3 ms·

Have you ever tried doing copious amounts of beta blockers? I hear they're well for this. Seriously. Symphony orchestras apparently praise them for taking the

by s5300 6y ago

Have you ever tried doing copious amounts of beta blockers? I hear they're well for this. Seriously. Symphony orchestras apparently praise them for taking the extreme anxiety out of performing to massive audiences

Diederich 6y ago
> Have you ever tried doing copious amounts of beta blockers? I hear they're well for this. This seems like some potentially dangerous general advise.
- khazhoux 6y ago
  "Copious" does seem dangerous. But beta blockers do seem like a recognized chemical fix to the fight-or-flight response. I've heard: half a tablet of propanolol an hour before a major performance or presentation, and try it out in advance to make sure no adverse effects. At any rate, it's a prescription drug, so a physician needs to be involved.
khazhoux 6y ago
Not sure why you're being downvoted. I've looked into Propranolol as that seems like an acceptable and safe (mild) solution to fight off the lizard-brain aspects of anxiety. As you say, praised by performers. Anecdotally, I have a friend who gives it a glowing review for helping him accept a major award ("I'd like to thank the Academy").
- s5300 6y ago
  Ehh, I only saw one. I was being completely serious, but the "copious amounts" humor might've been a bit much for some of HN :P Propranolol is just about the safest option out there, is what I had in mind in saying it, and is the go to for just about everybody who is prescribed it for positions (such as being in some sort of performative entertainment) to defeat anxiety. I believe I read the account of a violinist from the New York Philharmonic in which the actual jist was, for them and everybody else they knew in the ensemble prescribed it, "literally makes you give zero fucks about anybody out there and lets you zone in on exactly what you need to focus on" So, if you've never had any heart issues or other health problems, I'd seriously recommend just discussing it with a GP. If they for some reason really give you a hard no - as somebody who's struggled through the shitty medical system that is the U.S. and now receives care from Cedars-Sinai in LA, Stanford, and Cleveland Clinic - fuck that doctor, get a new one. If you do however have any fears of your heart health, just go to a cardiologist and get a standard cardiac workup along with a stress test and such. It's your life, don't let it be hindered by not trying something a simple contextually completely safe substance may be able to instantly fix. I say this as somebody who lost the entirety of their teenage years and is still fighting to have an attempt at recovery into my young 20's from lack of care for a more serious health issue that "I just couldn't have had because I was just so young and it's such a rare condition" Absolute chickenfuckin peabrains some docs are. Sorry if I started to ramble too much haha. Go look into your stuff with a doc, and if you need - I'm aware of quite a few other relatively simple legal (US) drug solutions for such issues of anxiety, having a pretty deep into the field pharmacist brother.
  - khazhoux 6y ago
    > I believe I read the account of a violinist from the New York Philharmonic in which the actual jist was, for them and everybody else they knew in the ensemble prescribed it, "literally makes you give zero fucks about anybody out there and lets you zone in on exactly what you need to focus on" Last Winter I played in a small ensemble after not performing in a band for maybe twenty years (mostly because of stage fright). Here I was: lead trumpet (carrying the entire melody), totally exposed, audience of maybe 60 people. Zero nervousness as I stood on stage looking out at everyone, as we get ready to begin. But about two minutes in, my hands began to shake, my lungs couldn't take in oxygen, I couldn't hold the notes. Nowhere to hide -- I was the solo lead part for the entire performance! If I even stopped playing for one measure to re-collect myself, it sounded ridiculous because I'm the melody and the pieces had no breaks. The embarrassment was severe. The other players didn't look my way as we packed up afterwards, and I barely said a word as I raced for the exit. So the idea of being able to get that under control (a lifelong struggle) -- yeah, potentially life-changing.
vernie 6y ago
Be careful though they can cause a significant drop in blood pressure.
- Diederich 6y ago
  > significant drop in blood pressure Right; that's one of the main reasons they're prescribed, to lower blood pressure.
Balgair 6y ago
I wonder how many divers, pitchers, figure-skaters, or goalies use them then? If they have no other affect on the peripheral nervous system, it seems like they would be useful in high-stress, high-accuracy athletics.
- s5300 6y ago
  The reason I brought it up aside from my longstanding general knowledge of the effects - recently had a stint in which I was in a more expensive part of SoCal for 9 months, became friends with a fairly rich and fancy doctor through an extreme sports hobby and practically lived with him for 6 of those months (he was just at a point in which he was able to get a place for to have a real workshop, I'm a young mechanical engineer and custom fab/machinist - he was fairly lonely and we just hit it off building and enjoying said extreme hobby) I met a fairly large amount of professionals and extreme sports people all in different walks of life being around him - the vast, vast majority (seriously, maybe I was just in a weird place, but nearly all) would regularly use things like beta blockers in their daily lives (prescribed by a doc for these specific reasons) for things like performance anxiety. They also used a lot of other drugs for various tasks throughout their days... Mainly stimulants - but yeah. From my experience, people are quite aware of them, they're indescribably helpful, and in this modern world there's quite literally no reason to not use them if they can be of assistance to you unless you have an identified cardiac/vascular reason that would be dangerous to.

by s5300 6y ago

Diederich 6y ago

> Have you ever tried doing copious amounts of beta blockers? I hear they're well for this. This seems like some potentially dangerous general advise.

khazhoux 6y ago
"Copious" does seem dangerous. But beta blockers do seem like a recognized chemical fix to the fight-or-flight response. I've heard: half a tablet of propanolol an hour before a major performance or presentation, and try it out in advance to make sure no adverse effects. At any rate, it's a prescription drug, so a physician needs to be involved.

khazhoux 6y ago

Not sure why you're being downvoted. I've looked into Propranolol as that seems like an acceptable and safe (mild) solution to fight off the lizard-brain aspects of anxiety. As you say, praised by performers. Anecdotally, I have a friend who gives it a glowing review for helping him accept a major award ("I'd like to thank the Academy").

s5300 6y ago
Ehh, I only saw one. I was being completely serious, but the "copious amounts" humor might've been a bit much for some of HN :P Propranolol is just about the safest option out there, is what I had in mind in saying it, and is the go to for just about everybody who is prescribed it for positions (such as being in some sort of performative entertainment) to defeat anxiety. I believe I read the account of a violinist from the New York Philharmonic in which the actual jist was, for them and everybody else they knew in the ensemble prescribed it, "literally makes you give zero fucks about anybody out there and lets you zone in on exactly what you need to focus on" So, if you've never had any heart issues or other health problems, I'd seriously recommend just discussing it with a GP. If they for some reason really give you a hard no - as somebody who's struggled through the shitty medical system that is the U.S. and now receives care from Cedars-Sinai in LA, Stanford, and Cleveland Clinic - fuck that doctor, get a new one. If you do however have any fears of your heart health, just go to a cardiologist and get a standard cardiac workup along with a stress test and such. It's your life, don't let it be hindered by not trying something a simple contextually completely safe substance may be able to instantly fix. I say this as somebody who lost the entirety of their teenage years and is still fighting to have an attempt at recovery into my young 20's from lack of care for a more serious health issue that "I just couldn't have had because I was just so young and it's such a rare condition" Absolute chickenfuckin peabrains some docs are. Sorry if I started to ramble too much haha. Go look into your stuff with a doc, and if you need - I'm aware of quite a few other relatively simple legal (US) drug solutions for such issues of anxiety, having a pretty deep into the field pharmacist brother.
- khazhoux 6y ago
  > I believe I read the account of a violinist from the New York Philharmonic in which the actual jist was, for them and everybody else they knew in the ensemble prescribed it, "literally makes you give zero fucks about anybody out there and lets you zone in on exactly what you need to focus on" Last Winter I played in a small ensemble after not performing in a band for maybe twenty years (mostly because of stage fright). Here I was: lead trumpet (carrying the entire melody), totally exposed, audience of maybe 60 people. Zero nervousness as I stood on stage looking out at everyone, as we get ready to begin. But about two minutes in, my hands began to shake, my lungs couldn't take in oxygen, I couldn't hold the notes. Nowhere to hide -- I was the solo lead part for the entire performance! If I even stopped playing for one measure to re-collect myself, it sounded ridiculous because I'm the melody and the pieces had no breaks. The embarrassment was severe. The other players didn't look my way as we packed up afterwards, and I barely said a word as I raced for the exit. So the idea of being able to get that under control (a lifelong struggle) -- yeah, potentially life-changing.

vernie 6y ago

Be careful though they can cause a significant drop in blood pressure.

Diederich 6y ago
> significant drop in blood pressure Right; that's one of the main reasons they're prescribed, to lower blood pressure.

Balgair 6y ago

I wonder how many divers, pitchers, figure-skaters, or goalies use them then? If they have no other affect on the peripheral nervous system, it seems like they would be useful in high-stress, high-accuracy athletics.

s5300 6y ago
The reason I brought it up aside from my longstanding general knowledge of the effects - recently had a stint in which I was in a more expensive part of SoCal for 9 months, became friends with a fairly rich and fancy doctor through an extreme sports hobby and practically lived with him for 6 of those months (he was just at a point in which he was able to get a place for to have a real workshop, I'm a young mechanical engineer and custom fab/machinist - he was fairly lonely and we just hit it off building and enjoying said extreme hobby) I met a fairly large amount of professionals and extreme sports people all in different walks of life being around him - the vast, vast majority (seriously, maybe I was just in a weird place, but nearly all) would regularly use things like beta blockers in their daily lives (prescribed by a doc for these specific reasons) for things like performance anxiety. They also used a lot of other drugs for various tasks throughout their days... Mainly stimulants - but yeah. From my experience, people are quite aware of them, they're indescribably helpful, and in this modern world there's quite literally no reason to not use them if they can be of assistance to you unless you have an identified cardiac/vascular reason that would be dangerous to.