Harmonica Player's Hemoptylsis
Did anyone happen to catch this wire story earlier this year?
IN BRIEF
Science / Medicine
Harmonica Playing Hits Sour Note
Today's health tip: Don't play the harmonica for six hours ata
stretch.
Doctors at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia,
saythey puzzled over a patient who periodically spit up blood, but
only on Saturdayand Sunday nights. Then they discovered that the
problem started after the man began attending a club each weekend
where he played the harmonica for up to six hours at a time.
The man, they found, favored a technique in which the tongueis
raked back and forth along the harmonica to insure that the proper
note is blown. After hours of doing that, blood vessels in his
tongue were being ruptured, producing the bleeding, they said.
The condition is called "harmonica player's hemoptylsis" in the
current issue of the New England Journalof Medicine.
"Got to play your harp until your lips bleed..." -- Bob Dylan
Ken Ficara ficara@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Compuserve: 71311,1461 / AOL: KENFICARA / Prodigy:(NOT!)
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