Bulbar Symptom

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fmarino

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Mar 9, 2008
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PALS
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US
State
nj
City
new brunswick
When you have slurred speach, what does it feel like? Do you get any type of "funny" feeling in your throat or jaw such as tightness? Do you get any type of "funny" feeling with your tongue? Is there any type of warning signs?

The reason I ask: I'm having a tight feeling right at my Adam's Apple along with jaw tightness as well as a funny feeling in the middle of my tongue and I think it is making it difficult for me to speak.
 
I think many have different ways they feel. For me, specialists (doctors and speech therapists) noticed that I had problems way before I did myself.... The jaw tightness you describe would be upper neuron (I think)... I frequently get cramping in the jaw area , also visible fasciculations (according to one doctor that observed it)at the TMJ juncture (?) But talking, for me at least, is difficult just because of my tongue not wanting to move fast enough. Its the tongue words, or sometimes words that use the lips that are the most difficult. I've read that some are unaware when they're slurring their speech. This may or may not happen with me, but when I am aware of it, its like when I've had a few drinks, but am trying to talk like I haven't. Not so much how I sound, but the effort involved to enunciate and make my tongue cooperate. How I hear myself is secondary to the effort 'm putting forth to form the words.l I have no unusual sensation in the middle of my tongue, no lump in my throat. My teeth click together unpleasantly sometimes though, and I bite the insides of my cheeks or even tongue occasionally when speaking. Various specialists have noted that I have slow articulation of ka, mi and la. I don't notice it though. My laryngologist feels it is a progressive lack of coordination, but the neurologist feels part of my speech difficulties could be due to spasms. They both concede that either, or both, of these are coming into play along with weakness of the muscles I use for speech. The more fatigued I am, the worse I sound, and quality deteriorates as the day progresses. I hope this is helpful to you :)
 
I don't notice that it really feels different when my speech is slurred, but it just seems to require more conscious effort to speak. I also notice that it happens more often when I am tired.

I first began to notice the slurring when I was speaking on the phone, and I could hear my own voice through the earpiece.

I have not noticed any funny feeling in my tongue, yet, although I do seem to be biting my tongue when chewing much more often.

John
 
i have a question if you dont mind,i had one neurologist tell me ,which i did not believe,that with als/mnd you dont get worse as the day goes by ,and i told him that the more tired i am the worse my swallowing and speech is,and he dissagreed totally with me,but he also said that every person with als also had to have twitches they could see or they did not have it also.he totally was giving me wrong info,because i have read too much about als to believe he knew what he was saying,and my neurologist i went to first,was new but he was into all these emg testings that the other one was not.i am glad to hear someone else has the same way of feeling that i do,i dont feel crazy at least ,now,lol..thanks,good luck,wanda
 
I've searched bulbar symptoms on here and it seems that most of the time, it starts with slurred speach and less often with trouble swallowing. I have yet to see anyone that started with fatigued jaw muscles. I do a lot of talking at my job and every once in a while my jaw is a little fatigued. This isn't something that is consistent but it certainly happens from time to time and just started about a month or so ago.

My symptoms started in my upper arm and I have a little atrophy and weakness and pain. Should I assume that if my arm isn't "clinically" weak and the atrophy has more or less stopped, that things will not progress to other parts of my body? That seems to be what I have read on here and from the neuros: that ALS starts in one part of your body and debilitates it and then moves on to another part of your body.
 
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