Researching During Sleepless Night: Cheek Poking in Neuro Exams

[calmmommy]

I swore to myself I was going to try to refrain from all medical sites for awhile, but after a sleepless night filled with anxiety I gave in. During a neurological exam, when a neuro asks you to puff out your cheeks, do they then try to deflate your cheeks by poking them? I read this somewhere and I didn't know if it was true, I can hold air in my cheeks just fine, but then when I go to poke them, the left side of my mouth lets out air much quicker than the right side. What should I make of this?

 

[calmmommy]

Also, when I puff my cheeks out and hold the air in them, after about 30 seconds, the air starts to escape the left side of my mouth again. To me, this means, that either my left cheek is weak, or that the left side of my mouth is not sealing properly.

 

[TompeteA]

I wont even try and answer that, the only thing I will say, and it is said over and over on this site, is do not try and diagnose yourself. When we read about symptoms and tests for certain disease's, we just do not have the training to know how to interpret this information. I admit I did do this for the first year and a half, but after almost three years of this, I am absolutely amazed at what the human body can do, then only have the medical community say nothing is wrong with it. So I am beyond the self testing, every conclusion I came to when I was doing it was wrong. Sorry I could not be of more help, but that is the best I can offer. Now a doctor maybe able to answer those questions, and I humbley admit I am not one, even though I once thought I knew more than they did.