Tongue concerns

[Rebecca1982]

Hi All,

Firstly a massive thank you for your time and patience on this forum. It is an enormous service and a completely selfless one at that.

About a month ago, seemingly out of nowhere, while chewing a piece of bread, my tongue became noticeably fatigued. I could continue to chew but it just felt tired, like it had had a real workout! This continued to happen quite frequently when eating and progressed not to just a fatigue feeling but even a mild ache while chewing, always felt in my tongue but also in my jaw sometimes. This then progressed to having these same feelings sometimes while talking a while and not only when eating. Admittedly, I became a bit obsessed with what was going on with my tongue and found myself inspecting it regularly. It now feels odd when speaking sometimes and some words seem particularly hard to wrap my tongue around. My family tells me they do not hear any difference in my speech but it can feel strange to me at times.
Some days are definitely worse than others but good old google tells me that bulbar symptoms can initially come and go so not helping my fears there.

I went to see my pcp who checked for electrolyte imbalances etc but my blood work came up fine. She’s given me some exercises to do in case this is TMJ and told me to report back in 2 weeks but my mind is going to dark places.

Aside from this, my swallowing seems ok though I occasionally can’t get my food down in one swallow. I feel like this has been the case for me though for at least the last 6 months or so. I do get the odd lip twitch as well as what feels like random muscle twitch in my tongue itself though have only caught one in the mirror. It’s true that I’ve likely stressed my tongue out with my self inspections so I may be exacerbating things here.

Anyway is that how bulbar may start in terms of the chewing fatigue possibly with accompanying achiness from time to time? I’d like to know so I can push to see a neurologist sooner if that makes sense.

Very grateful for your thoughts and time.

 

[ShiftKicker]

Hi Rebecca,

It's very difficult for the members here to provide the kind of details you are looking for, as something like "fatigue" is subjective, aching can be caused by any number of things, and twitching is such a common occurrence that most people pay it no heed. You've indicated you may be a bit hypervigilant about things, so it's hard to say what you are experiencing is normal or there is a change over the last while.

There are specific things a doctor will look for when there is neurological concern- and it sounds like your doctor did not see anything unusual. You will be reporting back to your doctor in 2 weeks, after doing your exercises, so your doctor would be able to note any changes at that time. Your doctor would be the person you'd discuss a referral to a neurologist with if they observed issues at that time.

Take care

 

[Rebecca1982]

Many thanks for this, I appreciate your time. Have others with bulbar onset had it commence with tongue and jaw ache while eating and speaking? It’s sort of like the feeling you get in your legs after running up the stairs but am getting it in the sides of my tongue and jaw from chewing and talking. And if so, what other symptoms would I have at this stage, if any? I’m still sticking out my tongue/moving it/rolling it etc. Depending on your response, I may push for a sooner follow up with my pcp as don’t think my anxiety can wait so long! Thanks so much for this!

 

[Clearwater AL]

Rebecca, re-read ShiftKickers post again. Until you decide to see your PCP
again... asking questions or posting symptoms here won't accomplish anything.

Anxiety can be a hurtful cycle. Most of all... reading old threads here and
referring your symptoms to Dr. Google.

Make that appointment and let us know how it went after. Until then...