Tongue ulcer - any advice?

[ttalloo]

I've had a tongue ulcer since Monday, which has me in agony, especially when I speak or eat. Yesterday my GP prescribed an asthma inhaler to be sprayed on the ulcer, but it doesn't seem to have had any effect and I'm still on painkillers, and able to eat nothing more challenging than smooth yogurt and well soaked Weetabix.

I'm feeling very hungry and very miserable.

Especially after reading on the NHS website that I could be like this for the next 10-14 days . I take some comfort in thinking of how much weight I'll lose (4lbs since Monday) but not much.

Do you have any advice as to how to speed up this ulcer's disappearance, and what to do for the pain? And do they really last for up to two weeks?

Big ta.

[friendly]

I would recommend a paste called adcortyl from a pharmacy. Use it at night. It feels quite strange on the ulcer but IME works amazingly.

[ttalloo]

Thanks, friendly. Am prepared to try anything.

[friendly]

Meant to say poor you. They are horrible things and yours sounds particularly grim.

[ttalloo]

It is quite horrid. Being unable to talk properly and being in more pain when I do, is the worst thing - I can't even read a bedtime story to the DC.

[ttalloo]

Drat, have just googled adcortyl on the internet and it seems to have been discontinued. Oh dear.

[LolaLadybird]

Have you tried Iglu ulcer treatment? You can buy it at the chemist and it forms a kind of layer over the ulcer to protect and speed up healing.

I've never had an ulcer last as long as 2 weeks but yours does sound like a v severe case - poor you, hope it gets better quickly.

[ledkr]

Friendly- i had that for mine,i think it has a steroid in it maybe why its banned?
Yeah igloo good stuff too.

[clawsatELVES]

Another thing you could try is the sore throat spray - ie Vicks chloroseptic, or Boots/Tesco's versions. It has a mild anaesthetic in it, so might work as some relief for you - rather than actually helping curing it, IYSWIM.

[ttalloo]

Thanks for the Iglu tip, ladies - I'll pick some up tomorrow.

I hope I'm better by Tuesday. The thought of having to go to work unable to speak properly is horrendous. I don't even sound like me. Sigh.

[SweetPotatoHead]

This sounds like me last week so you have my sympathy. I even had a day off work as I couldn't speak properly and felt so poorly with it.

I went for a combo of Corsydol mouthwash, painkillers and Difflam mouth rinse. Would definitely recommend the
Difflam as it numbs everything. Dissolvable painkillers also seem to work well.

Mine was agony for just over week then suddenly got loads better. Hope you feeling better soon

[ttalloo]

Thank you, sweetpotatohead, we have some Corsodyl at home so I'll give that a go after I brush my teeth tonight. It still hurts a lot, but I was able to eat chicken and overcooked carrots for lunch today, wincing with every mouthful, admittedly, but that's a great improvement on a diet of yogurt and Weetabix, and crying and giving up on proper food because it just hurt too bloody much to eat it.

Dear me, but tongue ulcers are horrific, aren't they? This is the first time I've ever had one, and it's been rather a shock to realise that something so small and innocuous could be so painful!

[AmyStake]

Warm salty water will work wonders on your tongue ulcer. I was mental and put neat salt on mine. It hurt but it was gone in 3 days.

Where abouts on your tongue is it?

[CrosswordAddict]

A dab of salt (neat not in water) Stings for a few seconds but then disappears (I mean the ulcer disappears.] Very effective in my experience.

[gingeroots]

When my brother was recovering from surgery for tongue cancer he found that swishing asprin - dissolved in a small amount of water - gave him enough pain relief to get some food down .

[deepfriedcupcake]

Try rinsing with dissolved asprin? GP advised it when I had tonsilitis (inc ulcered throat).

[deepfriedcupcake]

Oh and my auntie used to suck fruit pastils before dinner when she had chemotherapy ulcers. Used to numb them she said.

[friendly]

ttalloo, how are you doing? I can't believe adcortyl has been discontinued. I squeezed the last out of my little tube just a few weeks ago and the ulcer on my gum had gone a couple of days later. I wonder if you have had any luck with any of these other remedies. I hope you are feeling better anyway. Ulcers are horrible. I have suffered since I was a child. Take care x

[Grumpystiltskin]

Maybe go to your dentist next time, relief of oral pain is something we do a significant amount of training on whereas GPs may not. Benzydamine is great for ulcers btw, it comes in a spray or mouthwash.

[mountaingirl]

It is dreadful that Adcoryl has been discontinued ( for about 2 years now) but it can still be bought in New Zealand and South Africa. My sister bought me over about 5 tubes in February when she went to SA. I googled mouth ulcers the evening she was getting on a plane to SA for her holiday! On the mouth ulcer site people had put names of pharmacies one could buy it from. It's not cheap but as it is the only thing that works it is worth it!

[ttalloo]

hi friendly and everyone - I'm much better now, thank you.

sweetpotatohead's corsodyl seemed to really help. I used it twice a day for three days and the ulcer became much less painful (although it could have been on its way out anyway, as I had had it for almost a week at that point, but at least it felt good to be doing something to speed it on its way).

I'm now completely back to normal, which is such a relief.

But I have had a horrid fright, and will see if I can get one of my friends to buy me some Adcortyl when she visits SA in January - I can't bear the thought that I might get another mouth ulcer and not have anything to zap it with.

And if it does happen again I will go to the dentist as grumpystiltskin suggests. I don't know why I didn't think of it tbh (oh yes, I know, I was in too much pain to think straight!).