I play my low D quite a bit, and about 5 weeks ago I developed a heavy cough - no other symptoms. ENT MD. can’t find any problem - chest x-ray is clear - cough is less now but can’t take a deep breath without coughing. I’m not looking for a diagnosis, but rather wondering if any other whistle players have experienced similiar problem. Wondering if I have just been overdoing it, or are we vulnerable to aggravating our respiratory system ?
I doubt whistling is related, but I’ll let the more experienced whistlers chime in.
I developed a nasty, constant (and I mean CONSTANT) cough about 2 years ago. I went to the doctor, they said I was fine. The cough didn’t go away for a YEAR. No exaggeration. At its worst I was coughing so much that people at work were constantly annoyed by it, and I rarely slept for more than an hour at a time before it woke me up. I feel like I aged 5 years in the time I was going through it. I seriously thought I was going to suffocate in my sleep, it was ridiculous. Doctors couldn’t find anything wrong, there was no change to my daily routines, and my health insurance is so crappy that I didn’t pursue it very aggressively and seek a specialist. I still don’t know what the problem was.
It finally started to lessen slightly after maybe 10 months, but it was still bothersome for a good 15 months or so. I cut gluten out of my diet and it helped quite a bit with cutting down the congestion, so I am guessing I may have some level of gluten intolerance.
I also find a neti pot helps tremendously for those annoying coughs caused by nasal congestion.
So yeah, I don’t have any answers, but you have my sympathies, chronic coughs are annoying. I would suspect that whistling would help keep your lungs strong though, so I’d keep at it.
I agree that playing a low whistle should be good for the lungs but to assist my breathing, since I’m 57 and generally unfit, I use a device called Ultrabreathe for building up inhaling and exhaling muscles. Having said that much, I know a friend on the forum had lung problems after playing a low whistle he’d just bought which wasn’t very clean inside and we put it down to bacteria or some such-like developing in the whistle. You don’t say what low whistle you play but dampness in the instrument is a fact of life. I would also just ask you how you clear clogging, if ever you experience it, by blowing hard down the fipple or by sucking hard!
It would just make sense to keep whistles clean. Remember this is not a biology project. I clean my whistles fairly often after playing, always when letting someone try a whistle, and always befor tryng a new or used whistle (never know who took it for a test ride before you). Bacteria can grow in strange places under ideal conditions and the projection of saliva into a whistle however slight is a source of contamination. And I would think that even if you are the sole player of a whistle, you can still set up potential conditions of bacterial growth that might still prove harmful.
Any microbiologists out there that want to weigh in?
Cayden
I’ve read here of serious infections from instruments not well cleaned;
https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/what-can-happen-if-you-do-not-clean-a-wind-instrument/72584/1
It seems my input was unwelcome, so I have retracted it.
Okay, folks. Here’s where we trot out the CCCP yet again. Please read section 10, titled “Medical advice”.
Retired, just because your lungs looked fine, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a different physiological problem other than the lungs themselves contributing to the cough. You need another look-see from another angle. The only proper medical advice for you here is for you to go and consult a doctor again for a more comprehensive search for the problem. Of course clean your whistle just in case, but don’t engage in speculation, and especially not here.
Also be very, very careful, people, when you say things like “I don’t see how whistles could be anything but beneficial.” I share the opinion that playing would probably be beneficially therapeutic to weak lungs, but at the end of the day, that’s all it is: an opinion. Common sense does not trump medical science. None of us - no one - knows for a certainty what all the factors are in retired’s case, including retired hmself.
The short version: Neither solicit medical diagnosis on C&F, nor offer it. We include speculation in this. If they absolutely must, medically trained personnel should contact concerned parties via PM or email only.
Thank you.
In my original post I stated " I’m not looking for a diagnosis, but rather wondering if any other whistle players have experienced similiar problem."
I know that certain behaviors lead to certain outcomes, such as , some avid guitar players eventually develop arthritis in their hands, some waitresses develop Carpel tunnel syndrome from carring trays of food etc. So, I’m wondering if playing the whistle, or other wind instruments carry a risk - again wondering out loud - not looking for a diagnosis. Thanks.
To be honest, I have never heard of such a thing, much less as medically proven. The only two rational possibilities I can think of are 1) whistle mold, in which case the condition is either temporary or has unfortunately become chronic, or 2) an already-existing condition independent of, but possibly symptomatically exacerbated by, whistleplaying. To repeat, I don’t recall ever hearing about whistles as causative, but in any case the courses of action are plain enough.
A third possibility comes to mind, and that would be sensitivity to the outgassing of plastics or adhesives.
Speculation has its uses only insofar as it might help narrow diagnosis by medical professionals.
I have twice experienced VERY serious breathing/lung problems which lasted for a protracted period of time. Both instances were directly related to playing wooden flutes that had grown some amount of mold in them. Problems remained when playing these instruments even after multiple efforts to remove/kill the mold were made. I believe that answer satisfies the the rules of the forum and I can’t say much else beyond that due to said rules.
Loren
Thanks for that, Loren. As I said, I’d never heard of it before, but I thought that it was entirely possible. Now we know. 
Happy to help as it’s no laughing matter and certainly anyone suffering symptoms should seek qualified medical assessment. I know I’ve mentioned my experience once or twice on the flute forums, as did one other long time member, so I know my case was not isolated. Seems less likely with whistles, since you aren’t getting direct blowback from an embouchure hole like you do on a flute, but I imagine it’s still possible.
Loren