Sore mouth/burning tongue caused by stress/anxiety

Have you been tested for sjigrens? Wont be in the blood tests that are standard. Rhematoid dr. Tests for it,

I am 59.  I have had all sort of mouth pains - gums, tongue, teeth, you name it.  I am now thinking much of it is from stress.  However, I believe many of my old fillings are not holding issues at bay anymore, too.  I've had one root canal, but I think there are more needed in the future.  It seems like a vicious cycle.  Stress, mouth pain then the pain causes more stress and on.  I look forward to all of this ending, really.  Rest and quiet seem to be the only things that really help.  I also put coconut in my mouth and swish it around for as long as I want - this seems to help, too.  

HIYa I’ve been suffering with burning tounge for 3 months now since I went dentist I had a filling Bt also started really bad with anxiety and gadbloods I’m low on vitamin d n iron I’m not sure wat is causing it bt it’s driving me nuts I need help 

I also have had this problem, it took me about 3 years of trying to fix it but now it is finally gone/manageable. I want to share the things I did to fix it, I really hope my experience can help someone else.

It started when I had a period of being extremely stressed and it turned into depression. I had extremely sore mouth especially down either side of my tongue, it felt red raw and like I had been chewing on the sides of my tongue (but I wasn't). I was in constant pain all day every day it was unbearable. I went to the doctor and he said "I'm not sure what it is, drink more water, if it keeps happening come back." he also suggested I use coconut oil and swish it around in my mouth for 15-20min and then spit it out. This is what I would later find out to be "oil pulling"- which i would recommend (google it for more instruction).

I put up with it for a while longer scouring the internet for help, the only thing I could find were people saying they had surgery to remove the sides of their tongue!? ouch. I felt really helpless.

Then went to a Naturopath, he said it was from stress and basically said I need to just reduce/ manage my stress, so that's what I did. I started dealing with the underlining problems that were causing my depression, it was really hard but once I started facing them head on it got better (very slowly). I had stopped exercising during this time and I knew that when I didn't exercise or get out of the house/ be active with my friends the pain got a lot worse (my stress reduced when I was exercising and being social, it was also a good distraction from the pain) I joined a weekly beginners Yoga class (so good for stress management! plus its social and a good work out) and after a while I also joined a women fitness class (just a cheap class in the park using some weights and body strength and a little cardio, this was also super social)

So far all of these things helped, but it never really went away. I was still in a lot of pain on a daily basis. This is when I started noticing the difference in pain when I was eating different foods, when I was eating badly like processed sugar or processed foods the pain was unbearable and when I would heat healthy whole foods (fruit, veggies, protein, home cooked meals) the pain would reduce! so I started cutting the processed foods out of my diet. It was really hard and it took a long time to get it right but after doing it for a while I saw a big improvement in the pain, I eventually decided to give up processed gluten too which had helped again!. At this point I still felt the pain, but it had drastically reduced and as long as I was eating well the pain was completely manageable and I was pretty happy living like this for quite some time.

The most recent thing that has happened is- My sister made me go to her Naturopath who id never been to before, she did her initial consult and said the one thing she thought I could work on was my stress ( I thought I had) she explained that compared to where I was 3 years ago my stress levels were great, but my body was showing that I need to do some more work on it. I asked her about the pain in my mouth at the end and she said its definitely the stress and that my body needs some help. She recommended oil pulling, and some natural supplements to support my adrenals and stress management and stress response (Adreno Tone & CalmX), I also take Evening Primrose Oil to help reduce PMS which helps to reduce my stress lol and a good probiotic to keep my gut healthy which helps keep the balance too!

She also recommended I keep a health diary, I just write down a few notes every day about my stress levels during the day, what I ate, and anything else I want to keep an eye on (pain, headaches, etc) and this diary has already helped me to pinpoint some things I can work on and change in my life to reduce the stress! 

I don't recommend trying to treat it on your own, I recommend looking around for some great Health professionals for support, a great GP & Naturopath to help you out. If you are not getting any help from a professional keep looking around until you find one who will help and support you. 

I know every ones journey is different but these are the things that helped me, I hope it can help at least one person!

All the best

Hi Sally,

I've been going through full on harassment at work and I suffered from an increasing stomach burning condition with tightening of that area, but my mouth and tongue become inflamed and swell as well as burning of the eyes and a type of headache inside of the top of the head that feels it's caused by a type of dehydration of various soft tissue or skin lining areas, and doctor s keep avoiding addressing the problem. It's definitely stress related and coffee and spicy foods worsen the problem. If anyone can help I would appreciate it

I am facing something very similar especially to what Anna described in terms of sides of the tongue feeling like being bruised.

couple two years back when this started happening i got my blood pressure checked and it was above normal. the doctor put me on meds which at my age (37) creates even more anxiety.

would like to share a couple of things that have helped me cope with this to some extent

1. short term coping - chewing green cardamom helps. even chewing gum helps but not as much as cardamom
2. long term coping - have recently begun yoga classes and that's helping somewhat

   the whole anxiety around covid

Anna, your experience has been particularly helpful and given me hope that i will be able to overcome it. many thanks for that

7 years ago i went through a stressful time with my neck. totally flipped out and diagnosed myself with everything under the sun. Doctor did an Mri and scared me MS. another exrayed my arm and told me i had a bonne tumor, which was later found to be benign. i freaked! my mouth was on fire like crazy! so yes, it can. hang in there. mine went away. although now it is back off and on, and my lips feel weird.

a few weeks ago i have been having this sensation too on top of my tongue and had been under lots of anxiety. When I have anxiety attacks or feeling anxious my tongue in the past always gets dry. I think that is why now my nerves on my tongue are acting out from dry tongue. I sure hope i can get it under control with controlling my emotions. This really sucks

Hi Sally,

I wonder if you also got a white tongue? My tongue has turned white and most of the time it's sore and numb..

This is so annoying 😦

Thank you for sharing your experience and getting this conversation started. I have experienced so much of what others have shared, too, and it makes me feel less alone i am going to try some of these things.

Thank you again!

could be your grinding your teeth at night and not knowing it , I do that it can make your mouth sore and I every once in awhile bite my tongue in my sleep. Try a teeth guard for teeth grinders at night it might help.

anyone find any relief or figure this out? during my final exams in college my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and i have been her primary caregiver. i am 28 years old with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. This burning feeling started out of nowhere on May 3rd and i wss given medication to treat thrush which ended up making my symptoms worse. i went to see a dentist and he said it seems bacterial so he gave me bacterial antibiotics. It seemed to go down a bit but now that im done the course of all of it, it burns again. My tongue feels like sandpaper and it burns as well as the roof of my mouth and sometimes my gums. I have a horrible taste in my mouth all the time and the tip of my tongue is really red.. Its now been 32 days and im going insane!! i literally eat plain rice, chicken, and avocado mixed together everyday and thats it.. i can barely drink water as it just aggravates it. I cant get in to see an ENT for 3 months and im just at a loss. i was given acid reflux meds and im taking vitamin B and probiotics. Ive had bloodwork done which came back all good (although im not sure what she tested me for) shes horrible at communicating what shes doing. Im just in a lot of pain and i cant even get out of bed anymore and "having fun" is not enjoyable as i cant stop thinking of the pain. Please tell me it gets better 😔 Its about an 8/10 every day... i notice there is slight burning in my throat now too. No doctor will even look in my mouth due to being in lockdown still. We have to do over the appointments. I should also mention it feels like there is hair or like things crawling all over my tongue but nothings there... Any advice would be amazing.