Hi,
I'm 4 months post TX with radiation and Cisplatin (no surgery). I have the typical dry-mouth side effect from radiation of my salivary glands. For several months now I've had a heavily coated tongue. I'm comfortable that it's not thrush.
Anyone else have this problem? Anyone out there found a way to clear this up? I have a good tongue scraper and it does help, but only in a "constant maintenance" sort of way.
Thank you,
-Seth
Hi Seth!
My tongue was the same way for quite a while. I am now 6 month's post treatment & still rinse my mouth out constantly with the baking soda, salt water soloution. Plus the tongue scraper really helped. It is much better now not as terrible looking. So it will get better. I also use Biotene mouth wash & that seem's to help also.
I'm 4 years out and my tongue is still somewhat coated despite me brushing it constantly. I also had 2 bouts with thrush (not fun at all) so I guess this is the way it's going to be. I just don't stick my tongue out at people as much anymore. lol
Yeah, I'm a little over 2 months out and I have the same issues. I think it may have something to do with the Ensure; but not sure. I am trying to increase the amount of yogurt that I eat since it's suppose to help with the natural flora of the mouth!
Is the coating any particular color? I have noticed some interesting things based on going to bed after eating sweets. The tongue is usually coated brownish and think towards the back. I pretty much scrape it daily for the past 7 years anyway. If I drink a Coke, thrush by morning always. It is sometimes yellowish and sometimes light brownish but always has the smell of dirty dishrag. I have tried many probiotics and the standard diflucan, nystatin, etc., but it always comes back. Just another thing to slot in for another day in paradise.
An update. One notion is that this fuzzy tongue is a fungal issue (not thrush, however).
My UK oncologist suggested sucking on a pineapple juice ice cube every day for 4-6 weeks. I tried this, and it didn't make a noticeable difference in my case (but I came to rather enjoy the ice cubes!).
My BC cancer dentist suggested clotrimazole pouches, but these don't exist in the UK for oral use.
My UK oncologist then prescribed amphiterazin (sp?) lozenges, but it turns out they stopped manufacturing those two years ago!
In researching one of these medicines, I found a reference that one is very similar to nystatin, and I happen to have two bottles of nystatin solution, which was suggested by my Canadian GP but I never tried consistently.
So! I've just started using the nystatin solution 3-4 times a day, and will report back in a couple of weeks.
-Seth
Seth, you are singing my song. I am 2 1/2 months post treatment, and I have had a coated tongue for about 6-7 weeks. My ENT said it was dead skin and to brush or scrape it and it would go away on three weeks. Well, it's been three weeks and it is still coated. I continue to scrape and just try to deal. Like everything else with this cancer, the gross factor is extreme. -Michelle
Hi Michelle,
Well, I'll suggest that as side-effects of this go, this is not such a big deal, but yes, it's annoying (and unsightly). I'm more than a year out, so I can only blame my dry-ish mouth, and my dry mouth is not that extreme, but it is a change (from pre-treatment). I'm not yet sure if the nystatin will help. I will try to let you know!
-Seth
An update. So I'm now 18 months post treatment, and it seems my furry-tongue has started to improve somewhat. This *may* have coincided with a recent dental cleaning, but that may only be coincidental, too.
Otherwise doing well, continuing to get more fit, my weight is just about back up to what it was at my third and final chemo, and no, weight gain isn't a goal, per se.
Moderate dry mouth is just something to deal with, and xylitol mints are my saviour. Neck muscle cramping is also just one of those things and isn't a big problem.
Pretty much I feel great!
Have tried using a waterpik? They have a tongue scraper which helps! Also try manuka honey 3-4x a day for a few days... That may help!! (it's anti- inflammatory, anti- infectious - and anti bacterial - it's a natural hydrogen peroxide for your mouth! ) Good luck!
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_tongueNobody 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