How To Get Rid Of Geographical Tongue
The swollen tongue bearing red and grayish white patches substantiates the geographical tongue symptom. The grayish white color existing over the tongue is known as papillae causing geographical tongue complication. The geographical tongue problem can be recognized through papillae (red) of the tongue surrounded by whitish and yellowish sites. The geographical tongue is also known as “benign migratory glossitis”, “benign migratory stomatitis,” “glossitis areata exfoliativa,” “glossitis areata migrans”, “lingua geographica” and “stomatitis areata migrans”.
People affected from geographical tongue experience a pain all over their tongue while consuming citric and spicy foods. Geographical tongue syndrome causes stinging sensation as well, too difficult for the affected one to tolerate. Apart from swelling the tongue and causing excessive pain and burning sensation over the area, the geographical tongue symptom renders the tongue numb as well. The geographical tongue gets swollen and causes burning sensation and severe tongue pain while consuming the citric fruits and soar foods. Tomato, eggplant walnuts, sharp cheeses and spicy foods also cause burning sensation or inflammation over the geographical tongue.
Individuals, affected from the geographical tongue problem find it very difficult not only to brush their teeth with a soft-bristled toothbrush but gargle with a mouth-wash as well. All the affected ones, adhering to gargle with mouth wash exacerbate their geographical tongue problem involuntarily with their existing pain and burning sensation increasing to a great extent. Ignorance on a part of individuals, affected from geographical tongue develops fissures or cracks as well all over the tongue.
The geographical tongue is a genetic problem affecting men, women and children. Though exact reason of geographical tongue causes a dilemma, some problems such as allergies, eczema and asthma are considered to be the common causes of geographical tongue problem. Genes, stress, intemperance, excessive consumption of processed foods, deficiency of vitamins, hormonal changes and allergies are some of the major causes of geographical tongue problem. Hyper-tension, anxiety and stress also are supposed to contribute to a great extent in developing geographical tongue problem, according to the doctors. People consuming the sugar based products and processed foods at large also are the most susceptible ones to the geographical tongue problem.
Though the geographical tongue problem is common to affect the people of all ages, it normally affects the women at large. Figure of women affected from geographical tongue problem is three times more than men. Due to hormonal changes in their body, maximum number of women encounter the geographical tongue problem, experiencing inflammation and pain all over their swollen tongue. A woman passing either through ovulation or a pregnancy stage has got to be affected from geographical tongue. Those women who apply birth controlling methods by consuming regularly the contraceptive pills get very easily victimized of geographical tongue problem.
Those who are the victims of geographical tongue should follow the tips on how to get rid of geographical tongue.
- Avoid citric edible items– Do not consume citric fruits like strawberries, tomatoes and pineapple apart from avoiding the spicy foods in order to prevent the burning sensation and pain of geographical tongue.
- Avoid scrapping tongue– Do not scarp your tongue in order to remove white patches of geographical tongue.
- Chew mint– Chew the mint leaves or mint candy. Its cooling sensation will provide you a faster relief from intensive inflammation and pain of geographical tongue.
- Zinc supplement– Make sure that your meal has plenty of zinc. Zinc supplements are too effective to deal with geographical tongue problem, enhancing the immunity of tongue. Regular consumption of zinc based foods will help you get rid of geographical tongue.
- Medical treatment– Though geographical tongue is the fugacious problem, consult a doctor if the problem does not seem to be subsiding. The doctor may apply topical steroids over the geographical tongue to remove the white patches and treat geographical tongue problem efficiently.
- Vitamin B– Consume green leafy vegetables and have the diet rich in vitamin B in order to deal with geographical tongue.
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I’ve had GT for a few years now and I’ve been to the doctor a few times because of it and have recieved no help. I just know not to eat anything citrus, tomatoey, or spicy cuz it gets really bad then. I also grind my teeth very bad at night tho during my sleep and the doctor figured it was probably linked. Not sure how to fix that tho. Seems to me there is not much out there to help i’m afraid.
To assist with grinding of your teeth at night see your dentist or prothodontist to get a mouth splint made up to wear at night. I did and it helps. They are made of a light plastic so it isn’t heavy like dentures.
I first noticed GT 10 years ago and never had a clue what it was until I found pictures on the internet yesterday.!! Doctors told me I had canker sores.!?..I started to fight it in different ways and recently started to use SLS free toothpaste. I washed my mouth with Sensodyne whitening toothpaste and yesterday night when I had my mouth full of white spots I washed my teeth an they all dissapeared in the morning. Such a relief! I don’t think this will last though, cause I think it is more vitamins, hormones, stress related. Or something else..Very annoying. I will start taking vitamin B,C zink..to see how it’s going to work. P.S. I haven’t had a fever in 15 years, could this be a bad thing possibly?
Had GT all my 63 yrs periodically. Was told in my 20s it was GT which resulted from a lack of a certain vitamin B but not identified. So I often took a B Complex which didn’t cure but was very helpful. Recently suffering GT constantly which prompted research on internet. Well, I have been consuming home grown strawberries and tomatoes and taking zinc for immune system plus taking care of grandchildren in the city and driving (am a country person) adding stress too! Hope this helps because you helped me – thanks.
My three year old son has GT and he has break outs about every 2 weeks. His tongue is very spotty and whitish and pain. He has lots of burning with this break outs. He takes vit. B daily. I am going to try change his diet to see if it will help with his condition. He hates to brush teeth because it hurts. Any suggestion on toothpaste?
Interesting, I’ve had it my whole life (23 years) and so has my dad. Neither of us actually feel any pain from it and we both eat really spicy and plenty of acidic foods. I was just doing research on it now and found out it was a disease. I just thought I had a recessive gene of sorts and was curious. Anyone else out there have a GT and hasn’t had any problems?
Cheers,
I only discovered it recently, within the past year. I’m 20 years old, and i did not discover this until i was deployed to Japan (my first duty station). I suppose it could be stress related, as well as my gray hair (oorah), but i figure its most likely a vitamin deficiency since i was not able to eat as healthy over there. I haven’t noticed any problems with eating spicy foods myself… however since your mouth burns when you eat hot and spicy foods, how would i know? lol
I only discovered that I had GT on a recent visit to the dentist. I have had it for years and never had any problems with it. I regularly eat fruits and enjoy spicey food occasionally. I have never had any pain, and the condition does not cause me any discomfort whatsoever.
i just got back from he doctors office and she said it was GT, other than the white gunk on my tongue i have no other symptoms, no burn or pain just wrinkle on the side of my tongue and white covering that is consistent and never goes away..i thought it was genetic, my daughters and sons have it… we are trying an anti fungal starting today, i guess we will see if it is fungal or GT… but i want a nice pink pretty tongue to go with my pearly whites so if anyone has any suggestions…
I am a willing tester..
Me and my son have it too. I am 42 and I’ve had it for 20 years now. My son is 11 almost 12… and he just got it, so it prompted an internet search. It doesn’t hurt him at all and it hasn’t bother
ed me unless I eat a lot of sour things. I’m a big sunflower eater and so it does get irritated from that, but I just do it… it’s not painful.
I had GT every now and then ever since i was a kid now im 28 male. Recently, i visited a doctor because for a lengthy 3 months now my GT hasn’t disappear like how it would before. My doctor told me its nothing major not a disease or anything and it’s mostly likely genetic. He prescribed me Betadine 1% oral antiseptic solution (mouthwash) and i’ve been using for a day now and im seeing clearing progress. = )
I was told as a child I had GT, because of white patchy spots on tongue, but had no symptoms other than those. After I turned 30 (and was pregnant) I started to notice that my tongue would swell on the edges or tip when I had pineapple, strawberries and certain types of tomatoes – especially cherry tomatoes. I just limit my quantities of these items to manage it. Noticed recently however that the tongue swelling seems to be occurring more frequently – tonite it was as a result of eating either hummus or some olives, so I googled the swelling tongue, strawberries, pineapple, tomato – and found this thread….I guess it is both a relief and a disappointment – I may try vitamin B to see if it helps, but it seems like there are an increasing number of foods I’ll just have to avoid!
Thanks for the info!
Have had this all my life (38 yrs old). It’s a pain in the butt, or tongue…lol. Good to know about the Vitamin B and Zinc. Had tomatoes in balsamic vinager, cilantro, lemon, red wine, chocolate and clementines New Year’s Eve and Day. OMG…the WORST possible diet for GT. So, here’s my cure:
Do NOT use mouthwash until it subsides. Do NOT scrape your tongue nor brush it. It only adds to the pain.
Suck on ice cubes and drink ice water. Every once in awhile, swish the cold water around and spit it out. It helps a lot.
Breathe: GT means you are stressed…the kind of stress you don’t realize you are experiencing but your stomach does. Hence the reason it builds up the acid and BOOM..GT.
Good luck folks, I feel your pain.
Had (GT) since I was 19 (am 29 today). At about the same age I developed cat & dog allergies, and have a mild congestion in my nose all the time. At the same time I developed inflammatory bowel disease. Doctors say there is no connection, to me it seems like there is some kind of auto immune deficiency at play(No medical background, just guessing). I don’t notice my GT so much, it is periodic. The foods that really set it off are cherry tomatoes, ripe bananas, some kinds of hummus, honeydew melon, fried/grilled egg plant, and pineapple. Unbaked walnuts are the worst by far (pecans not so much). Also cashew nuts and sometimes peanuts. In general, very ripe acidic fruits and vegetables can give an uncomfortable stinging sensation sometimes worse than others. Strangely enough I can eat loads of ripe cherries no problem. Chili spicy foods are no problem but may sting a bit if the GT is bad. I don’t avoid any foods cause I can live with it, except walnuts
im 12 years old and ive had it since i was 8 and it dosent normally hurt just when i like eat spicy or fruity things its not a problem with tomatoes cuz i dont ever eat them mouth wash omg that hurts so bad it makes me want to cry!! ive tried everything to get rid of it maybe from the embarrsement of the kids asking to see my tounge i dont have white stuff on it i have slits on the side of my tounge somedays it gets better and some it just really bad water seems to help it but still i want it gone more than anything in the world if any one would be willing to help me plz do i will be so happy
I read that many people who stop eating gluten for some time saw improvement, actually it was completely gone..maybe we should try this for a couple of months and see what happens.
This is an interesting blog on GT. Discovered it last summer and made an entry – that’s when I first developed geographical tongue. In recent postings I have not seen a single entry on the relationship between GT and psoriasis. Apparently the skin composition is the same. GT certainly behaves like psoriasis too. Autoimmune disorders run amuck in my family. I lead a fairly healthy lifestyle. I don’t find any foods “trigger” GT – rather, they aggravate it. My patches are constantly coming and going. My tongue will nicely clear up and two or 3 more start. With autoimmune (AI) disorders, the triggers and symptoms and parts of the body being attacked are constantly changing. There is no cure for psoriasis – only treatment which can’t be used on the tongue. The psoriasis/AI connection makes most sense to me and, in my personal experience and with what I’m reading herein, it seems others with GT have other AI disorders. Incidentally, I was peri-menopausal when GT started (had been for many years, though), there is lots of AI disorders & psoriasis in my family, and though I have many AI disorders, I have had no psoriasis before GT showed up last year.
I have gt and psoriasis I use EUCERIN lotion on my psoriasis twice a day it never gets scaly try it, it works great As far as the gt Ive ha d no succsess with anything
I am 65 my Graphical Tongue started when I had flue 40 yrs ago, the doctor gave me streptomycin ?, antibiotic.The antibiotics made me fell terrible my face was like wax… I looked like death,I phoned the doctor, he said stop taking it ,I did,since then I have had GT.I have continually asked doctors to cure it and they all shy away.I do not take any medicines I do not know what side effects they have…read the notes with the pills you get…. you wont take any?
What the doctors don’t tell you it is a side effect of medicine maybe antibiotics as it hurts your immune system,this is an immune system problem it buggers it up.There is no cure ,the young doctor on morning TV told a viewer not to worry it will go away in 1-7 years there is nothing to be worried about RUBBISH… its effected my life ever since especially the pain and embarrassingly ugly tongue,doctors all deny its lasting ,they know its untreatable,if like me you was not told the drug has side effects that may effect the rest of your life,( if you saw that on some ones tongue you would not go near them ) , the doctors need to pay recompense,this is what they are frightened of,this problem needs to be addressed ,and truth be told
……if you work out what drugs you took near the time it started you may have a case.
I wont take the flue jab I hear they use mercury as a preserving agent,wont have amalgam filling because they contain 50%…. Mercury is the second most toxic substance on earth and kills neurons in the brain,think about it all…….. research it all on http://www.youtube.com ……..happy hunting.So much more to say………..
Hi bob I have just read your article on GT I have had it since i was on antibotics at christmas.I had flu and sinusitus and had sore tongue since .Do you know of any cures it is not so much burning now but still looks a mess.I have seen GP six times
seen nurse,Dentist, Pharmasist nobody seems to know.I have tried lots of different types of mouth washes but no good.
Hi I am haley and i am 15 years old and tongue swellls up when i eat spicy food sometimes minty gum. I have cut down alot of food because of this.
I am 40 and have had GT for as long as I can remember. It has been much more frequent the past couple of years. I keep reading that it is not painful, but mine is very painful. It is even difficult to talk sometimes. I notice everytime I have a flair up, I can feel a burning sensation in my stomach. My eyes also feel very tired and burn. Does anyone else have these other symptoms? I am so sick of this
I use to smoke and drink allot , than stop cause I wanted to settle down and have baby.
Before that i never had a problem , but as soon as i reached 8 months of my pregnancy and 2 years later , I had a geographic tongue , very disturbing .I v noticed the worst food to hurt it is hummus.
Hi I am 29 yrs old and have been sufferering with GT for four months now .Through december and january i was very ill and on antibiotics for four weeks since then i have had a really sore tongue burning and red patches,yellowish coating.I went to see my Gp
and she told me it was thrush so i had daktarin gel which didnt do anything since then i have been back to GP six times and tried nystatin drops and tablets,mouthwashes even
had a bloodtest which came back ok .Today i have been to my dentist and he told me it definatley is GP
I have cut wine out and spicy foods the burning has gone but my tongue still looks the same.Does anyone know how to get rid of it driving me mad now.
It seems there are so many things that aggrevate GT. When I was 16 I remember eating McDonalds after school one day and when i’d finished it felt like my tongue was swelling up, it was throbbing and painful and i really thought I was having an allergic reaction. That was the first time i noticed that my tongue looked like GT. Since then i’ve had it but it will come and then disappear so i’m trying to determine what helps it go and what makes it worse. last week i ate salad for three days in a row (not intentionally) and my tongue felt absolutely perfect for the first time in years. this is all i had in salad but i’m surprised the tomatoes didn’t make it worse, i think the foods that must have helped my tongue has to be either the lettuce or cucumber
Lettuce
Tomato
Cucumber
Spring Onion
Cheese.
Honestly though it was such a relief to see my tongue looking normal for once, i’m going to have a side of lettuce every day and see if it really does help.
My little girl (3 and 1/2yrs) has GT. when she was around 18mths she had “hand foot and mouth” a viral infection I think and “slap cheek” , it seems to have been ongoing since then. At first we were told it was thrush, tried nilstat, darktarin…didn’t help. we took her dummy away and stopped the bottle and threw all the plasic cups away as I was convinced it was thrush and she was being reinfected by these, it didn’t work and we have since been told it is GT.
It’s very painful. Any suggestions would be great. I try bonjela gel on her tongue when it’s really painful. I will try the zinc and also look at natural toothpaste.
I do already give her kids centrum and vit.c daily to try and boost her system.
my daughter was born with a geolocial tongue-i noticed it right after she was born.she has had a few problems throughout the years.shes 17 and for the last month her tongue has been swollen and painful-she has developed small fissures on her tongue-doctors dont seem to take her conditon seriously and some seem to think it should not cause her any problems.im at my wits end-her diet has not changed so im trying to figure out what it could be.when she was little i would give her icecubes to suck on as she would constanley say her tongue was itchy-i dont know if this really worked ,but it made her feel better.
I have had this for as long as I can remember and My Mum has it too. I only discovered what it was after my dentist commented on it.
Some days it seems worse than others. Mostly I don’t even know I have it.
It doesn’t bother me too much, only if i eat strawberries, tomatoes, pineapple and walnuts and then my tongue really stings. Also mouthwash is not pleasant to use!
Interesting to read about vitamin B and Zinc helping, i will give it a go.
ive had geographical tongue for about 10 yrs and ive tried everything but wont give up until i find a cure myself because the doctors are no help.1
Dear All,
My son is 3 year old and he i suffering from geographical tongue problem and i had seen many doctors but no result. Pls anyone suggest me medicines to cure this problem.
I also want to say there is not any problem to him when taking food but when he is taking the spicy food then he crying. So i want to know GT is dangerous or not.
And pls anyone suggest me the medicines for the cureness of the GT.
Regards,
Rakesh Yadav
Mail Id : rakeshy2008@yahoo.com
hi daer, my name is darlington from nigeria i think this GT is universal proplem but with time will get the perment solution to it i promiss we are working on it if u went to reach me for more info u can on 23408036751588 or darly212@hayoo.com
thanks
im 52 yrs old and ive had this now for about 10 yrs.ive tried vit b and cinc think it does help a bit. ,but looks like im going to have to live with it.but wish someone could help me find a cure.
hi,
I’m a 35 year old belgian male and have been suffering with GT for 3 years now, i can ‘controle’ it by avoiding spicy foods (especially ‘harissa’), pineapple, strawberries, alcohol, most nuts, chinese take away foods (i think it’s in their cooking oil ), apples and citrus fruits.
Indeed like someone mentioned before eating salads (Niçoise) does wonders (green beans, lettuce, eggs, ansjovis, potatoes). Also garlic, tea of ‘brandnetel’, Zinc and Vit b (especially B12) are effective. Rinsing the mouth with an non -alcoholic mouthwash like Perio-aid is better than products like Listerine which destroys your mucosa. What also strikes me is the fact that GT is often linked with stress and stomach-burn (in my case), therefore i try to relax and take Omeprazole (to reduce the acidity in my stomach).
greetz
had some dental work done beginning of sept. my tounge has been numb since then…saw the dent., he said it would get better, just take time. couldn’t stand the pain,went to family dr., he said it was thrush…did a go of meds and mouthwash didn’t help at all! i think i am going to go out of my mind, it is very hard to be nice, be around people and have to work and even talk! what can i do? i already am using sugarfree gum, biotene mouthwash, no caffe., eat lots of yogurt, use soda for brushing. i am getting b12 injections 1xweekly then 1xmo for 4 mo. any suggestions would be great ! i also have hypothroidism and hypoglycemic. thanks
After reading your article I think GT is my problem. Do patients with GT also have very deep cuts in their tongue? If so, what can be done to help with the deep cuts?
im a 18 year old girl and i have had it all my life nothing can be done about the cuts but to help with the pain just stop eating hot or spicy things for me sour things too. its that as bad as everyone makes it out to me
This seems like a “silent” disease that varies in severity and age. I am having a hard time believing that only 2 or 3 % of the population has it. A dentist told me what it was. Who documents it? If professionals aren’t worried about our disease then do they really document it or know of it’s prevalence? Mine is irritating, but I can live with it. My biggest beef is that I am a Speech and Language Pathologist and have to show my tongue from time to time to help people. I’ve had it for 20 years, but now I’d love to have a cure for it.
I’ve had GT since I was about 7. Sometimes it gets soo bad and I really don’t know what to do about it. Right now my tongue is so irritated I can barely talk. It’s like swollen and just hurts. I willl definately try these things
This is an interesting blog. I’ve had GT since my teens (I’m now 41). It was very sore in the beginning especially everytime I ate citrus foods, etc. It hasn’t been too much bother over the years but for some reason it has flared up the last couple of days, and right at this mo it is feeling quite sore and uncomfortable. I haven’t eaten any different to normal so don’t know what the trigger is.
After reading about the zinc and vitamin B, I think I will be getting those tomorrow and giving it a try.
Although I haven’t had so much discomfort from it over the years I wish my tongue looked ‘normal’, whenever a doctor or nurse or new dentist looks in my mouth, they say the same thing everytime – that I have thrush so have to put them right and say I have GT – I do find it a bit embarassing !
Dear GT sufferers,
I ignored GT for a decade because it caused me no pain. It came and went constantly and I just found it ‘interesting.’ Never mentioned it to a doctor. This past June I had a clinically significant event — which is fancy speak for a neurological disaster – a one inch lesion (dead part) in my spinal cord at C4. This puts me at very high risk for developing multiples sclerosis (MS), another autoimmune inflammatory disease. I happen to be a medical researcher by trade, so I hit the medical literature. Among other things I decided to finally figure out my tongue issues. Guess what? GT is related to the consumption of gluten, as is MS (also related to celiac and diabetes, which are both autoimmune). I immediately cut out gluten 100% and my tongue has cleared up entirely EXCEPT if I eat peanuts or hummus. Even then I get only a very slight spot the next day with no raised edges and it goes away quickly. (Now of course I avoid both of these.) It turns out that the tissue on the surface of your tongue is a version of the same membrane that covers your small intestine, so if you are getting spots on your tongue, odds are you are also creating damage in your intestines, and this can lead to much more serious autoimmune disease due to intestinal permeability. Gluten sensitivity (and autoimmune issues in general) run in families. My 10 year old daughter has had hideous psoriasis on her thumbs for 3 years. She tried gluten free twice and both times her symptoms improved within 2 weeks (and for the first time ever without steroids). Now she is gluten free for 2 months and her thumbs are only very slightly pink. She is VERY pleased as the psoriasis was spreading to her other fingers.
People with GT, gluten is not safe for many of us, and the damage is silent for a very long time until you get MS or celiac or stomach cancer or something else gluten-related. Be smart and give gluten-free a try. If it fixes your tongue, it is helping all the rest of your body too. If it doesn’t, no harm done in trying. There are so many products now that you hardly miss out unless you eat out a lot. While my health situation now is scary, I am sort of glad it happened so that my daughter at least could learn at a young age that she cannot handle gluten. I wish doctors understood something about this. It is in the medical literature, they are just not putting the dots together (because they don’t have time to read the medical literature) and the medical schools are too busy teaching what they’ve always taught to teach doctors to be curious. Wishing you health.
Hello, I think my 2 year old son has this. I have been looking on the computer and the only pictures i could find that looked like his tounge was GT. About 3 weeks ago i noticed he had little smooth spots on the back on his tounge. They seemed to go away about 3 days later. Then about a week ago i noticed they were back but bigger. It doesnt cause him pain (that he tells me) and he loves fruits. Its never given him a fevor, and he still is the happy boy he always is. Some of the pictures look scarey and painful…. Should i be worried about my son if he has GT??? I have never ever heard of this. If you can give me a little more info or help me out that would be great.
Thanks
When I was a baby my doctor mentioned off-hand to my mother that I had a geographic tongue. It hasn’t been a big problem for me. I am 30 now. I react to citrus and pineapple and nothing else. I have no problem at all with spicy foods. My reactions involve cuts and bumps along the edges of my tongue. I love citrus and pineapple and continue to eat it, and the reactions remain the same, but tolerable.
I’ve read before that GT is a symptom of wheat intolerance or Celiac disease. When gluten is avoided the problems go away for some people. It makes sense for me, as sometimes I react and sometimes I don’t. I don’t eat wheat-based foods very often (don’t like them) which would explain the irregular occurance.