hi,

i have been sick for 6 weeks now going in tomorrow for biopsy which i have to force my doctor to do... need someone to talk to tomorrow i will be having a biopsy done at my request...because alittle over a month ago i got a white tongue(completely white no spots) and a small swollen lymph node in lower neck. ive seen 8 doctors only 1 being a ent and they all said its nothing and its probably a smokers tongue ive only been smoking for 1 year and im 28. Well my ENT i saw 2 weeks ago refused to give me a biopsy then because he said he didnt see any reason to . i still dont feel comfortable about that so i kept calling and he agreed to do it against his judgement..do you think i have something to worry about ive never experinced anything like this. thanks

If your whole tongue surface was white, I put my vote in for a fungal infection, most likely Candida albicans. There's a web page on the main OCF site that talks all about it. If your oral health got bad enough, that would also account for the node. After all their job is to catch all the detritus of infections and the like. You can't be too cautious being a smoker though, in the end tobacco causes lots of bad things, and knowing for sure from a pathologist will put your mind to rest and on a path to fixing whatever it is.

Oral cancer does not present like this, so I hope that comment gives you a little comfort. Hope you find the strength and desire to stop the tobacco. In the long run it will not bring you good things.

It doesnt sound like what you have will turn out to be oral cancer. Of course, I am not a doctor and only thru a biopsy will your doctor be able to determine if you have cancer or not. Best wishes with your biopsy. Please let us know how it turns out.

I am a former smoker. If I could somehow miraculously turn back time, back til I was your age and knew then what I know now, I would have quit smoking. Please do yourself a huge favor and get rid of the tobacco. There are so many chemical additives in tobacco that it can cause all kinds of problems. If you could see what I looked like after having my lower jaw removed, you would think twice about smoking. Im not trying to give you a hard time, I am trying to get you to understand the seriousness of your habit. Given enough time, tobacco will eventually cause you far more health problems than its worth. Please quit, if not for yourself then for your family. They do not deserve to end up being your caregiver for one of many diseases tobacco causes.

You mentioned that you have been ill for six weeks but the white tongue showed up about a month ago. If you have been taking antibiotics, there is a strong possibility that it caused you to develop oral thrush which is another name for the fungal infection that Brian mentioned.

Thrush can be very painful. But, an anti-fungal medication should clear it up quickly. My ex-husband had a bad case of thrush after stopping and starting antibiotics to address a lymph node in his neck. Ultimately, the lymph node was related to a benign condition.

What worries me more is that you are a smoker who is having a biopsy because you are afraid you have oral cancer...but, you are still smoking. If your biopsy shows that you are cancer free, please use this experience as a wake-up call. Just reading Christine's own account of what tobacco did to her should make you swear off cigarettes for good.

This is what cigarettes do for you:

They make your clothes and your breath stink.
They make your teeth yellow.
They cost you lots of money that you could spend doing something fun or buying something you want or need.
They make your home and car and any other place where you regularly smoke look dingy and dirty and smell like an ashtray.
They cause your arteries to harden more quickly because they cause your cardiovascular system to lay down plaque at a quicker pace.
They cause heart disease, lung disease, and oral cancer...just to name a few potentially fatal diseases.

Cigarettes do not make you look cool, or sexy, or sophisticated. They make you look foolish, unhealthy, and uninformed.

I have lost several family members to tobacco related diseases. Two of my sisters are widows because of cigarettes. My nieces and nephews are fatherless. One of my brothers-in-law died of heart disease, the other died of lung cancer.

Please, please...stop smoking.

Thanx everyone but I forgot to add a few things, I've seen 8 doctors and was treated for oral thrush twice with a antifugal and neither worked tongue still completely white with alittle pain...also I stopped smoking 2 weeks ago thinking that would help clear my tongue what its still white after brushin,scraping.rinsing.flossing etc...I have slight ear pain and haven't had a cold/flu and had 3 labs done and all clear for strep/mono etc... I feel like something is wrong and since everything else has been ruled out what else could it be??

I'm so-o-o-o glad you were able to quite smoking! I've never smoked but I've lost friends and other loved ones to smoking. I can't really know, but I have seen how hard it is to quit. It's good that you took steps to find out for sure what has been causing your problems these past 6 weeks. The biopsy today should let you know one way or the other what it is. Until you find out for sure, please try to think about all the good things mentioned above instead of the negative possibilities. Once you find out, you will be more in control of what happens to you, and can start doing whatever is necessary to get better. Stay with us and let us know what happens with you. We really do care.

Cngrats on quitting smoking!!! Hope you are able to remain free from using tobacco ever again. Good lucky with the biopsy. Please keep us posted.

Ok once again went to the ent for what I thought would be a biopsy to ease my mind but he refused and said I DON'T NOT HAVE CANCER! He looked at me as if I were crazy and made me look in my own mouth and point to whatever I thought was cancer and he said there's nothing there and he would not be able to find anywhere to biopsy because everything looks normal...but why am I still worrying?could he be right from just looking in my mouth????

Good job quitting the cigarettes!

Sometimes, our instincts tell us something is wrong when the pros are telling us everything is fine. You need to have enough information from your doctors to be confident that you are healthy. That you are experiencing pain should prompt your doctors to take a closer look. If you haven't done so already, you could get an opinion from a National Cancer Institute recognized Comprehensive Cancer Center. They are the experts who would be best equipped to tell you if you have something that is malignant or if it is normal. There is a list of NCI CCC's on this website.

Other than being told it was normal, have any of your doctors given you an explanation for your tongue being persistently white, and now, a bit painful? Are you taking any supplements or eating/drinking something that could be causing it? Very strange that it isn't going away.

You had a throat culture for strep and mono that were negative. Did they take a culture of your tongue?

Here are a couple of links:

There are several cancer centers listed in your state.
http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/resources/cancer_centers.htm


And some of the best hospitals listed here:
http://health.usnews.com/health/best-hospitals/cancer-hospital-rankings/

Sometimes you really have to listen to your gut feeling and find someone who has had extensive experience with oral cancer and who can give you a correct diagnosis.

Your health is SO important. Hope you can get some good news soon!