# Blood in Bongo-Players Urine
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [February 27, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696 "2009-02-27T18:37:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/1 "2009-02-27T18:37:00Z")
Amazing column, about something I’ve never heard of, and would have thought ludicrously impossible.
And more fuel for my Inner Hypochondriac.
Thanks a Lot.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/2 "2009-02-27T20:18:42Z")
Also, when the sun explodes it will have lost enough mass that it probably won’t consume the earth.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/3 "2009-02-27T20:30:10Z")
Link to the column: [Can playing the bongos make you urinate blood? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2848/can-playing-the-bongos-make-you-piss-blood)
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### Author:  [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/4 "2009-02-27T21:47:58Z")
I was intrigued by this bit:
> [@Cecil Adams](#):
>
> …and taking advice from goons.
Unfortunately, upon looking up the reference, it was just trainers at a gym overworking two clients.
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### Author:  [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/5 "2009-02-27T22:02:30Z")
I play djembe with some pretty advanced players, and several of them (all men) report seeing blood in their urine after particularly long or brutal sets. I’m going to forward this column to them.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/6 "2009-02-27T22:09:42Z")
> [@JeffB](#):
>
> Unfortunately, upon looking up the reference, it was just trainers at a gym overworking two clients.
Which is exactly how I read it. Cecil just used the word “goon” to indicate his feelings towards the trainers.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/7 "2009-02-27T23:53:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> Amazing column, about something I’ve never heard of, and would have thought ludicrously impossible.
Ditto. That darbuka is going in the closet.
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### Author:  [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/8 "2009-02-28T00:17:32Z")
I started getting into conga playing about a year ago but it didn’t stick. I’m kind of glad.
Also, it’s tough to sit comfortably while reading that article…
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/9 "2009-02-28T00:26:06Z")
“I’ll stick to my pipes and my tabors”
– _Iolanthe_
As to the other matter, run out and get _Death from the Skys!_, by [Phil Plait](http://www.badastronomy.com)
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/10 "2009-02-28T00:44:49Z")
I trying to imagine the lengths that you have to go to for this to happen. I assist at the first aid shack at a major neopagan festival grounds with all night, all day, 2-week drumming (think Burning Man, but much, much smaller) and in 10 years, I’ve never seen a single case. Blisters, bleeding hands, dehydration, torn off nails, sure. But no one peeing cola colored urine. :eek:
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### Author:  [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/11 "2009-02-28T02:49:56Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> I trying to imagine the lengths that you have to go to for this to happen. I assist at the first aid shack at a major neopagan festival grounds with all night, all day, 2-week drumming (think Burning Man, but much, much smaller) and in 10 years, I’ve never seen a single case. Blisters, bleeding hands, dehydration, torn off nails, sure. But no one peeing cola colored urine. :eek:
Maybe this isn’t the kind of thing people feel comfortable going to you about? See a doc tomorrow kinda thing? Maybe they think it’s something they drank?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/12 "2009-02-28T03:10:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Maybe this isn’t the kind of thing people feel comfortable going to you about? See a doc tomorrow kinda thing? Maybe they think it’s something they drank?
If I hung out with **WhyNot** , and thought there would be _anyone_ I could talk about funny-colored urine with, it’d be her.
Actually, I’d be willing to talk about funny-colored urine with a lot of people. But she’d be up near the top of the list.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/13 "2009-02-28T03:27:11Z")
> [@SeanArenas](#):
>
> Maybe this isn’t the kind of thing people feel comfortable going to you about? See a doc tomorrow kinda thing? Maybe they think it’s something they drank?
Actually, I did think of one probable cause: it’s a campground. With no toilets. Presumably it’s harder to note the color of your urine when you’re hungover from drumming 36 hours straight and said urine is directly watering trees or going into a Porta-John instead of a nice white toilet bowl.
But I will have to ask my husband about it when he gets home from his business trip. He’s one of the drummers, I’m not. Maybe they know about this phenom already and so it’s not worth bringing to First Aid even if it is noticed.
Either way, I think maybe I’ll make a sign or something. Sounds like it’s really not a symptom to ignore, and I’ll have the captive eye of 800 or so avid drummers to help me spread the word. At the very least, I’ll alert the First Aid crew, so they don’t misdiagnose drummers as simply being dehydrated with concentrated urine when it could be this instead.
Thanks, **Chronos**! Feel free to PM me with urine color talk whenever you like. Pics optional. 😉
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### Author:  [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/14 "2009-02-28T03:56:44Z")
It could be that the amateur drummers haven’t built up enough callouses that would allow them to bongo the muscles in their hands into pulp.
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### Author:  [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/15 "2009-02-28T05:49:01Z")
> [@Deeg](#):
>
> It could be that the amateur drummers haven’t built up enough callouses that would allow them to bongo the muscles in their hands into pulp.
Since it’s an impact-based thing, I don’t know that callouses would help much.
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### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/16 "2009-02-28T06:27:12Z")
> [@bup](#):
>
> Also, when the sun explodes it will have lost enough mass that it probably won’t consume the earth.
The Earth will be long gone by the time the sun explodes. The sun will first enter a red giant stage, where it expands to a size greater than the size of the Earth’s orbit.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/17 "2009-02-28T06:43:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Since it’s an impact-based thing, I don’t know that callouses would help much.
No, I think he’s saying that an amateur, non-calloused drummer would get sore hands and stop drumming before he got to the point of funny urine.
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### Author:  [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/18 "2009-02-28T08:18:17Z")
Yeah, Chronos got it. That’s my not-so-clever clever way to putting it.
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### Author:  [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/19 "2009-02-28T15:41:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> No, I think he’s saying that an amateur, non-calloused drummer would get sore hands and stop drumming before he got to the point of funny urine.
When I first started conga playing, anything over 30 minutes of practice would leave my fingertips and the palm side of my fingers feeling very red and sore. If I practiced for a full two hours with my band, they could feel sore for two days.
After practicing for a few months, I could whack the drumheads even harder than before, without my fingers becoming sore at all. By the time we got to performance, I could play the whole set with only a very light throbbing in my fingers.
I’m sure someone who has been playing for years can whack the drumhead a lot harder than me.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blood-in-bongo-players-urine/487696/20 "2009-02-28T19:06:26Z")
I notice in this context that Caroline Corr can be seen wearing half-gloves in the Royal Albert Hall concert, though she doesn’t always.
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