What ingredient is likely to be causing my mouth ulcers?

[ObtuseAngel]

I've always had a tendency to get the occasional mouth ulcer, usually inside my lower lip or on my tongue, and I'm fairly stressed at the moment which is probably aggravating things. About a fortnight ago I had Thai food, green curry, sweet and sour fish and pad Thai I think. Within about two hours I had loads of ulcers, they lasted about 24 hrs and then went. Last week I had a char sui bun, same thing, loads of ulcers within two hours. Again they went away fairly quickly except for one huge one on the side of my tongue which lasted about four days.

This is a new thing, up to now the ulcers have happened randomly when I'm run down and usually only one or two at a time. The only thing that has triggered them before has been toothpaste, but I don't think toothpaste is the problem now as I haven't changed the brand for years.

I have suffered from ulcers for a long time. For me, the main food trigger is sugar, especially eating hard boiled or fizzy sweets, so I don't eat them. I do eat spicy food which doesn't normally cause a problem. Could it be that your ulcers are just a symptom of you being run down? Interesting that you mention toothpaste. Check if your brand contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate as that can trigger ulcers. I only use sensodyne as a result (but not the new fancy stuff). I hope you're feeling bettee soon.

Obtuse My DS (aged 30+) suffered really badly from mouth ulcers.

Two things caused them, sodium laurel sluphate in many toothpastes & also ibuprofen or any other non steroidal antiinflammatories (sp?).

Since giving up both he hasn't had a single ulcer.

Sodium laurel sluphate made my oral lichen planus worse too, check your toothpaste :)

SLS and cinnamonaldehyde are two prime candidates.

What toothpaste do you use? Are you sensitive to any other food or nickel etc?

I use Boots toothpaste, which does have SLS in it but doesn't usually give me ulcers, it may be a contributory factor in making me more sensitive to other irritants though. Other toothpastes do give me ulcers, so I'm careful about them.

What's cinnamonaldehyde? I am sensitive to other stuff, I can only wear gold jewellery and I don't use shower gel or shampoo with SLSs.

Some foods have a high nickel content. I'm very sensitive to nickel and get mouth ulcers if I eat them. The biggest culprit is chocolate for me and I didn't out two and two together until my mum started work at dermatology outpatients.

I only ever get ulcers if I eat chocolate now so I don't. Unless it's an emergency

For me it is acidic foods especially apple juice to drink. You could go to doctor for meds to clear the ulcers up. I did once when I was in tears as could not eat from the pain of 6 terrible ulcers under my tongue!

Wow that's really interesting about nickle being in food.

Citrus sets me off too.

I've been thinking about this, and I suspect that my stress levels are setting off random histamine responses to things that I would not normally be allergic to. So I might need to concentrate on sorting out the stress rather than worrying about the exact things that I am allergic to. Last night I had a bad rash on the back of my right hand, caused by using an oven glove, or putting my hand into the dog food bag or washing my hand after feeding the dog. I have done all of these things before without problem.

I get mouth ulcers if I eat too much citrus fruit or crisps. I've heard that the ingredient MSG (monosodium glutamate) can cause mouth ulcers and some crisps contain it.