Weird symptoms before a show

hyruleherojoe

Senior Member
Hello everyone,

OK so I'll cut to the cheese here. The day of a show i get this unusual symptom. Every time I even think about performing in the next few hours I get gas and the urge to go. It starts with me being excited and picturing in my head that everything will go smoothly. I see in my mind exactly the fills and transitions to nail. Then BAM! I get abdominal cramps, bloating, and eventually I gotta go. Is this something to be worried about? Has it ever happened to you guys?

Once I'm at the venue it gets better but I still feel pain. When the shows over its gone. This happened to me last night. Started around 1pm, my band went on at 8:30. It wouldnt stop until I actually started playing. Comes and goes throughout that whole time. SOOOO any thoughts?

I know I know, this isnt the place to seek medical advice, just wanna read your weird symptoms.
 
It could be your bodies natural reaction to stress? I know that I get super worked up and nervous before I play, going over everything in my head and it all disappears the moment my sticks hit the skin.

I'd watch what you're eating the day(s) coming up to the show and cut out things that could give you gas like beans, pop, certain fruits and others. I'd also say clear of diuretics like coffee, alcohol and tabacco products which could also lead to your body wanting to empty it's digestive tract.
 
I don't know how many gigs you've done Joe but if it's not alot, that feeling should subside after a while. Most issues start in your head. When you start feeling like that, maybe try to counter with meditation. That's meditation, not medication lol.
 
Interesting. I do feel nervous but its giddy nervousness. Like I cant wait to play and perform. I've been doing shows for years now so its not new to me. Pretty sure a famous drummer said that he always gets excited and nervous before a show, forgot who said that.

As for diet I don't eat anything hours before I play, just water. Yesterday I took lunch at 12pm which was some chow mein. Nothing until this morning just water. This might as well be how mu body reacts to stress, similar to IBS? (irritable bowel syndrome) Guess I can crap my pants when shit hits the fan haha.


On a side note, I have been dealing with intestine problems for years. There might as well be a connection. Just dont get why the body needs to go when faced with nerves or stress.
 
It's your body preparing itself for action. Under stress, the human body can undergo a number of physical symptoms, including a dry mouth, stomach pains, nausea, a faster heart rate, sweating, etc. It happens to a lot of people but the triggers are different. For some people it's a reaction to distress in particular situations (some people are like that before work sometimes). The common name in musician circles is 'stage fright' and it's the same thing.

Look up 'fight or flight'.
 
Thanks for your responses guys. Still sucks though. I'd prefer to have a dry mouth than almost soiling myself. I find it comical and my band members do to and joke about it, best way to deal.
 
It tends to reduce with exposure. The more gigs you do that go well, the less it'll happen (probably) but even experienced performers get anxious before a show, it's about controlling that nervous energy and channeling it into the music. It's no bad thing if it's productive!
 
When I played baseball on days when I pitched I would vomit before each start. Like clockwork, 30-45 minutes before I hit the mound I would hurl. It got to the point where teammates would watch me during warm ups to see when I had to make that run. This lasted my freshman and most of my sophomore year. By the time I was a junior it all of a sudden stopped. Years later during "analysis" it was speculated that the vomiting stopped because by my junior year I had established myself and was no longer an underclassman.

Fast forward to 5 years ago. I had just turned 40 and "qualified" to tryout for an over 40 competitive baseball league. Sure enough on the way to the field with my daughter in the car with me, I lost my lunch. Fortunately I got the car stopped and my head out of the window...

I made the team but blew out my shoulder the second time I pitched ;-)
 
I agree that it sounds like an anxiety reaction.

The usual stress reducers people have mentioned (meditation, breathing exercise) can help. If it gets too bad, a medication such as BusPar can help as well. It's done wonders for me.
 
My gigging experience is minimal, but I've been through the exact same thing in a different context.

Miles on the clock go a LONG way. Luckily for me, they are also transferable. The night before a gig, I don't wake up at 01:30 and suffer for the next 18 hours or more. I've reached a point in my life when I'm happy that all I can do is my best.
 
Just make sure you bring a cape.
 
When I was young, in my teens, I used to get an upset stomach the afternoon and evening before a show. I got cramps too.

Then I discovered if I did not eat anything after 12 noon my stomach felt much better before and during the show. So for years after that I did not eat after 12 noon the day of a show.

.
 
When I was young, in my teens, I used to get an upset stomach the afternoon and evening before a show. I got cramps too.

Then I discovered if I did not eat anything after 12 noon my stomach felt much better before and during the show. So for years after that I did not eat after 12 noon the day of a show.

.

I eat really lightly and pick things that are easy on the stomach the day of a show. Not because I feel sick, but the last thing I want is feeling like my stomach is distracting me on stage. Also, digesting food takes blood away from your brain and muscles, and from a "peak performance" standpoint, I just like to eat really light that day.

After the show, I find something bad for me, and eat it with abandon.
 
As somebody with a lot of anxiety triggers for a number of years, I can assure you that once you know what the triggers are, you can control them better. I went a long time before I recognised that I had all kinds of anxiety issues - stage fright being one but also related to work, social situations and sometimes even mundane tasks. I still get them all the time but I know what they are and have techniques to minimise their effect. Somebody earlier suggested controlled breathing - I would definitely echo that advice. One method I use is inhaling using my diaphragm and concentrating on the physical sensation of breathing in that manner. It helps to re-focus the mind and helps mitigate the fast, shallow breathing that is symptomatic of anxiety.

Experience helps. I played Rugby for years and it used to be painful before I got onto the pitch. It all went after the first physical contact (or if I got the ball at kick-off) but after several years of playing, it went. I know that the next time I'm asked to bowl at cricket it's going to cause an anxiety reaction. The point is that predicting the anxiety is quite powerful and over-thinking the anxiety is in itself, another way of triggering anxiety. You can always put your anxious thoughts to one side and focus on the task at hand or prepare for the task at hand productively.
 
After the show, I find something bad for me, and eat it with abandon.

Yes ! Exactly what I used to do.
3 hours of hot and sweaty rock and roll drumming used to make me hungry !

.
 
agreed on anxiety trigger / stage fright. check this article on stagefright from the great Hal Galper: http://www.halgalper.com/articles/stagefright-and-relaxation/

Hal also has a bunch of stuff about getting "In Flow" while playing that will blow you away. basically the state where you are not thinking, making perfect musical decisions & in the zone.
 
I was wondering how long it would take before somebody mentioned 'flow'. It's a really good thing to do if you're finding yourself in a situation where you're feeling anxiety. A 'flow' activity is one that you engross yourself in and dedicate yourself to but do it without consciously thinking. For some, that might be something like clay modelling (give it a go!). As we learn new skills, more and more become 'flow' activities. For some, computer programming becomes a flow activity.

For most of us here, it's going to be drumming. Something we do automatically, engrosses us but not something in which we make conscious decisions when performing the activity.
 
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