Neurological exam?

[Kristin01]

When a neurologist checks your tongue for fasciculations, do they do it while your tongue is protruded or while it is at rest?

Mine does not twitch at all while it is inside of my mouth, or when I relax it outside of my mouth, but if I start to somewhat tense it up, the outsides quiver all over. So, I was wondering how a neurologist determines the presense of tongue fasciculations.

 

[Al]

Mine checks it with it resting inside my mouth.

AL.

 

[olly]

it is completely normal for a tongue to quiver or twitch when it is stuck out.
like al said,the neuro looks at it in a resting position inside the mouth.
even then if you do have twitching it does not mean it is als related,only a emg can determine that.
take care.
caroline

 

[planningguy]

From what I understand the tongue can have a natural tremor when extended (especially forcibly). All my neuro evals have been with a resting tongue, then the neuro has me extend the tongue and move it side to side to check for function.

Robert

PS Caroline, sorry to be redundant, you beat me to it

 

[CB1977]

Mine moves and quivers a little even when it is resting....does that mean anything?

 

[CindyM]

Last time everybody started comparing how their tongues looked in the mirror, I discovered mine is scalloped. Lots of Docs had been looking at it and none of them mentioned this, so I decided to give up sticking my tongue out at myself.

Glad I did, as it is one less thing for me to monitor. People still look at it, but nobody has yet mentioned the scalloped edges, so apparently this is not a bad thing. :smile:

 

[CB1977]

Cindy- I have has an increasingly scalloped tongue over the last 2 months. It got so bad that it has become painful. Whatever is wrong with me...this has something to do with it. I am afraid that it is a sign of weakening neck muscles.

CB in Ohio