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What Causes Tongue Cramps and How to Stop Them

A cramp or spasm happens when a muscle contracts involuntarily. It’s a very common sensation that many of us experience from time to time. Because there are several muscles that control the movements of your tongue, it’s possible to experience a tongue cramp as well. Many times, tongue cramping is an isolated incident. However, if it happens frequently, it may be a sign of another underlying health condition.

Symptoms of tongue cramps

If you have a tongue cramp, you may experience the following types of symptoms: pain, a feeling of tightness, muscle tremors, trouble with tasks such as speaking and eating.

Tongue cramp causes

Sometimes, the cause of tongue cramping is unknown (idiopathic). However, there are also some health conditions that may cause tongue cramping as well.

Muscle cramps

The most common area for muscle cramps to occur is in the legs, but cramps can impact any part of the body that you can move voluntarily. This includes your tongue.

Some factors that can contribute to muscle cramps include: dehydration, low levels of some electrolytes, such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium.

Dystonia

Dystonia is a condition that causes involuntary muscle spasms to occur. This is believed to be due to altered signaling from your brain to muscle tissue. Spasms caused by dystonia can be painful.

Oromandibular dystonia is dystonia that impacts the jaw, mouth, or tongue. When dystonia specifically affects the tongue, it’s called lingual dystonia. Spasms from lingual dystonia can pull your tongue into different positions.

The exact causes of lingual dystonia aren’t well understood. It’s possible that genetic factors may play a role in some people. Other causes may include: head injury, stroke, certain medications, such as antipsychotics or drugs that treat vomiting (antiemetics), infections, Wilson’s disease, a rare genetic condition.

Tetanus

Tetanus is a disease caused by a species of bacteria called Clostridium tetani. You get tetanus when C. tetani enters your body, typically through a wound, and begins to grow.

The bacteria produce toxins that impact the central nervous system, causing painful muscle spasms and rigidity. This can also affect the tongue.

Motor neuron diseases

Motor neurons are nerve cells that control the voluntary movements of your muscles. A motor neuron disease (MND) impacts signaling to these muscles, affecting your ability to do tasks like walking, speaking, and swallowing.

MNDs are progressive. This means that they gradually get worse over time. Some are inherited, but many times the causes of MNDs are unknown.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is one of the more common types of MND. Early signs of bulbar ALS include alterations in tongue movement involved in speech and swallowing abilities.

People with an MND can experience muscle cramps or spasms, which can cause pain or discomfort. These may potentially impact the tongue.

How to stop tongue cramps

In many cases, a cramp will last for a few seconds to minutes. During a tongue cramp, you can do a couple of things to help ease your symptoms:

Stop what you’re doing. If a specific activity, such as eating or talking, triggered a tongue cramp, stop until the cramp passes.

Stretch out your tongue. Stretching out your tongue may help to ease cramping in some, but not all, cases.

Tongue cramps due to underlying conditions

Tongue cramps due to an underlying condition are often managed with medications or therapy.

Lingual dystonia

Lingual dystonia may be managed using:

medications like clonazepam (Klonopin), baclofen (Lioresal), and trihexyphenidyl

botulinum toxin (Botox) injections

therapy to help cope with difficulties in speech, swallowing, or chewing

sensory tricks when symptoms appear, such as chewing gum or touching your jaw.

When you have a tongue cramp or spasm, you may experience symptoms like pain, tightness, and difficulty with talking or eating. Many times, these symptoms only last for a few seconds or minutes.

Tongue cramps may occur occasionally without an identifiable reason. Other times they can happen due to health conditions like dystonia, tetanus, or MNDs.

In some cases, you can ease tongue cramps by stopping what you’re doing and stretching out your tongue. However, tongue cramps or spasms that are caused by an underlying condition often need additional treatment.

See a doctor if you have tongue cramps that happen frequently, last a long time, or occur with severe pain. They can work to help you figure out what may be causing them.

(08/22/2021)
by Healthline

More Information: https://www.healthline.com/health/tongue-cramp

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