Unusual Speech Pattern: Anxiety Related?

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samanthaxyysamanthax

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Ok, for the past 3 weeks I feel like I am not speaking right...like I 'all of the sudden' became REALLY aware of my tongue and it feels too big for my mouth. I have asked my husband, mom, dr, friends ect. if they've noticed any speech changes and they allllllllll say no. My dr says it must be another form of my anxiety manifesting itself in my poor, worn out body. BUT, I am on anxiety meds..../: Well now, my tongue feels so sore. Like the sides of it are hitting my teeth and instead of pronouncing my s's like sssss, I'm saying schhhh...and brother is like brudder...but no one notices!! Have any of you ever felt this way??I KNOW that a couple of you have told me its purely anxiety and completely normal to feel this way but it's driving me crazy! And, I feel like everyday it's getting worse & worse. Chrissi even told me that bulbar ALS absolutely doesn't exist in patients my age (25) but I can't stop thinking that's what it is ):
 
What would you think of all this if you'd never gone online or heard anything about **S? Most likely, you wouldn't even notice anything weird about your mouth, to begin with. BFS causes perceived weakness. In some of our cases, it can be pretty severe, particularly when you add a healthy dose of anxiety on top of it. Here's how it works. Imagine that you are driving in your car and you are as calm and serene as can be. Your favorite tune is on, you're singing, the window is open and there is a gentle, sultry breeze. Then, straight out of HELL comes this freaking TRUCK, barreling STRAIGHT HEAD-ON FOR YOU! You don't even have a chance to scream, you just jerk, and swerve, your car goes off the road and into a ditch. You find yourself breathless, trembling, heart-pounding and lifting some rather choice cuss words up to the universe. Surely you've experienced something similar to that, right? This is what you are doing to your body by being chronically anxious about **S. Except the stress of it is NOT episodic like the above description; it is unrelenting and constant. Sooner or later, the body needs to compensate. It does so in various ways; weakness being one of them. The more you allow the stress of this thing to scare the begeezus out of you, the more you are going to be combating these troubling sensations throughout your entire body. I did it. I drooled, I slurred, I choked. I actually stopped eating, drinking or sleeping for a good two weeks to a month and then wondered why I also couldn't pee. (It was because I was SEVERELY dehydrated.) BFS and anxiety don't play nicely together. Here's the good news, but you have to believe it. You are 25. You don't have **S. It is so statistically and physically improbable, you'd have a better chance of becoming the next "Snooki" on Jersey Shore. And since that show is being canceled, (there IS a God!) you see how unlikely that is. :) You need to believe in your wellness. Shut down any thoughts of this being anything malignant or sinister. When you have these thoughts, you need to seriously tell them to EFF off, every time. It's the only way you're going to feel better. Don't consider ANY other possibility besides the FACT that you are absolutely fine. Blessings, Sue
 
Chrissi is absolutely right. I don't think I've ever heard of a single case of bulbar at 25.I can relate very much with the tongue stuff (read some of my old posts). I got to the point I barely said more than a few words a day for months because I was so afraid that I wasn't speaking correctly and it just felt "weird" and uncoordinated. My tongue felt fatigued and I couldn't even bring myself to eat because I was so messed up about it. Over time I was able to distract myself while eating and eventually stop focusing on my tongue while I spoke as well. This fear is self-reinforcing and I can tell you from experience that there is nothing going on here besides anxiety and normal BFS. I'm coming up on a year since I joined this board and my tongue feels completely fine.
 
Thank you so much! I have never experienced this level of anxiety...my OB dr says I am almost to the point of pregnancy induced psychosis /: I really do not know what is causing it because I absolutely LOVE being a mother...Maybe hormonal/chemical imbalance..? Either way, I am ready for it to be over. I try not to focus on it but I find myself staring in the mirror and seeing how fast I can move my tongue back and forth, or to make sure I can still tent my cheeks or form a 'three leaf clover' shape out of it. Which I can do all of. Yesterday I choked on my own saliva and I cried for hours. This is just really taking over. AND then to top it all off my left arch is STILL twitching, although its a slower twitch now. Ughhh. But it is so reassuring to know that I am not the only one that has felt this way. That you so much, again.
 
I actually stopped eating, drinking or sleeping for a good two weeks to a month and then wondered why I also couldn't pee. (It was because I was SEVERELY dehydrated.) Suzi,Not to make light of what you were saying but I almost *beep* myself (no pun intended) laughing so hard when I read that. I think partially because I was like that when I first started experiencing BFS symptoms. I remember I was barely eating when my symptoms started (I was also having stomach problems) and freaked out because I lost a lot of weight (15 lbs) over a short period of time (1 month).All joking aside you are absolutely right. It is very hard to convey to people how powerful acute anxiety really is but you nailed it on the head.
 
Samantha, I didn't read about bulbar symptoms until I was a couple of weeks into BFS. I'm telling you that very same night I started biting my tongue, choking on my excess saliva, and slurring my words. It is amazing what our minds are capable of making us believe! Frances
 

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