u/DaSalmonSam

I’m a senior in high school and have played on the same trombone since fourth grade. It’s a great horn and I love the sound, but naturally it’s gotten a bit scraped up. The places where my fingers go have lost their shine pretty much completely and are brownish as opposed to the yellow of the rest of the bone. I don’t mind it much but I don’t know if that changes what I’m allowed to do to the trombone for cleaning.

The embarrassing part is that I think I’ve only ever fully cleaned my trombone once. I run one of those wire snakes with the bristles through it a few times a year but there’s probably been some years when I haven’t even done that. About two years ago I gave it a bath in room temperature water and a little dish soap, and ran the snake through each part twice (it didn’t look as bad as I thought 6 years of buildup would) then laid it out to dry. Looking back I’m not sure if I was thorough enough, and I don’t think I cleaned the inside of the outer slide because I was worried about it scratching the inner slide or something? It doesn’t make any sense now that I type it out.

When I look down the slide I can actually see the buildup on the sides… it’s not a ton but I’m sure it’s not good for the horn regardless. I never play right after eating (got yelled at for doing it once in 6th grade and it scared me enough that I’ve always rinsed my mouth with water before playing and never eat within an hour before) and also don’t drink anything but water.

All this is to say, I think I need to put some real heavy effort into cleaning my trombone, but I’m not sure if soap and the snake is the proper way to do it for this level of buildup? And in the future how often should I do a deep cleaning and/or a light cleaning (if that’s a thing)? I think my trombone is a YSL-354. Thank you :)!

I’ve had pretty bad chronic pain for most of my life but have just been told to suck it up. So I’ve ignored the warning signs and overworked myself. But it’s finally catching up to me now, and I’ve kind of hit a wall where I can’t function consistently every day. I have some family that help me get through the day, but I’m tired of not having answers. I thought I found a diagnosis that fit my symptoms perfectly, but I was denied a referral by my gp because my pain wasn’t “serious enough”. I’m tired of being told to man up. Pushing through pain isn’t applicable when every day is pain and pushing through makes it worse. Even if I got a referral, I fail the diagnostic criteria by a few points. Even with a diagnosis there’s not much I can do. I’m just tired of feeling like my body is punishing me, and I wish you were here to fight for me. I don’t want to have to be strong anymore, I don’t want to have to ignore my pain to be a man. I feel like I’m going to be in pain forever, and that no one will take me seriously. I had plans to go to college and get a job and live my life, but I feel so weak for not having the energy or strength for it in my current state. I wish you could tell me I don’t have to power through anymore. That it’s okay to need help and answers and supports, and that it doesn’t make me any less of a man. Or any less of your son.

I’ve had a latex allergy for a lot of my life, it’s nothing too severe though. If I have a bandage with latex as the adhesive it causes the skin to get puffy and red and very itchy. Same goes for if I’m wearing latex gloves. But I’ve never had a reaction to other things that say they have latex like balloons, some rubber balls, or glues. Is there a reason for this? I haven’t tested if I still have the allergy in a long time, is it possible I just grew out of it? My skin is very sensitive and even other adhesives like the ones in bandaids make me itchy, just no where near as bad as with latex. Is it okay for me to try latex again to see if I have a reaction or could it make things worse? Thank you!