What Causes Numbness In Tongue And Tightness In Neck While Chewing Food?

Brief Answer: reduce stress Detailed Answer: hello and welcome to health care magic, I am Dr Sriram Nathan an ENT surgeon and let me first assure you that you are perfectly fine. You have taken all possible investigations and apart from an unrelated cervical disc problem there is nothing found to be pathologically wrong with you. Now this does not of course mean that I do not understand that you do have a problem that your tongue becomes numb and your neck tightens when you eat. This just basically means that you have severe stress when has resulted in a neuromuscular coordination problem in swallowing. This is definitely curable and all it needs is an effective and religious participation from you. You need to relax and do these: - completely avoid anything spicy, oily and high flavoured -reduce the amount of caffeine in your diet and also alcohol -take meals at regular times and never skip a meal especially breakfast -take an anti reflux medication like the pantoprazole along with domperidone. your doctor will know about this. -when you are having meal start with foodstuffs which are easier to swallow and always swallow initially at least with lots of water. -Chew your food slowly and properly before swallowing -do not immediately lie down after a meal -try a relaxation method like yoga or maybe a light meditation before a meal and you will definitely feel better -take lots of green leafy vegetables in your diet so that the numbness will reduce -take a multivitamin with zinc like the zincovit in consultation with your doctor. Try these for at least one month before you lose hope and then you must take one more investigation called the upper GI endoscopy and get back to me or any ENT with the reports. Hope this helps and I would be happy to answer any more doubts that you may have regards Dr Sriram Nathan

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Brief Answer: stress again Detailed Answer: Hello again, Like I mentioned before stress, reflux, reduced anppetite, tight sensation in the throat means that you have increased acidity and reduced intake of vital nutrients which are necessity for having a good taste in the tongue. Also your fear of having food adds to the problem. Furthermore any numbness is never a cause for concern if every report is normal. Since you are having all these problems it's natural that you are losing weight but if it just a little then you have nothing to worry about.. In addition sometimes a simple thing like maybe a few missing teeth or even a caries on one side can predominate symptoms on one side. But since your tests are normal you again do not have anything to worry about. Just follow what I have advised for a month and then you will definitely feel better. So do not worry and take care Hope this helps Regards Dr Sriram Nathan

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