Hi Guys:

I have been low-carbing for approx. one month now and am doing great except for this issue! I read the previous thread about canker sores and didnt really get much help from them so thought I would make my own cry for advice/help! Just this week (about my 4th week), I started getting major (and I do mean very painful) sores (can't see them so I am not really sure) in my WHOLE inside of my mouth. It is just super tender and burns badly everywhere. I am assuming that it is diet related (maybe too much acid or tomatos?) since I have NEVER had even one in my life before! Someone else said it could be thrush (but it is not white) or just cankers (but I really cant see any sores, just redness and burning badly). I have tried mouthwash (Listerine) which does seem to help short term (maybe just numbs it?) and other over the counter rememdies. It seems to bother me sooo much after eating anything and really is painfull all the time! I have so far stopped eating tomatos or anything I deem acidish but am still suffering! If ANYONE knows ANY suggestions or has advice please help!!! I am planning to call the dr. this week if it doesnt improve as I am going on a cruise next week and dont want to suffer. Thanks for listening to me vent....and hey...at least I cant eat (lol)!!! Glad to have found this forum...I feel better already just thinking someone else may have had this or at least know what to do!

My husband, when he was much younger, had an allergic reaction to tetracylcean (sp?) and he said the inside of his mouth "sloughed off" and was very sore.

Is there something you have added to your diet around the same time this started?

Make sure you are taking your multi-vitamin. It may not help with the mouth, but it certainly cannot hurt!

Thanks Talon:

I haven't done or tried anything new since the low carbs, just the low carbs diet in itself was new! I have however, eaten a great deal of tomato...and was doing so every day till this happened. All other foods were already in my daily diet and then some! Thanks for the reply....I am desperate to know whats up...perhaps it is unrelated and viral but have a feeling it is indeed related somehow to my diet change!

Any input is appreciated!

Thanks,
Beth

I bet that you are not getting enough vitamin c. You should be consuming red and yellow peppers and strawberries since your fruit intake is low also add vitamin c supplements. Vitamin C, it' what's for dinner.

Black57

Canker sores are ulcers. Not all that dissimilar from stomach ulcers. They are typically brought on by stress, but have other causes too. Acid in your food doesn't cause the ulcers, but it does hurt them. I have been prone to them all my life and will get hundreds at a time if I am not dealing with or facing a particularly stressful event.

Now with that said, it might not be canker sores you are experiencing at all. Many people have allergies or even just a sensitivity to food that causes pain in their tongue and mouths. Citrus is a known culprite as well as other acidic foods. I think you don't really have more of a choice than to decide if you can live with the pain of eating them.

As for treatment, I use Benedryl. I just gargle it and let it sit where the sores are, then spit it out. It numbs the soreness and helps heal them.

Hi-
I have been searching through the threads at this site looking for insight about canker sores. I have, by the way, found it popping up quite frequently. And some people, like you and me, have never had a history of canker sores before. So it can be quite a shock to one's system.

I was hoping you would revisit this subject and tell me what you have learned since you initially posted about this problem.

As for me, I've seen a family physician, a dermatologist and a dentist about my canker sores. None of them have offered THE answer to what is causing these sores. My dermatologist said my flora are out of balance. I have a list a mile long of things to try. What I know doesn't work............cankaid, saltwater flushes, peroxide treatments. What might work........nystatin, alum (like styptic pencil stuff), silver nitrate, and benadryl. The alum and silver nitrate are to dry them up. The nystatin is I think a common antifungal. Benadryl relieves the swelling.
My dentist suggested a spot treatment with Periodex (need a prescription) before the sores develop (when the sites might feel "itchy"). It apparently isn't effective on full blown mature cankers.

Anyway, let me know what you have found out about "cures", and if you have also had a problem with frequent recurrence.

MP

Hi Beth,

I have gotten ulcers in my mouth all my life (39 years so far). There's not really much you can do once you have one. You can rinse with Peroxyl mouthwash or if you're cheap like me, use regular peroxide. Be sure not to swallow either one. If you use peroxide, brushing your teeth immediately will get rid of the nasty taste (it's the dead bacteria you taste). OTC medications like Canka and such have never done anything for me. You can also swish with warm salt water. As for the cause, mpengineer was right; it's an imbalance of your intestinal flora. Your stomach lining probably has them as well. There are a couple of things you can do for this.

1. Low-carb diet (which you are obviously doing) - keeps the undesirables (such as candida) at bay
2. Re-colonize your intestinal tract with "good" bacteria - eating yogurt can help this along, but by far the best sources are acidophilus capsules and a product called Lactinex. I prefer Lactinex as it is only sold in pharmacies where it must be kept refrigerated (keep it in the fridge at home too). This keeps the bacterial cultures alive. You never know how long the acidophilus capsules have been on the shelf.

Like I said before, this won't make your existing ulcers go away, but it will keep more from popping up.

Good luck!

I've been susceptable to canker sores and in addition to keeping my immune system in tip top shape, I use an oral steroid gel on them.

The one I use is called Lidex. You need a prescription for it but any dentist or doctor should be able to write one for you. At the first sign of getting one, I put a few dabs of the gel on a piece of cotton and keep it in my mouth over the sore for about 20-30 min. I do this 2-3 a day and the sore is noticebly less painful after the first treatment and completely gone in a day or two.

Of course it doesn't prevent them for occuring but it does make it heal a lot quicker. It's been a godsend and works much better than any of the OTC stuff out there.

Are you eating more nuts of any kind? My DH found out he is allergic to peanuts - they cause terrible mouth ulcers, but he gets none if he does not eat them or any food containing them.
The Vit C answer is also very likely a key to the problem - make sure you take a very good multi-vitamin daily.

As far as I know no one really knows what causes them. But I've heard, from my dentist I think, that they can be lasered. For some reason, wounds in the mouth heal very quickly, but canker sores don't.

I've had them at various times in my life. I used to get them a lot around xmas time and my mom always blamed it on eating sweets. Heh! Funny thing, I grew up and stopped eating sweets and still got them. I've heard of people getting like a mouth full of them and it sounds horrible.

I've had a LOT of canker sores at once, and I once had on on my uvula (the little thing that hangs down in the back of your throat) ouch, that hurt.

Good luck! see someone about them!

Oh yes, I've found some kinds of gel are pretty good at stopping the pain and maybe help them heal. I think Orabase is what I use.

Another thing we used, I don't really know how effective it is, but a very warm mouth rinse made with sodium perborate. It was recommended to my parents by a pharmacist once.


Oh! I just googled cancker sores and this looks to be a good site: http://www.animated-teeth.com/canke...anker_sores.htm

L-Lysine is something you can take for canker sores/mouth ulcers. When you feel that tingle and know one is coming.. start taking a 2-4 tablets a day. Sometimes it completely stops mine from getting worse and usually in less than 2 days they are gone altogether.
I bought mine at Walmart. They were inexpensive.

I thought l-lysine was for cold sores (herpes simplex) not canker sores (mouth ulcers)