Tongue atrophy?!

[colls22]

I've been examining most every body part since my ALS freak out lately. This morning, I was inspecting my tongue, as I seem to be noticing moisture as the left corner of my mouth (of course thinking this is ALS and drooling or something). I noticed that in certain positions, it looks like the hump on the left is smaller than on the right. In others, they look the same.

My question is this - if this was atrophy, would i be having noticeable issues? Like, speech, etc? Like, beyond this moisture/drooling thing?

Am I going crazy here??

[Inaflap]

Hi,
I think you and I are both on the ALS cycle - checking every body part and noticing new things etc etc.  It is hellish.  I am not sure how to escape the fear and because the 'symptoms' can be interpreted from what is probably normal behaviour it is hard to escape.
I also had a panic about one side of the tongue being larger than the other recently - but have since noticed that this seems to be the case with other people too.  (Yes, I have inspected in some mouths!!) My right side of my tongue is slightly larger than my left.  But in other positions it can be the other way round.  I think (hope) it is normal.  I am not even sure that having one side larger than the other is true atrophy...maybe just overall shrinkage is more likely?  I don't know.  What I have read everywhere is that atrophy comes after weakness. 
My dad passed away from ALS recently - this is why my fears are sky high...beofre he was diagnosed, I never had any 'symptoms'.  Since then I have had all sorts of anxiety issues which I keep thinking are ALS symptoms...started with pins and needles, until the doc told me that this is not an ALS symptom...progressed to swallowing and throat problems, now I have that still (although ENT appt said nothing wrong) and right leg cramps and speech issues.....I feel like my tongue is sticking more to my top teeth and when I say words with 'sl' sound in them I click much more than other people do (sleep, nicely, that's-like, slipping) and it is driving me mad.  I don't even think this is an ALS symptom but my brain is telling me it is.
So I do feel for you...perhaps we will escape this cycle of fear one day

[sixpack]

I've been examining most every body part since my ALS freak out lately. This morning, I was inspecting my tongue, as I seem to be noticing moisture as the left corner of my mouth (of course thinking this is ALS and drooling or something). I noticed that in certain positions, it looks like the hump on the left is smaller than on the right. In others, they look the same.

My question is this - if this was atrophy, would i be having noticeable issues? Like, speech, etc? Like, beyond this moisture/drooling thing?

Am I going crazy here??

respectfully,  crazy?  well, crazy of your own choosing.   WHEN are you going to give up on ALS? How many months is it going to take for you to realize ALS doesn't work this way?  WHEN are you going to realize that YOU are allowing your thinking to do this to you?  I mean it really won't impact my life if you continue on with this, but it will impact you and your family.  It is your life you are wasting on this.  The MORE you look, the MORE you will find!    I am incredulous at the lengths you are going inspite and despite all rationality.    How many EMGs and doc visits do you need to accept that YOU don't have  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?    How many times do you have to ask for reassurance here that you don't have Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? How many months/years are you going to waste of your life worrying about Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?   

Bottom line: respectully, again,  it matters little to nothing about how scary this disease is.   it matters little how much your anxiety is telling that you have this disease.  What matters is that you have an anxiety disorder that is not being managed well at all.  It almost seems you don't care that your rational thinking is being completely usurped by your anxiety.  It almost seems like you'd rather believe you had ALS by the way you hang onto this belief beyond any reason.   .....  IDK what any reassurance from us or family or the medical community can do for you....  You've decided......  you know you are the KEY to all of this...   

[sassparella]

Seriously stop examining body parts. Our body isn't perfect, it isn't symmetrical, if you scrutinise it you will find variations and lumps and bumps and scratches and spots. If you have HA you should not be scanning your body like that. You do not have ALS, you've had heaps of tests you are fine. I know it's easy for me to say this and it's much harder to actually do, but I've stopped scanning myself, I refuse to take my heart rate any more - I was obsessed with it for a while to the point I took it every two or three minutes throughout the day, it was very tiring and got me nowhere but a one way ticket to anxietyville. You are doing this to yourself. Please accept that you don't have ALS, the doctors have told you this and move on with your life, for your own sake.

[colls22]

Yes, Sass, it's really hard. Just like fighting those night sweat fears, right?

I'm really struggling, but working very hard to try to find a psychiatrist. As I'm not working, a private psychologist just isn't really feasible, as $200 a session. The government pays for psychiatrists, but as such, they are in super high demand, and there are huge waiting lists. You can see my dilemma.

I've started trying to do a bit of my own CBT, which involves reading my test results, AND reading all of the positive messages from you folks. I don't know if this is the right thing to do, but I figure it can't hurt.

And you're totally right about body examining. I know this, of course. The doctors would find atrophy before you even knew you had it, and I have to believe that between being inspected a few weeks ago for the EMG, and several times since then for physio (and I've actually asked him to look for atrophy), if they saw anything, they would have said something.