I know these are small things, but I am in the midst of an annoying case of "football tongue"...where your tongue, although smaller than its original size, feels like it's the size of a football...and about the same leathery texture, too. I wouldn't exactly call it painful, but damn uncomfortable and annoying.

I just can't identify what causes it with me. My speech turns into mush, or as I describe it, I feel like I sound like a deaf person speaking. The thing is that I only work part time and if my tongue is this bad over the past 2 days without work, I can't imagine what it will be like at the end of my work shift tomorrow. I am constantly talking and having to raise my voice for all of the patients that are very hard of hearing. I have found that they are the ones who have a lot of difficultly understanding me. They'll often say, "I can hear you, but I can't understand you.". It must be something about pitch or tone, because I am speaking as loudly as I can.

I guess I am just wondering if anyone has any remedies for football tongue and/or can you identify anything in particular that causes it. For me, I know that too much talking does it, but that's not always the case. I have had a particularly stressful week with family death, FIL's illness, kids' illness...but again, that's not always the case and I still get it. I'm wondering if it's hormonal, food/drink triggers, etc.

Any insight or idea would be very welcome. If I just have to suck it up and deal with it, that's fine. I'm just a bit grumpy and I'm letting it bother me more than I should!

Thanks,
Kerri