost smooth tone, only when & if I maintained total concentration. (And I'm not complaining!) I went through the weekend in like manner with my usual over-the-weekend deterioration in my ability to play well. But, I decided to experiment with the timing of the ABa and my playing again. This morning(Monday), I had my ABa at 11 AM. I came straight home, picked up my horn and ... I was able to play almost as well and effortlessly as Friday afternoon. I maintained that level of playing for about 40 minutes. Whoo hoo!

I don't know if this is just a coincidence or if the ABa's are working their magic. I guess time will tell.

The person who recommended ABa claims that dystonia is caused by an unbalanced polarity between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. He says that ABa actually balances the polarity between the brain hemispheres giving it a chance to rewire itself. Nice theory, I certainly I hope it works!

Anyway, I thought I would share this and also ask if any of you have tried ABa for your dystonia.