Tongue Candida

[Moongirl]

gluten-free for a about a month. Ive always had what they call a geographic tongue, but the past few days my tongue has had this bland flavor, and i noticed that it had this velvety type white coating on it, today its not so white, but i was doing some reading about candida, and was curious if thats what it could be? its not painful or anything like that and i dont have any other type of symptoms, but i was just curious if other people have/had this?

[chrissy]

we've seen thrush (candida) alot at our house---2 of my kids even had it in their esophagus. i have never seen it only on the tongue without also seeing patches of it on the inside of the cheeks----however, i'm beginning to think that basing your suspicion of an illness on whether or not there are "normal" symptoms is leaving a lot of room for error! (my 3 children with celiac did not have "normal" symptoms).

christine

[tarnalberry]

I would encourage you to have a doctor look at it to check. The cells of the tongue can slough off, leaving it whiter (like a coating) on some days. It almost fools me that I've got thrush again. (I'm on inhaled steroids...) The white patches on the sides of the mouth and other places inside the mouth would help confirm that diagnosis. Do you brush your tongue and floss? If not, you may find these helpful.

[fritzicurls]

I would encourage you to have a doctor look at it to check. The cells of the tongue can slough off, leaving it whiter (like a coating) on some days. It almost fools me that I've got thrush again. (I'm on inhaled steroids...) The white patches on the sides of the mouth and other places inside the mouth would help confirm that diagnosis. Do you brush your tongue and floss? If not, you may find these helpful.

Thrush as you probably know from your readings is a form of candida/yeast infection. Doctors will typically prescribe antibiotics for yeast infections which only make matters worse in the long run. I have a VERY resistant form of yeast infection and am FINALLY gettig free of it with the help of Mark and Alyson Cobb who run the candidafree.com website. I strongly urge you to get on this website and inform yourself. These people are unbelievably supportive, knowledgable and helpful. At the bottom of their website they post an email address and promise to return emails in 24 hours, AND THEY DO, every time!!

Good luck,

fritzicurls

[tarnalberry]

Thrush as you probably know from your readings is a form of candida/yeast infection. Doctors will typically prescribe antibiotics for yeast infections which only make matters worse in the long run.

Blerg - no doctor worth his/her degree should ever prescribe antibiotics for yeast. If they do, run, because they're stupid. (I've heard of doctors who do this, but haven't seen it for myself...)

[Lisa]

Tiffany:

I often get a "white tongue" and it comes when I feel that I have been glutened and associated with brain fog. I have dry mouth and my speech is not where it should be (ie. not fulfilling sentences, as normal).

There seems to be some sort of brain mis-connection.

I have heard about probiotics....if you take antibiotics.....this I don't understand. (if you respond, in lay-mans terms, would be wounderful)

I don't know how you have aquired to knowledge that you have???? I am so amazed, and wonderfully glad that you are a part of this message board.

Thanks for helping every one.

Lisa B.

[tarnalberry]

Tiffany:

I often get a "white tongue" and it comes when I feel that I have been glutened and associated with brain fog. I have dry mouth and my speech is not where it should be (ie. not fulfilling sentences, as normal).

There seems to be some sort of brain mis-connection.

I have heard about probiotics....if you take antibiotics.....this I don't understand. (if you respond, in lay-mans terms, would be wounderful)

I don't know how you have aquired to knowledge that you have???? I am so amazed, and wonderfully glad that you are a part of this message board.

Thanks for helping every one.

Lisa B.

I'm still not certain what's up with the non-candida "white tongue" thing. What I've learned tells me that a generally whitish tongue that comes and goes that never develops patches on other parts of the mouth is just normal. (Add what happens if you get sinus drainage, and a touch of yellow to it, and it does become disgusting, if if 'normal'. Doc's have a pretty big allowance for 'normal' it seems... ;-) ) Either way, it's icky to me, and I keep the tongue brushing, flossing, and mouth rinsing thing up. It seems to help. (This I learned from having to take inhaled steroids - they commonly cause thrush. I had an HIV test - though I have absolutely no risk factors - because my inhaled steriods kept giving me thrush!)

Others know more about probiotics than I do, but the premise is fairly simple:

Lots of little buggers live in our bodies normally. Most of them in the digestive tract. Even c. albicans lives there normally, but in 'regulated' quantities, sharing the 'floor space' of our digestive tracts with other microorganisms, including a number of bacteria. When we take antibiotics, we're trying to kill off some bacteria that's set up house in our bodies and is making us sick. But oral antibiotics aren't specific - even the ones that try to be. They kill many types of bacteria, including the ones we want in our digestive system to help digest the food we eat. (We don't do it all ourselves.)

So, with the 'good' bacteria dead, the other little buggers can grow and grow to their hearts content. Only that imbalance, where there's a lot of - for instance - c. albicans, isn't good for us, and can give us a number of symptoms, sometimes just something as simple as a regular yeast infection. Probiotics come in to play here, as they are supplements of 'good' bacteria - ones that help us digest things and don't harm us. If we take these while we're killing off the bacteria en masse in our systems, and particularly immediately after, we reintroduce 'good' bacteria to try to lodge in those now vacant spots in our digestive tracts before the 'bad' organisms have a chance to spread out.

There's differing opinion on whether or not these organisms can make it past the stomach and upper digestive system to the lower digestive system. There's differing opinion on how well they help people, and so on. What there isn't much of at the moment is good, peer reviewed science on the issue. Maybe in another 40 years. In the meantime, there's not much for it but trying a good probiotic if you want to know if it benefits you. (And, I'm sure, lots of people who will chime in about their experiences with it. There is definitely plenty of anecdotal testimony!)

[Lisa]

Wow...I printed it out to study. How in the the world do you know all this stuff

Thanks for your repy, I have to digest this and will get back. I am totally amazed. Wonderfully glad you're here.

many thanks. Lisa B.

[tarnalberry]

Wow...I printed it out to study. How in the the world do you know all this stuff

Thanks for your repy, I have to digest this and will get back. I am totally amazed. Wonderfully glad you're here.

many thanks. Lisa B.

The same way you've learned an amazing amount about gluten and celiac - lots of reading, and learning from other people. (And the fact I ask my doctors more questions than they want to answer, and follow it up reading the medical journal studies. Let's just say they have to earn the money my insurance company gives them. ;-) ) A fair amount of what I've learned about probiotics, outside of medical journal references, has been on this, and one other message board. I'm sure by tomorrow, you'll have a number of others chiming in with their experience. There are some posts, if you spend some time searching, of old discussions with way more details about the use/benefit/etc. of probiotics than I can remember.

[Rachel--24]

Blerg - no doctor worth his/her degree should ever prescribe antibiotics for yeast. If they do, run, because they're stupid.

LOL...yeah...that would be really stupid. Maybe she meant antifungals....like Nystatin. I've actually seen Nystatin referred to as an antibiotic but I think of it more as an antifungal. Not sure about the proper terminology on that one.