Impossible to swab without touching your tongue?

[JulyBreeze]

I've just gone for my second Covid test, no option to have someone administer it again. Both times I've found it impossible to keep the swab tip from touching the top of my tongue, which I know can invalidate the test. (However the first time I went, I got a Negative, rather then Inconclusive, result.) Do most people have this problem, I've heard others voice similar concerns?

If a HCP administers it, do they hold your tongue down with a spatula or something?

I've read someone's post on here saying that in other countries they don't do self administered tests. And medics on here saying it's impossible to self test properly because of these kind of issues.

This article says that there could well be problems:
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/coronavirus-uk-latest-questions-raised-self-testing-covid-19-centres-homes-427570/amp

However this article says faults with self administered tests might not be more than 10% though, which is good enough on the mass level but obviously not on the individual level:
www.newscientist.com/article/mg24632823-200-how-accurate-are-the-results-from-self-testing-for-covid-19-at-home/

If children are being tested much more from September, this will become even more of an issue, I'd have thought.

Just had this with my toddler.
Was impossible!!!

Likewise. They gave me a spoon to hold my child's tongue down but.... They told me I could just do her nose but then there was 50/50 it would be inconclusive!!! So that felt a bit ridiculous. I managed to do a quick swipe of her throat

I think ours will come back inconclusive as he kept grabbing the swab as well🙄

I wish they would just do the kids ones- not sure why not? We could hold them on our lap in the car?!

I just did mine this morning and didn't touch my tongue. Well I don't think I did. I do have a big mouth 👄 so maybe I can open wider ? I knew it would come in useful one day ha ha !

Anyone had their results back?

I'll update once I've got my results. I think it's usually 48 hours, but mine is part of a study, so was via courier, so could take a bit longer. I don't think I have it btw, I'll be very surprised if I do. I'd love to be tested for antibodies as had something early in January.

I found it pretty easy to swab myself but difficult to swab 9yo DD without touching her tongue as the throat swab made her gag. Got results back a day after posting, both negative.

Push your tongue against your bottom teeth.

Having said that, the test I had at the hospital was the one that went allllll the way down my nose. There was one nurse doing the test and the other one to hold me still! Ugh!

I was told "within 24 hrs" at 1045 this morning. Was rather hoping for results before bed tonight as I know they can be within 12 hours. It seems not this time though.

Roll on the saliva test, being trialled in Southampton iirc.

Managed to successfully swab my 3 year old, nose and mouth, and it came back negative. But I had to take my mum (in my bubble) and she can't keep from gagging and her tongue comes up to touch the end of the stick. She's had two unclear results so far.

My daughters and I have been tested twice now. All self administered. We didn’t have any issues not touching the tongues. All results came back negative.

My sons came back negative after 12 hours! Very surprised that it wasn’t inconclusive and that is was negative and he’s got a horrific cough and temp! But phew!!

Any tips for testing toddlers? I'm a single parent and DS is also visually impaired so hard to get him to open his mouth on command. I'm not sure how I can hold him down and test at the same time. He's woken with a bit of a cough and snotty nose. So it's looking very likely we will have to test or isolate 😫

The first self swab I did I found really tricky and I'm sure I touched my tongue.

Since then though I discovered that if you actually make an "ahhhhhh" sound whilst swabbing your tongue stays low and out of the way. It makes it a lot easier.

Some test centres do it for you though which I find a lot easier. Chessington is a good one for anyone in the South East.

PS I'm part of a research project so get asked to test regularly. I'm not constantly showing symptoms!

@SunnySurf

How old is your son?

I managed to do my 18 month old alone, I keep him in his car seat but tilted it back a little bit. This sounds mean but I then squeezed his cheeks a little bit to make him open his mouth then did it... I had to use my other hand to hold his hands down as he kept trying to grab the swab. Once it starts he started crying so that actually made it easier!! The nose was ok to do! One of my hands held his down... and the nose did the swab. I would recommend cleaning his hands before you start incase he grabs the swab so if he does his hands are clean.

Hope his comes back negative.

Also if he’s snotty take some tissues with you as it said to wipe away snot before the nose swab. Oh and also take alcohol hand jel or gloves with you so when you do it you’ve got clean hands.

He's nearly 3. I've booked a drive in test as i thought the same as you about being strapped in the car seat will help. I think nostrils only will be achievable but no chance with tonsils. I figured it's worth trying because if it comes back negative then I can relax. If it's inconclusive then at least I've tried.

Have got an Unclear result, so here we go again..... 🙄

This time I asked the assistant at the centre for tips on how to keep my tongue out of the way: she said stick it out of your mouth, possibly hold it down with (sanitised) fingers.

And this time I was told 1-3 days for results. Do they take longer at weekends?

I had a test yesterday and wasn't told about the tongue thing?! Hoping my results aren't inconclusive or false. I just shoved it in my mouth and twizzled it all over as advised at the time...

I have to use a spoon to hold mine down and my boss does the swab. I would hate to have to do it on myself.

I never had this issue, at all

Maybe just practice with a normal cotton swab beforehand? I had a mirror right in front of me too.

I could understand young children having difficulty but adults? Your tongue is a separate area from the back of your throat. The swab shouldn’t be near you tongue, it should be elevated above as you’re aiming for your throat.

@Hippocampe the instructions say it must not touch any part of your mouth/tongue other than the tonsils area.

@Hairthrowaway I guess people's tongues vary?

They tested your tonsils? That would have been so easy, I am actually jealous. I had mine in hospital and they went up my nose and down the back. It was deeply deeply traumatic and painful. I burst into tears and couldn't pull myself together for about ten minutes. This isn't a usual response for me.

Just back from doing ours. I could barely get to the back of my throat, the back of my tongue kept curling up and I also have a small mouth, no tonsils (so I'm not really sure where I'm aiming for either 🙈) so it just wasn't easy. If I need to redo it I'll try the tongue out and two fingers trick.

DS wasn't much of a success easier. Only reason I thought I'd try it is because we've had to isolate 3 times already since March and don't want to do it again unless we really have to. It's worth the brief distress if it gets a clear result but if it's inconclusive I'm not putting him through it again.