Musicians with Dystonia Bulletin Board

I'm a French horn player with embouchure dystonia. At my worst in March and April of this year, my lips wobbled, tongue froze up and my head bobbled uncontrollably when I played my horn. I've nearly got it licked now, but I still have to be very careful, gentle and patient to keep the gremlins away.

Although I call it embouchure dystonia, my lips (and tongue)only move to compensate for the real problem, spasm like movements in my neck muscles when I'm tense. When I manage to be calm and fully relax my neck muscles, my symptoms vanish and I can play with a steady tone.

I also sing, not as much as I used to, mostly in a small church choir now. When I was in the "thick" of my embouchure dystonia problems, my voice was rough & scratchy, my throat was sore and I had these random incidents when my throat would involuntarily close while I sang. Now that I've gotten my "embouchure" problem mostly under control, my voice is better and I haven't had any closing off of the throat incidents for quite a while.

I also had other movements when I was at my worse, my right shoulder & arm jerked forward, once nearly pushing my horn off my lap. I also had random twitchy jerks here & there in my upper body. And my lips trembled when I drank from a cup. Most of these things are gone or greatly diminished as well.

I hope this helps. You can read my back postings to learn more of what I've done to progress to where I am now. I think I joined in about April, so you can start there for a search.