Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2006-04-21 02:58
Well, I have to confess that I too take a drug to allow me to play woodwinds. It's a Japanese product that costs about $2.74 per capsule, isn't carried on many approved drug formularies, and is only affordable to me through my medical insurance.
It causes me no end of trouble when I travel (even when carried in the prescription bottle), when I get my regular physicals for work, and if I try to fill the prescription out of town. All of this is simply because virtually no one knows what it is
It's called Evozac, and I have only encountered one doctor to date who even knew what the stuff is. And, without my two to three capsules per day, my clarinet, bassoon and small saxophone playing days would be over.
It was prescribed following the partial shut-down of my salivary glands, which appears to be secondary to my Type II diabetes. At first, the symptoms that I was showing were consistent with Sjogen's syndrome, a particularly nasty affliction that accompanies a number of different medical conditions. The old HMO was very worried about this, and much medical attention followed.
I was worked up (by a rhematologist, of all people) with all sorts of weird imaging tests (even running into one of my vocalists, who was checking on one of her MRI machine clients while I was shoved into the machine; she was so considerate that she sat in the room, unknown to me, for ten minutes until my imaging session was over), and all checked out negative. She then suggested that Evoxac would be a far better solution than the various spit supplements on the market.
It is, by a long shot. Prior to taking the little white capsules, I could take a drink of water, pop a bassoon reed in my mouth, and maybe play three bars before the seal between my lips would dry out. Clarinet playing was impossible, and even eating and sleeping were both horrid experiences.
After Evoxac, all is well except when I play ice hockey; then the trouble is too much spit. Honestly, it's always something...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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The Clarinet BBoard
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