My tongue swelled up during my last recurrence, to the point where I could not close my mouth. My docs said it was probably due to my immune system's reaction to the tumor in my tongue. Steroids did help quite a bit, but the relief was only temporary. After I completed the round of steroids the swelling returned and my doctors were hesitant about giving another round of steroids. Fortunately, after I had 1 or 2 chemo treatments and a couple weeks of radiation, the swelling went down substantially and stayed down.