If your tongue begins to feel strange and begins swelling up, you may want to consider visiting an urgent care clinic. A swollen tongue is often a sign of an allergic reaction, and this can be a life-threatening problem. Here are a few things you should know about this problem.

Common reasons tongues swell

In some cases, it can be easy to pinpoint the cause of the swelling. For example, if you have an oral piercing that gets infected, this could be the cause. In other cases, it can be hard to determine what has caused this to happen. There are a variety of other things that can lead to this problem, including allergic reactions to the following things:

• A food item you consumed
• A plant you were exposed to
• Medication you took
• Insect bite

Along with having a swollen tongue, you may also be experiencing other symptoms. This is quite normal from allergic reactions, and it can include fever, chills, vomiting, and rashes.

Risks of a swollen tongue

The main reason you should seek help for a swollen tongue is from the risks it can cause. While you might be able to breathe fine right now, if your tongue swells too much, it can block your entire airway. If this happens, you will not be able to breathe at all, and this could lead to death. This is why you should seek help before your tongue swells up even more.

How it is treated

If you know why your tongue reacted this way, your doctor will suggest staying away from that particular thing. If you do not know the cause, the doctor is likely to treat you by giving you medication. The most common medication used for this is called epinephrine, and this is given as an injection. Epinephrine is a powerful medication that is often used to help the body fight some type of threat, and it tends to work great for treating swollen tongues.

When a person is having trouble breathing from a swollen tongue, a doctor may place a breathing tube through the person's nose to help the person breathe until the swelling goes down. This would allow the person to continue breathing during this difficult time.

When your tongue swells, it can be a scary experience, but it can also be a dangerous situation to be in. If this happens to you, you should seek help from an urgent care facility soon.