It might be due to allergens -- milk allergies are among the three or four most common food allergies, I believe.
New definition: milk glops up (produces glop, obviously indirectly, by causing extra mucous production after consumption) the voice (cords, lower throat, back of tongue, etc). My repertoire of remedies are below.
> that humans have lived on the thousands of years > and helped us be strong and healthy and conquer > the world etc,
Actually, humans first showed up 2 million years ago. "Modern" humans (behaviorally and physically) appeared 140,000 years ago. Dairy appeared in the human diet 10,000 years ago. Not necessary, from a physiological standpoint.
Perhaps necessary psychologically. I've certainly been known to succumb to the cheesecake monster once in a while. I have found that humibid (by perscription if you have an ENT, or available in plain old expectorant Robitussen at the store) helps a *lot* in rendering post-dairy cords singable.
It thins the mucous and makes it less viscous, which is why it is perscribed both for allergies (food and enviornmental, which can lead to thick, gloppy mucous production) and also infertility (becuase, I assume, thin, fluid mucous is a better enviornment for sperm).
The age-old milk-glop remedy of hot water with lemon seems to work fairly well for me, although I'm not sure why (perhaps inhaling the acidic steam onto the cords helps clear them?). Sucking on lemons is NOT recommended, as it is terrible for your teeth. I have to be careful not to take in too much lemon, which can dry out and irritate my voice somewhat. I'd rather sing over-mucousy than over-dry any day -- dry leads to cracking and loss of high notes; too much glop is usually something I can "sing" off, with an extra-long series of warmups. It takes me maybe 90 minutes (broken into 20- or 30-minute chunks) to sing normal glop off of my cords and be normal again.
Plain old steam inhalation (hang your towel-draped head over a pot of recently-boiled-now-off-the-heat water) has also been remarkably effective in ridding myself of the ice cream glop.
If you must clear your throat, do it with a short cough, cushioned with lots of air -- a big blast of exhalation with a tiny cough at the beginning. The more common "clearing" is like rubbing sandpaper into your throat (in my experience), while the light cough can often expel the offending glob of mucous without quite as much irritation.
Drinking hot, hot water also seems helpful (perhaps a combination of inhaled steam and superhydration). If you do take humibid, make sure to take it with tons of water for maximum effectiveness. In all of my experimenting, I have found humibid, followed by long and gentle singing, to be the most effective remedy to the occasional attack of cheesecake.
Isabelle B.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y...
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