Question: I am a 46-year old female. I am have become a bit alarmed over the past 4-5 days because I have had some difficulties with speech. My tongue has felt a bit lazy at times, at others it almost feels that I am having an extremely mild tongue spasm -- almost to the point where I wonder if I had the sensation or not (probably sounds stupid). Most of the time I am able to speak normally, but then have been stumbling on words that are very common words in my speech. Once I attempt to repeat them, then I am able to do so, but I just can't help being very aware of the difference. It is probably not noticeable to anyone else, although my husband has said that he has notice now that I have pointed it out. I have not been diagnosed with any neurological disorders and have no family history other than a mother who is 74 with Alzheimer's. I do have hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias. So far the only arrhythmia that has been detected with 12-lead ECG is bigeminy. My family and I have also been passing a cold back-and-forth for several weeks and I have been suffering from a lot of sinus drainage and have been swallowing a lot harder and more often than usual. Sorry if this sounds ridiculous, I have just never experienced this before and it is somewhat scary to lose the ability to articulate my words. I don't know whether I should just dismiss it or head to the emergency room. The symptoms haven't become worse, but I just want to make sure that they aren't the sign of something more serious.

Thank you. I understand that nothing can be determined without diagnostic tests, but what conditions come to mind based upon the description of my symptoms? Thank you so much again. I will definitely call tomorrow.

Also, If I would like to request you in the future for questions, is there a way to do that? This is my first time using the service.