Fasciculations of the Tongue

Highlights Only
T

TwitchyMD

Well-known member
People often post they have tongue twitching and blah blah..right, this is how real fasciculation of tongue looks like. Hope it helps newcomers and those who really have them. It is easily distinguishable from normal tongue tremor and movements, as you can see - there is no pulling or slow contractions, just rapid firing of one motor unit represented by a focal twitch of a muscle bundle of one of the tongue's muscles. Sporadically have been appearing for last 4 years, these are provoked.Also if you state you have tongue fasciculations, please check if it really looks something like that. It will also help me to know it is not that uncommon ;)
 
Hi doc, yes I have had that too. Real ones, and not the quivering stuff people unnecessarily worry about...however its been years since I had one that lasted more than a few quick seconds. The ones that are *beep* me off right now are eardrum twitching. I can induce the eardrum twitching with loud noises or coughing. However, I've had them for years, with clean clinicals and EMGs, plus its happy hour time so I'm not worried 'bout it :D)
 
Docen,I get those every day. Just like in your video. But most of my tongue fascics are smaller and appear randomly all over. So, not like several in a row like yours. I'll see one on the left, then in the middle, then on the right, etc. But yes, I get the ones like your video every day.Also, I'm jealous yours only last a few seconds. I've had these go for days! Pulling twitches for months!-Matt
 
TwitchyMD,Thank you so much for posting the video! That is exactly what my tongue looks like when it twitches. I get random pops from time-to-time and I can induce the twitches by flexing my tongue in a particular direction. My tongue twitching didn't start until I was a couple of months in to this whole ordeal which has now been going on almost seven months. Great idea to share this so others can see what this whole thing looks like.Take care,ristinaL91
 
ristinaL91, you are welcome. I too believe it is very useful to have tongue we get documented, particularly because medical community still has yet to accept this can be benign. If you are able to document yours, please do so and post (just PM me in case you do not want to share publicly) it. The more evidence we can get, the better for us. If I had seen this 3 years ago (when my tongue twitched for the first time), I would have saved myself so much anxiety. So I hope this will help new twitchers as well.
 
Hi , That is exactly what my tongue looks like when it twitches. I have this twich 2 or 3 time every days. It Last few second too. And i can induce them easely. It's sometimes at the tip of the tongue like in vidéo but it can be on the whole. I Hope to be clear because my english is soo bad. Thank docen for all your post. It's always serious.My tongue twich like that since 17 month when all the twich began. Hope to help.
 
Docen,You keep saying that the "medical community still has yet to accept this can be benign". I completely disagree with that statement. I've shown my tongue twitching, which look just like yours, to both of my neuros. Neither of them were concerned in the least. They just said that the tongue is a muscle and will twitch just like any other muscle, and that ANY muscle twitching in the absence of weakness is benign, period. I've also read countless other posts on here where people say their neurologists were not impressed at all with their tongues twitching and not concerned one bit. So how can you make that statement? I think that people will read that statement and go into a panic when its just not true.-Matt
 
Matt and Shawn: Because MND specialists do not say that - check the literature, any sources, whatever you want. There is not a single mention of fasciculation in tongue being benign while there are clear statements stating otherwise (Campbell: "bulbar involvement excludes BFS", DeJong's "Fasciculations of tongue are never a benign finding", Eisen: "tongue fasciculation is the most sensitive indicator of MND currently available") ...So no, it is not accepted and it still has to be proven.We here know it is not true but it is important to share the knowledge for the reasons above.
 
Docen,Just because no one has written a paper about a benign symptom doesn't mean the medical community thinks its malignant. I refuse to search for those articles you posted and am not surprised that there is outdated information out there. This is an email I received from my neurologist at Mass General Hospital. He is a specialist in MND and teaches at Harvard Medical School. This was his reply to a video I sent him of my tongue fasciculations which looked just like yours:Thanks for the video link. No, nothing about this is if of any concern to me. Like I’ve emphasized before, muscle twitching in the absence of muscle weakness is benign.Dr. Han
 
I had to comment...I've been to three different neurologists, and two neuromuscular specialists (the ones who performed my EMG) and I live in Houston, with the nation's largest medical center...sadly they know their stuff as they have all seen their fair share of ALS diagnoses. I told all three of the neuros and one of the neuromuscular specialists about all of the different places I have twitched, including my tongue. I clearly remember about a year to the day when my neurologist cut me off after I mentioned how worried I was about the tongue twitching meaning bulbar, because she wouldn't even entertain the idea after peeking in my mouth. The same occurred in 2008, back when my tongue was twitching pretty badly, and the neurologist pretty much told me that he could visually spot bulbar, and he asked if it ran in my family and I said no, and he said that due to my age, clean clinical and lack of weakness or slurring, bulbar was out of the question. Hence, they all took it as an extension of BFS.
 
Rothaar: Yes, now you see my point and surely that is why I was so worried in the beginning.The quotes I posted are from the most common neurology textbooks used in US and I could cite much more stating the same. It only means that BFS has yet to be recognized and studied more.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top