Constant Refluxing Worrying Me

[KimberlyHarrison]

It seems that after one symptom clears up, it's followed by something else that worries me. In February, I had shortness of breath and a chronic cough....that went away. In March and April I started having difficulty swallowing, and then it went away. While I'm superstitious with being optimistic, I think constant refluxing and heartburn screwed up my throat for a bit.

Almost as soon as I was relieved that my swallowing eased up, my tongue starts giving me problems

Now my tongue feels sore and awkward. I bit my left cheek about two weeks ago and nipped the left side of my tongue. I started checking my tongue....pushing it against my cheeks, against the roof of my mouth. I will stick my tongue out and wiggle it back and forth several times a day. When I'm alone, I will go through the speech patterns (la, ta, da, na, etc.) to see how fast I can get it. I checked my tongue and the left side of my tongue looks weird to me....like it's swollen on the side or something. There are parts that feel tender to touch. And then I notice little "ridges" or something around the side of my tongue, but it may be teeth marks since they're not on the tip of my tongue, I don't know.

 

[JennFiction]

Y-

You sound like me. From time to time I will notice something new and then stress about it for a few days or so. My latest stressor is that my voice has given out on me a few times, so I'll be talking and then maybe a word or two gets whispered rather than projected. Could it be the beginnings of an exceedingly rare form of an already extremely rare neurological disorder? Probably not. Most likely it's fatigue, or allergies. Or perhaps that I am speaking too quietly to begin with. But I still find myself testing myself by talking or singing non-stop. And though I pass with flying colors, I keep doing it. And every time my voice waivers, I begin to stress all over.

So when does the madness end? Since last year alone, I have been stressed because I thought I was drooling. THen I had the one calf that was smaller, then I went through the biting the tongue thing like you, then I was dropping stuff a lot. But each time I would eventually tire of worrying, and seeing as how none of these symptoms progressed into anything, I would forget about them and then the next time I thought about them, they were gone. So your problem is basically that you are so focused on your physical complaints that you are somatizing: perceiving a problem that really isn't there. Everything you have described is normal. We all have ridges in our tongues. Yes those are caused by the teeth. And it's normal for your tongue to quiver when you stick it out. And if you bite your tongue once, it swells up a bit and you keep biting it: because it's swollen. If your tongue feels awkward in your mouth, it's because you are being hyper-vigilant.

So give yourself a break and try not to think too much on these complaints and they will go away. I am sure you are fine.

Jen

 

[starGalaxyGazer]

YYYYT

I was told by neuro that if I have bulbar sympthoms I wouldn't miss them and he also wouldn't miss it. He meant that this kind of sympthoms are very obvious and when they apear there only can be worst never better.

First bulbar sympthom (as it's claimed by PALS) is always sllurring. Slurring is obvious for patient and everybody who is listening to him.

Because your sympthoms has recovered I don't think that you have any serious bulbar problem.

I also was crazy about bulbar sympthoms - I was checking my tongue (I saw fascics and atrophy) I was concentrate on my swallowing and speaking. When you concentrate on that you don't do it automatically (as always) and you can have trouble with that.

regards
Marcin

 

[KimberlyHarrison]

JennFiction, I also had voice fatigue a little over a month ago, but it also recovered. Again, I believe it was acid reflux and hearburn.

 

[Dragonfly]

YYYYT,

I can't believe the parallels to my experience you just described, almost down to the month too!!

I had what I thought were the beginnings of swallowing problems in March, with a constant post nasal drip feeling, and unable to completely clear phlegm. Then I started checking my tongue out, noticed fine fascics, the teethmark ridges and an asymmetry.

My guess is the asymmetry is due to the fact that I chew primarily on one side and would move food around in my mouth in one direction as well, creating a difference in muscle development on each side.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was having trouble with my voice, a bit hoarse, and just not what it should be, with trouble projecting much volume. Well, my voice is back and I'm guessing it was due to a touch of laryngitis or due to my seasonal allergies.

Anyway, I no longer get the thought that I might have bulbar symptoms.

Cheers,
Heath