I was given a diagnosis of TM triggered by MS spinal legions 3 weeks ago by my neurologist who left me with the comforting words of ‘I hope you have no new symptoms and I’ll not to see you again…’ It appears that his optimism was a tad premature as over the last 4 days my face has gone numb and my tongue & lower jaw is in spasm. It’s like I’ve had a local anaesthetic and I sound ridiculous and my tongue keeps slipping forward. I phoned my GP who told me to contact the neurologists secretary, who told me he is on a fortnights holiday! Fortunately she understood my predicament and booked me in for the first free appointment with another Dr on Tuesday. In the meantime I have my thrice daily dose of Baclofen and some Tramadol in the cupboard, but I don’t think Tramadol is appropriate as I’m not in pain I’m just dribbling, although swallowing is proving interesting. What I want to know is has anyone else had this problem and what did you take for it? What should I be asking the neurologist when I see him? Thanks
hi
i haven’t had those issues but i have heard of a lot of msers who see a speech therapist for trouble swallowing.
i’d imagine they could advise you too.
carole x
I have occasional numbness in my mouth, as if my tongue doesn’t work properly and I know people have trouble hearing what I am saying, so to me it sounds ok but everyone is saying ‘pardon’ then I know I’m not speaking so clearly. I suppose the best way is to say that my tongue feels like it is fat and doesn’t work properly, I also have numb head sometimes and this affects my eating and swallowing. However, after my initial panic, I realised (for me so don’t take this as gospel) that it was one of the many things that happens to me on a daily basis. I rarely get this but it just pops up now and then without any notice. Then I find that if I rest, chill, relax, it goes away. For a short period of time during and after this, I am careful to eat small food. I don’t seek help with mine yet but will access ear nose and throat at the hospital, if I need to in the future. I have been for some months doing mouth exercises just to help - basic stretching and face changing, to keep the muscles working. I think this helps me.
From knowing friends who used to take medication years ago (not linked to M.S.) they sometimes had trouble with dry mouth, speech slurring or excess saliver, so when you see someone I guess it’s useful to check that it is not part of the symptom of taking a medication aswell as looking at it as it might be a symptom.
Most important, keep a diary of this particular symptom, how often, is it in the morning, does it change over the day, can you eat, dribble worse at certain times etc. then you can show this when you go for your appointment.
This might sounds a bit daft, but I wear a neck collar at night whilst watching tv, it helps many things but I think it has helped strengthen all of the throat and back area which sometimes suffer when I decide to do daft things and push my body too hard.
I hope this helps a bit. Main thing, you have an appointment very soon, get your questions ready and wright them down, get someone to go with you if you can to write the answers down.