I had that. I thought it was thrush but the thrush meds did not help. Then my ENT said that it was burnt skin on my tongue and that I should scrape it, which I did, but time was the only thing that seemed to clear it up. I am 6 months post TX. I think my tongue cleared up last month or the month before. -Michelle

Hi Michelle,

Apparently "black furry tongue" is a pretty common condition, and for most people it's temporary. It's the papillae of the tongue growing longer than they should.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hairy_tongue

Nobody seems to have a solution, and for me, following my treatment, I had this for, well, about 1.5 years! But, recently, it seems to have gone as mysteriously as it came. This change, or my noticing of it, seems to have coincided with a dental cleaning, but I wouldn't go so far as to claim that the two are linked. Maybe?

The good news is, it seems to go away, eventually.

-Seth

I won't say this is for every single one of you, but chances are the coated tongue is bacterial overgrowth that isn't removed naturally by saliva (we know why). This summer my tongue was coated like that, and my ENT's PA, who sees me first at my check-ups, and my ENT oncologist, said, bacteria, get rid of it by using baking soda, tongue scraper. My husband, who is a GP dentist, says he sees a lot of it in older people whose salivary function is not so great. He always says, and it makes me feel better, "I've seen worse in people who have not had radiation."

Anyway, what I do is mix up some baking soda and water, get a gauze square wet with it, and use that on my tongue. I can get rid of it everytime. Just have to repeat the process if not daily every other day, I guess. I like using the gauze because I feel like it is gentler than the tongue scraper, and I have more control. What I don't like is, as you well know, baking soda dries the mucosa.

For what it's worth, and I think someone else mentioned the baking soda.

Best,
Anne

Time for an update. For whatever reason(s) my "black furry tongue" problem has mostly resolved now, about 20 months since the end of my primary treatment. Perhaps my salivary function has returned enough? I can't say for certain.

Otherwise I'm doing quite well. Getting more and more fit, working, travelling. Dry mouth is a minor nuisance. Neck muscle cramping is.....a minor nuisance. Otherwise all systems are "go".

Cheers,

-Seth in London