Mouth and Speech Issues

I'm having an ongoing issue with my mouth and speech, and I just can't explain it.From January - May this year, I had a pretty serious bout of twitching. I gave up caffeinated coffee in February to try and slow the twitches down, and I went through a number of phases with other symptoms too - aches and pains in my legs, feeling that my balance was off (and not walking in a straight line), and feeling a globus sensation. During this time, I started experiencing problems with my speech - subtle ones (nobody else noticed) where I didn't feel I was enunciating properly. Words like 'holiday' were a problem (I was slurring the 'l' a little) and later certain 'r' sounds. E.g. I could say "Road" okay, but if I said "Revolutionary Road", the 'R' on 'Road' wouldn't be completely formed. It felt like I wasn't moving my lower lip forward enough, and I could feel it getting caught on my front teeth. The same was true for certain 'V' sounds, such as 'very'. This has come and go since early March. During the twitching phase, I was twitching around my mouth - specifically in the upper part of my chin (below my lower lip) - it was pretty constant for a while. I was quite scared it was onset of MS, and spent a long while obsessing. I was reading out loud to myself, recording my own voice to see how it sounded - really stupid stuff. I was also finding my voice was getting quite croaky, and I came across Laryngopharyngeal reflux online, which could account for the globus sensation and the regurgitation of food. I didn't see a doctor until two weeks ago and he prescribed a Proton Pump Inhibitor. I'm currently half way through the treatment (two weeks out of four). I've not seen a great deal of improvement. Although I mentioned my hoarseness, I didn't discuss the enunciation of speech; but I was hoping that if I was having a hoarse voice, perhaps there wasn't enough airflow to help me fully form certain sounds - hence my inability to correctly say the second 'R' in 'Revolutionary Road', as it's the end of a long breath. This was just my own clutching at straws.The speech problem has returned this week, and I'm flipping out. I'm not twitching, but I have noticed a few small twitches around my mouth and chin again, which are concerning me. I'm not just feeling like 'R' words are clumsy, but that all words are harder to fully enunciate, and that I might be mumbling. Nobody has mentioned this, although someone did comment that my voice was croaky. I've not worried about ALS for *so* long - MS has been my biggest fear, and now I've got the two to worry me, since I've started thinking about bublar ALS. As for MS, I had a pain at the front of my head today (so worried about optic neuritis) and have also had some pins and needles in my legs recently (ones that stopped when I moved my leg every time), and I'm petrified. Could this be BFS? If it affects our arms and legs, it could affect smaller muscles like the mouth muscles. Or could it be the Laryngopharyngeal reflux affecting my pitch and tone of voice?Dave

I believe you that your symptoms are concerning. However, I don't believe that they have anything to do with ALS. You have been twitching for 7 years and are only 25 years old if I have read your previous posts correctly. I would see your doctor and talk about all of your symptoms. They may very well be related to reflux, or quite possibly to anxiety. Maybe a combination of both. I don't for a minute think it is bulbar onset. So many people on the boards report similar symptoms over time. It always resolves uneventfully.Hope that is somewhat reassuring.

Hi Dave,Just so you know i have also had/have speech issues and some days I really do think that they may be getting worse, but as I only got symptoms after I started looking for them then it makes sense that the worry itself is causing them. That is the sensible me talking, but as many on here know, I am often not sensible.I get the feeling also of having to try harder to get words out and find that certain sounds are much harder and do not come naturally (like 'asked' and lately 'th' sounds like in with. But I suppose if stuttering can be caused by stress then I suppose this very slight stuttering (i.e. harder to get a flow of sounds out) could be too. Also, if I eat a menthol sweet, for the first half of it my speech becomes easier, maybe my hypnosis that my mind is doing can't regulate itself to this new sensation until it gets around it half way through... who knows.I do strength tests with my tongue and it seems as strong as ever and I first got subtle speech issues in October after I started worrying about swallowing (which is still fine). I know how worrying it can be and as I notice more I get myself in a right panic, but for a few days last week i tried not to think about it and i didn't notice it as much. Then I started panicking again and have been waking in the night again, so I understand what you are going through. Again no one else seems to hear it even though I think that the slightly slower speech to get all the sounds out in a way that satisfies me would be obvious, but it is not.The thing I notice now is how my tongue feels in my mouth when I swallow and I feel like I have to suck on it slightly to move saliva back, but again, maybe it is because I have been thinking about it and are more aware.I also believe that if someone can get fatigue and exercise intolerance in a leg, then there is no reason why the same sensations and perceived weakness cannot occur in the mouth as well.I am here if you need to message me.Take CareRachel

Thank you for the kind responses. It's good to know I'm not the only person who's experienced these symptoms.I'm my own worst enemy sometimes, and I know that as soon as I stress about something, the problem seemingly gets worse. I've been feeling like I'm not chewing properly now either, and of course, whenever I put something in my mouth I fixate on how it's being chewed...and of course, because I'm analysing every bite, my body reacts by choking and I bite my tongue. Not good.It's improved a little in the last two days, although still not amazing. It's been going on for many months now and not gotten significantly worse, so that's reassuring; and I did think myself that if my arm/leg/back/finger can have issues, there's no reason why the muscles in my mouth can't either. I'm twitching occasionally around my mouth, although only the odd tic (I'm not getting twitches that go on for ten-fifteen seconds or more, like in other areas and limbs). Hopefully it'll go away on its own like it did before.I did see my doctor about acid reflux - I think that's responsible for the hoarseness I'm experiencing recently, and I did wonder whether hoarseness could be responsible for my speech as a whole - perhaps because I'm not letting enough air out through my mouth because of my voice being hoarse...although I might just be clutching at straws there. I'm taking Lansoprazole to try and improve this, and I have just under two weeks left to go. Perhaps it'll improve in this time.I really should tell my doctor my fears; but since I've never told a doctor about my twitching and anxiety, I fear a long story would be necessary, followed by lots of probing questions and eventual tests, which I'm just not sure I can handle. This sucks sometimes, it really does.