Does anyone have any experience with doing the surgery and singing?

I am set on doing the surgery but suddenly I realize - what about my singing? So much of ressonance comes from the "larger chamber" if you will. Also, what about breathing. If my stomach is "squeezed', will it be harder to get a really long and deep and relaxed breath? Good question for life as well as singing.

I have about 50 lbs to lose, for reference. That will set me about 140. I sing semi-professionally but it's vital to me - and as I get older (and a woman), I'm at peak performance age and would hate to lose the opportunity to SING OUT.

I am exactly one week post op and am finally able to take a deep breath, it still hurts slightly but not as much as it did. I also had a suprise diaphragmatic hernia that was fixed during surgery which didn't help the breathing situation I'm sure.

I am a bit concerned about that too, but never thought to ask. I am a cantor and do alot of singing, being overweight does not help either. I often get really hot up their.

Hoping for the best, I am set to get banded in two days.

Good Luck

Ross

I sing too and am an alto. I'm 3 weeks out and have no problem taking a nice deep breath and singing is definitely easier than it was 56 lbs ago! I don't think you'll have a problem at all!

Good luck!

i dont know if this helps but the skinner you get your lungs capacity grows. because it has more room in your chest instead of having all the fat cells around it. that is why the bigger you are the harder it is to breath normally from walking up a flight of stairs. your lungs only actually get like half the oxygen then a normal bmi person gets.

I've been a singer my whole life, this is an interesting question, never would have thought, thanks for asking it!

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I have my band almost 2 years. I am also a singer and do solo work besides singing in a chorus. I have never had a problem with singing with my band. Losing over 100 pounds has improved my stamina, and I have more air now. (I also play French horn.)

The thing to be concerned with is the intubation at time of the op. Tell the anesthesia doc that you sing and would like a smaller tubus. Also tell them to please use care when inserting and removing the tubus. My vocal chords and throat were bruised badly by one in a previous surgery. Let them think you are a semi-professional singer... you'll get better care.

Hope this helped.

I want to thank everyone for their responses about singing with lap-band. At first I was discouraged because I saw about 5 posts where people had trouble because they felt restricted in breathing or they would feel the port. But now I've seen about 3 where people say their singing has improved. With less weight, they've got better breath capacity. Another warned me about intubation and warning doctors not to scrape the trachea during surgery. There may be no absolute answer, but the range of responses has helped alot. Please keep dialoguing with me about this. I haven't got a date yet, but am inspired by what I read.

It is probably too late for this post but I found that singing actually helped after the surgery because I was able to breathe "better" than the average person especially when the breathing therapy lady came in with the little thing you blow into. Right after the surgery I was really upset that my throat hurt and did for almost a week.

I made an effort to breathe more deeply even when it was slightly uncomfortable so I wouldn't lose my capacity and I think it really helps. One thing though, gotta keep hydrated and I am doing a lousy job at that. Hydration is also very very important. I find that I cannot guzzle stuff down.

Last but not least, my confidence as a result of my weight loss is the biggest improvement to my singing that I could ask for. :thumbup:

I've stayed out of the choir for the first 3 weeks following surgery - I will go back next week....my throat was really sore the first 2 weeks, but now it's back to normal. A friend of mine is a music minister at a large church, and losing 130 pounds has definitely changed his voice. It doesn't sound as full as it used to, and he explained to me that everyone who loses large amounts of weight experiences changes in their voice....hope yours is for the better!!!!!