twitch in tongue
If you or those around you have spasms and jumps on the surface of your tongue and this worries you, if you want to know what causes spasms and cramps in the muscles of your tongue and how to get rid of them, we recommend that you read on.
What you will read next:
Introduction
The human tongue is made up of eight muscles. These muscles work together in proportion to allow the tongue to move freely. and like any other muscle in the body, the muscles that make up the tongue may experience sudden and involuntary spasms. Some of these spasms are very painful, uncomfortable and unpleasant.
Some of these spasms, called lingual dystonia, can make it difficult for a person with the condition, to eat or speak.
If you or those around you are experiencing tongue spasms, you will know by reading the article what causes these spasms and when you should definitely consult a doctor.
Types of tongue spasms
In the continuation of this section, we will describe and explain two important types of tongue spasms separately.
- Normal and natural spasms of the tongue:
According to doctors, it is normal for muscles to occasionally spasm. Spasms can occur in any muscle in our body.
Spasms are generally accompanied by muscle fatigue, dehydration, and loss of electrolyte balance, and they usually resolve within a few seconds without the need for special treatment, and may sometimes last for fifteen minutes or more. if You are a person who suffers from tongue spasms that last from a few seconds to a few minutes, don't worry!
But if you have a tongue spasm that is severe or recurring, you probably no longer have normal tongue spasms, doctors call this disorder dystonia.
- Abnormal tongue spasms
Unusual tongue spasms are called lingual dystonia. These spasms are very severe. They last a long time and cause your tongue to move involuntarily, making it very difficult for you to chew, talk and eat. severe lingual dystonia can cause a person to suddenly suffocate while eating. They can also lead to serious health problems.
reasons
In this section, we want to introduce you to the underlying factors that cause spasms in the tongue. Of course, we will explain these causes separately, that is, we will first list the causes that cause normal spasms in the tongue, and then we will explain the causes that are associated with tongue dystonia, which is actually an abnormally painful and prolonged spasm of the tongue.
What are the causes of natural tongue spasms?
These causes are actually the causes that cause spasms in all muscles of the body, including the following:
- Stress and Anxiety:
In this situation, all the muscles of the body are in a position to accompany the person to escape from the scary and dangerous conditions. One of the problems that afflicts the muscles of the body during stress is the occurrence of spasms between them. So the tongue muscle is no exception, and you may notice spasms on the surface of your tongue when you are stressed.
- Dehydration and disturbance of electrolyte balance:
If you work in hot weather, if you are an athlete who competes in hot weather or those whose job is outdoors and in hot weather, they can have spasms of muscles in their body, including the tongue.
Also, a person can become dehydrated due to excessive sweating, diarrhea and vomiting.
When the balance and proportions between the ions in the blood, namely sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, are disturbed, this imbalance between these electrolytes causes the muscle wall to be exposed to involuntary uncontrollable irritability, and spasms occur in various muscles, including your tongue.
- Another factor that can be associated with muscle spasms is muscle fatigue
Another category we want to look at here is the causes of lingual dystonia, which are actually prolonged and abnormal painful spasms of the tongue.
The causes of lingual dystonia are:
- Idiopathic
In fact, they are the most common cause of lingual dystonia and are actually very sudden spasms for which there is no known cause for them.
- Favorable genetics:
In fact, there are dystonia that are inherited and genetically transmitted, and these people usually have lingual dystonia problem in one of their parents.
- Acquired:
These dystonia usually occur as a result of an illness or condition, trauma, injury, or drug side effects, and are usually a long way from the time of birth.
Doctors say that all types of dystonia are usually of common origin. Disorders in a part of the brain called the glands or nodes or ganglia at the base of the brain are said to be the source of all dystonia. This site, the basal ganglia, plays a major and very sensitive role in the motor function that leads to the movement of skeletal muscle cells and It is not yet fully understood why these basal ganglia may be damaged.
Treatment of tongue dystonia
As we have said, normal and natural tongue spasms are common and resolve spontaneously without the need for treatment.
Our problem is dealing with lingual dystonia, which is actually an abnormal tongue spasm. In this section, we want to talk about how you can control and treat this abnormal dystonia.
Among the treatments that may be suggested to you by the treatment team and the specialist doctor are speech therapy and the treatment of swallowing disorders. It is also said that it is possible that very common relaxation exercises such as meditation can help control the condition of these people.
It is said that some sensory tricks, such as the following, may have major effects on improving the situation.
These include the following five:
- Touching the lips or chin
- chewing gum
- Biting a toothpick
- talking
- Put a finger under the chin
According to authoritative research, it is said that one third of people who experience intraoral dystonia improve their condition and symptoms after taking certain prescribed medications. Among the common medications, the following can be mentioned:
- Clonazepam
- Diazepam
- trihexyphenidyl
- tetrabenazine
- baclofen
If we want to name invasive treatments for intraoral dystonia, we should mention the injection of Botulinum toxin, which is popularly known as Botox. These injections will not be used to beautify or eliminate wrinkles, but in this way we will control the relative paralysis of your facial muscles, to relieve spasms and cramps in the muscles that cause lingual dystonia. Usually, the results of this injection appear in a few days after the injection.
Concluding remarks
If you or your loved ones are experiencing tongue spasms, and this is a concern for you:
If these spasms resolve spontaneously after a few seconds and do not recur frequently, there is no need to worry, but if you have spasms in the tongue that recur too often and are uncomfortable, annoying and painful, we recommend that you consult your doctor as soon as possible. Your doctor will choose the right treatment for your condition so that it can significantly eliminate or reduce your annoying symptoms and manifestations.