Geographic Tongue???

[Liberty Belle]

I went to eat lunch with my 8 year old son at school today and as soon as I pulled into the parking lot, my phone rang. It was my son asking me to bring him tylenol because his tongue hurt.

When I went in, I had him stick his tongue out for me and I saw raw patches (about 3) on it. I've never seen anything like that before.

Another mom who was signing in asked to look at it and she said it looked like "Geographic Tongue." She said she had it and spicy foods irritated it (which is lovely since my son is a vinegar/mustard/salsa addict). One of the secretaries said her child had it and she looked at my son's tongue and said, "Yep, that's what it is." So I just googled some images and it looks like it to me, too, though thank goodness my son's case looks mild compared to some of those pictures!

Does anyone here have any experience with it? He has a dentist appointment in a couple of weeks, so unless it really bothers him past today, I'm not going to bother taking him in for it.

I guess the only thing that can be done is avoiding spicy foods? Is there some other treatment?

 

[nephthys43]

I have it. I irritate it all the time cause i love sour and spicy foods. You learn to live with it.

 

[shirleyb]

Wow, I have never heard of this before. I think your plan is fine though, based on what the web resources say.

 

[hambirg]

My ex has it. I don't think there is really any kind of treatment for it. It seems to come and go, and personally, I think it seemed to be caused by stress. . .at least with him.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I just read that it can be caused by a Vitamin B deficiency. This may help me in getting him to take his vitamin every day.

 

[Keli]

My dh has it and he eats ghost peppers, loves all things hot, really, really hot. It does get irritated every once in a while but no where near every time he eats something hot or spicy. It may not be too bad for your son.

 

[laurie31]

My DD12 has it; we first noticed it when she was around 4. It doesn't seem to bother her, it does come and go, but it can look freaky!

When she was in elementary school, we used to mention in to her teacher just in case she noticed and thought it was something bad.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I have it, have never done anything about it. My tongue has always looked patchy like that and once a dentist told me, oh you have a geographic tongue. I used to be a little self-conscious about it and brush my tongue like crazy. I have never heard that it can be caused by a vitamin B deficiency, but I occasionally take a mega-B supplement, so I will investigate!

 

[cristit14]

I was told as a child that I had it too. I don't ever remember it hurting though. It seems to come out more if I have a lot of citrus.

 

[kidzmom3]

my DH has it and he is not a fan of super spicy things because of it. But, for him its usually a combination of foods, not just one thing. For instance, his worst occurrence was when he drank orange juice while eating popcorn (gross combination anyway if you ask me)

 

[ginna74]

I don't know if this is it... But when I eat or drink anything sour like lemonade, sour candy, orange juice, or just anything sour and have it more then once my tongue does NOT like it and I can get what is called thrush and I go to the doctor and get meds for it.... I am not on antibiotics any more <that helped I guess with the thrush too> but I still get it if I eat or drink the sour stuff...

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I don't know if this is it... But when I eat or drink anything sour like lemonade, sour candy, orange juice, or just anything sour and have it more then once my tongue does NOT like it and I can get what is called thrush and I go to the doctor and get meds for it.... I am not on antibiotics any more <that helped I guess with the thrush too> but I still get it if I eat or drink the sour stuff...

Geographic tongue is not thrush - thrush is caused by yeast. So I'm not really sure why sour foods would cause yeast to grow. Antibiotics can cause thrush though. Could it be that you had trouble with oral thrush AND you have geographic tongue?

 

[ginna74]

hmmm thanks that is food for thought.... but I did get the pills to chew 5 times a day or the mouthwash stuff to swish 4 times... maybe I got the one and already had the thrush when I went to the doc??? I got it sooo many times that I had to stop the antibiotics....

 

[Liberty Belle]

Thanks for all the info and thoughts.

His tongue isn't hurting at all today.

Btw: I just overheard him talking to his friends on the Xbox: "Hey, do you guys hate vitamins, too? I have to take more vitamin B now, because if I don't get enough I get this thing called asymetrical tongue."

 

[ginna74]

I am taking vitamin b now anyways but I do not drink lemonade or orange juice.... I love my tongue too much!!!