Burning mouth syndrome treatment

Very interesting patterns from all of you. My BMS started after thryroid surgery (had a large goiter) in 2008 (I had had partial thyroidectamy in 1989 but the other half kept growing). I've had BMS on and off since 2008. I was pretty much symptom free for a while (have no idea how it went away) and then last September it came back and it was really bad for 3 months -- it is not as bad right now. I am 55 and post-menopausal and I continue to believe it is related to hormonal fluctuations but no doctor has been able to diagnose it with any confidence; actually, I am about to try hormone replacement therapy in the hope that both BMS and other menopausal symptoms will be alleviated. My only relief comes from chewing sugar-free non-menthol gum, Ricola honey-herb candies, both of which have helped me go to sleep when things are really bad. I also take Alpha Lipoic Acid which was recommended by a neurologist, who was just as baffled as we all are. Good luck to all of us!

I to believe it could hormonal, since finishing treatment for breast cancer I am taking tamoxifen which block hormones. Forcing me into menopause as well. The ting of this fits as to when my bms started. Taking alpha lipoic, and b12. Also synthroid, which I stopped taking for a week and saw no change. Did the same with tamoxifen no change.

I am way past menopause - almost 63. Have no idea how or why this started. Did nothing different, did not start taking any new meds, etc. It has nothing to do with menopause in my case. I also have a really bad taste all the time. Do you have that too? Hope HRT helps you.

Dexxy, please let us know what the naturopath doctor tells you on Thursday. I take Lexapro but have started cutting my tablet in half everynight. Hopefully, to wean myself off of them soon. Just another thing I am doing to try to eliminate the cause of this problem. Thank you.

very interesting remedy/cocktail. If I may ask, how much of each pill do you take ? re: elavil, trazodone, wellbutrin. I have taken trazedone for my back pain and ironically it has helped my burning mouth! So I am interested in this other combination of pills that you take . Would you please reply to this and let me know? Thank you very much,

The cocktail is:

5 to 10 mg Elevil (amitriptylene)
50 to 100 mg Trazidone
75 mg Bupropion twice a day (but I take both tablets at bedtime).

You can adjust the dosage according to your needs. My anxiety/insomnia is very mild so I do not need a lot. Just remember that the Elevil will make you very groggy in the morning. But this is a great medication for all sorts of neurological problems. I also have very mild Polymyalgia rheumatica.

Let me know if all this helps.

Hi, i am a 27yrs old male, living in sweden and suffering from the torture of burning tongue, i have had this problem for 5yrs now. its being so fustrating that at times i wished i never existed. This pain have cause harm to my personal life and relationship with people. Am a hard working person, loves talking to people and making new friends. But with this tongue pains, i can speak nor talk properly again, people finds me strange cos am being so quite and this is because i dont want to make a fool of myself when i speak. This problem is so depressing atimes i wish it could be placed with HIV instead of going to this silient agony. I have been to so many doctors, done so many test but nothing seems wrong. i just dont know how this problem started but the harm it has done to  my life, i will not even wish my worst enermy to go through my pain. Please i need help, am so fustrated, depressed, confussed, can't concentrate and dont know what next to do. This burning tongue has made me lost so many things, jobs and opportunities in life. A doctor prescribed gabametin and clomipramine but the effects of this drugs even worsen my problem as my mouth gets more dry, i feel weak, cant sleep, inactive and speaking because more difficult that i times i feel like staying at home crying all day.

I realy need help or suggestion on what to do as this problem is already destroying my future and relationships with people that made me panic to speak out on this forum.

i feel for you as this is a debiitating problem. I don't know if you have been to an oral facial pain dr. yet, but I would highly recommend finding one, I learned that this is a neuopathy problem which means that the nerves that go from the brain to the tongue keep firing and create this problem. I had great resolution by going to a pain dr. who gave me a series of stellate ganglion blocks. These are injections in the ganglion nerve ( there are 2) in the front of your neck. These injections stop the nerve from firing and firing which is creating the pain. I had a series of 10 injections. The dr. alternated the right side and the next week injected the left side. I did this 10 times and fortunately I have had 90% relief. I also had tried those pills you mentioned, and they didn't help either. My oral facial pain dr. told me to take vitamin B1- Bentothiamine 150 mg ( 2 pills) twice a day. Each pill is 150 mg. I think that has helped also but most helpful were the stellate ganglion injections. I hope this was informative for you. I also started this week taking lexapro ( anti anxiety/depressant) to keep my anxiety down. The burning tongue syndrome make us very anxious because we have no control over it! Anyhow, good luck and let me know if you need any further info.

Be sure to read this; http://neurosurgery.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=734

interesting article, i find for myself that there is no pain, its more of a fuzzy numbing feeling

very very interesting! I had actually read that article a while ago. I am going to see a nuerologist this Monday and I am going to take that article with me. I was told, previously, by the oral facial pain dr, that it was the trigeminal nerve. How do you know about this procedure?

I am replying to your post, and hope MY reply helps you and others.

I’ve stumbled across a way to relieve the BMS pain I’ve been suffering for the last 4 months, and hopefully it can help some of you as well.

I generally don’t care to take medicine unless absolutely necessary. However, last Wednesday I was suffering from allergies, so I took a co-worker up on his offer to give me one of his antihistamines (Allegra D). A few hours after taking it, I suddenly realized that my mouth wasn’t burning nearly as badly as it typically does by mid-afternoon.
I decided to do an experiment, and took another antihistamine the next day (Loratadine, 10 mg). Again, the burning/stinging sensation in my mouth was significantly reduced, to such an extent that I almost felt normal again. The sensation wasn’t completely gone, but was so mild as to be almost unnoticeable (in comparison to what it was before). The burning came back to a minor degree later that evening, so on the 3rd day, I took a stronger antihistamine (diphenhydramine 25 mgs). I also wanted to see if the different type of antihistamine would change the effect, but it didn’t. The effect was the same - significant relief from the burning.

I went back to the 10 mg Loratadine, as the 25 mg diphenhydramine made me woozy, but it wasn’t a “non-drowsy” formula, so that would account for it. It has been 7 days now, and each morning I take one Loratadine. The relief continues to be significant.

I did an internet search for “burning mouth syndrome” and included the word “antihistamine”. I found a presentation made by a physician where he suggests mast cells may be a culprit in some BMS cases (Dr. Lawrence B. Afrin, M.D., University of South Carolina).

I’m including a link to the presentation he gave. It’s not oriented to lay people, so it’s not an easy read, but I suggest you try to scan through it, as what he has to say about mast cells is pretty interesting.

(http://www.mastocytosis.ca/2011%20MSC%20Medical%20Lecture%20without%20slides.pdf).

Here is the cure:  Do not eat dairy, meat, sugar, cane syrup, honey, tomatoes, vinegar, hot spices, mint toothpaste, fried foods, anything with trans fat or a lot of saturated fat, and refined flour, including wheat flour (whole wheat flour is okay).  Do eat:  vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans/lentils, and a multi-vitamin.  DRINK 8 GLASSES OF WATER A DAY.

Use Auromere (sp?) holistic, non mint, toothpaste found at Earth Fare.

 

That is how I cured mine.  So, there is your answer.

I meant to say cut out alcohol and coffee/black tea too.  Basically, I realized that BMS comes from inflammation of some sort.  So, I cut out all foods which cause inflammation in the body.  Sugar is a huge one.   I do use date sugar sometimes as it is made from dates and is not as inflammatory as sugar or honey.  Some maple syprup in moderation may be okay too.

Look up foods that are anti-inflammatory foods, and eat lots of those.  

Drinking eight glasses of water a day can do wonders with cutting out inflammation.

Good luck!

Ashley

I agree that there something to the antihistamine theory, I'm just getting over a horribe sinus/chest cold and the entire time i was stuffed up my mouth was normal! explain that one.  Although I wasn't taken anything for the first part of the cold I did start taking Advil cold and sinus to get through the day.  Makes you wonder.

I appreciate that cutting out all of those wonderful things from Ashley's kife worked but I'm not ready to do that, I still think we can manage without giving everything up :)