Neuro Visit - Tongue Twitching & EMG

[angrymummy]

Hi all,Went to see my neuro last week and he said that he was positive that my twitching tongue is benign but that he is sending me for an EMG to check for unusual electrical pulses (!) ......he has taken me off my 2mg of valium and put me on anti depressants (effexor 75mg)....I feel quite worried about the actual procedure of an EMG in my tongue and wondered if anybody can re-assure me/tell me what it involves.Thanks,Sarah

 

[TwitchyMD]

It is not so bad is may sound. Usually they just go under your chin through the tongue as whole tongue is innervated by nervus hypoglossus which means if something was going on, this is the only nerve that would be affected.Let us updated how things went, please. When is your app?

 

[angrymummy]

Hi, am waiting for my appointment to come thru the post but will let you know when I hear something.... )

 

[seadragonsovereign]

Basically its the same as EMG elsewhere. They stick your tongue with the needle and listen to the sound. The biggest problem (at least for me) is relaxing your tongue enough to get rid of the background noise. You have to stick it out far enough for them to stick it and then hold it still. My tongue, unfortunately, vibrates madly (a symptom of the baddie which is why my neuro had it done there) whenever I stick it out. Took forever to relax it enough, but eventually they got the info they needed (nothing of interest - clean EMG for tongue). Doing an EMG on the tongue is not a standard EMG test, according to my first neuro.