Can you swallow your tongue?

euser1984

I don't know where else to put this. I have epilepsy and have always thought that you cannot swallow your tongue when having a seizure; although, people without the knowledge attempt to put a spoon in your mouth.

What is this story about then? http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/soccer/footballers-life-saved-by-opposing-player-626472.html#.Uzkh_t8t-qo.facebook

ectoraige

Yes and no. It's impossible to literally swallow your tongue unless you cut it off and eat it.

It is however possible if you are lying on unconscious on your back that your tongue muscles relax to the extent that it covers your airway. This is generally what has actually happened when somebody talks about "swallowing" their tongue. To resolve this, simple tilting the persons head back and lifting the chin is enough to lift the tongue away from the airway.

For somebody in the middle of a fit the airway is pretty irrelevant anyway as is is common to stop breathing during a fit. It is only once the fit is over that they start breathing again and need a clear airway. The bigger threat in this case isn't the tongue blocking the airway, it's likely to be saliva and other fluids that may have been brought up.

The best thing to help somebody fitting is to turn them on their side in the recovery position once it has stopped. This allows fluids to drain from their mouth, and will also allow gravity to keep the tongue clear of the airway.

The only intervention during a seizure should be to stop the person injuring themselves on sharp/hard objects, preferably by moving the danger from the person, rather than moving the person.

"Swallowing your tongue" is the sort of colourful phrase that gets bandied about especially by journalists who don't know what they are talking about.

ectoraige

I should emphasise that the reason people shouldn't put a spoon in your mouth is that during convulsive seizures breathing is more likely to have stopped anyway, the blocked airway only becomes relevant after the seizure, so this is the time to act. Shoving things in people's mouth is just more likely to break their teeth and make them annoyed.

When somebody has repeated convulsive seizures one after another it does become a medical emergency, not because of their tongue, but because of the length of time they might go without breathing.

Oral Surgeon

euser1984 wrote: »

I don't know where else to put this. I have epilepsy and have always thought that you cannot swallow your tongue when having a seizure; although, people without the knowledge attempt to put a spoon in your mouth.

What is this story about then? http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/soccer/footballers-life-saved-by-opposing-player-626472.html#.Uzkh_t8t-qo.facebook

Good advice from ectorage.

Swallowing your tongue is a myth, up there with the dentist put his knee on my chest and unicorns.... Instead, an unconscious person's muscles will relax and the jaw/tongue will "fall back" and occlude the airway. A neck tilt or in trauma cases a jaw thrust is used to free the airway.

That video was the most ridiculous I've seen in a long time. The player sustained a serious blow to the head, was unconscious with a possible spinal injury and another player grabs him, flips him over and starts jerking his head/ jaw and neck...wtf...!!! He's lucky he didn't cause more harm... I'll bet the medics told him where to go with his monkey like first aid skills.... There are medics 5 seconds away, I think the lack of oxygen for 5 seconds is irrelevant.

The player and media all display their ignorance on this one.....