By Dr. Holly

A burning tongue can go from being annoying to outright painful.  While it does have a common cause, there are a variety of causes and different solutions.  In Chinese Medicine, we have a huge number of issues that can be identified by looking at the tongue.  However, here we will focus on just a “burning tongue”.

Cause:  Estrogen:  most common cause in menopausal women:  lack of estrogen affects the “bitter” taste buds which are surrounded by pain receptors.  If the burning sensation is at the back of the tongue, then this might be the cause:

Solution:  determine if the lack of estrogen is due to the adrenals (not being able to compensate for the loss of reproductive organ production of estrogen or the pineal gland

– There are 6 different patterns of hormonal imbalance that may occur as you transition from pre-menopausal to postmenopausal

  • – progesterone deficiency
  • – estrogen deficiency
  • – estrogen excess
  • – estrogen dominance
  • – androgen excess
  • – cortisol deficiency

-unfortunately Western Conventional medicine doesn’t determine which pattern you fall into, they just give you a round of hormones – which don’t resolve the underlying issue

Cause:  Diabetes:  another common cause.

Solution:   What we need to keep in mind is that diabetes 2 is a symptom = not a disease.  AND it can be reversed in a short period of time.  So you have a choice, you can manage it or you can eliminate it – find a good health practitioner

Cause:  Oral Candida:  most people think of vaginal yeast infections whereas yeast can grow anywhere in the body – and in fact you can have systemic yeast infections.

Solution:  one of the simple ways to eliminate any kind of candida is with coconut oil – the lauric acid actually moves right through the outer shell/membrane of the yeast.  Unfortunately, it may cause more itching burning in the short run as the cell may release toxins.  But allow the coconut oil to just sit on your tongue.  It will absorb in the tongue and kill the candida – if this doesn’t work then find a good health practitioner

Cause: dry mouth: there are many causes of dry mouth syndrome – again you need to determine why.  Common causes are the artificial synthetic prescription drugs and sleeping with your mouth open.  Other causes include dehydration, Diabetes, Sjogrens syndrome, and anxiety.

Solution: getting to the root of the problem is always more beneficial than simply managing the symptoms, find a good health practitioner

Cause:  Acid Reflex – usually the problem isn’t too much acid in the stomach (usually people have too little) but rather that it is coming back up into the esophagus OR it is going down into the duodenum

Solution:  there are a number of solutions depending on which valve/sphincture isn’t working – find a good health practitioner

Cause:  Allergies – usually caused by a problem in the gut

Solution:  you may need to re-balance the pH throughout the gut; increase the enzymes in the gut; reprogram the immune system in the gut; or improve the volume/ratios of microbiota in the gut – see a good health practitioner

Cause:  Dental disease – many of the dental diseases are caused by an imbalance of the microbiota & pH in the mouth.

Solution: Very often Oil Pulling with coconut oil and rinsing with baking soda will solve the problem – if not see a good health practitioner

Cause:  Psychological issues, i.e., depression and/or anxiety

Solution:  what is causing the depression – is it due to various physiological issues or a psychological issues, ie., gut, adrenal, liver, thyroid issues, or depletion of nutrients, i.e., magnesium, B12, glutathione, fatty acids, etc – find a good health practitioner and determine the underlying issue

Cause: Inflammatory disorders

Solutions:  eliminate inflammatory foods and increase anti-inflammatory foods – determine what is the underlying cause of the inflammation, ie., metal toxicity, depleted microbiota, etc

Cause:  Lingual nerve damage – the nerves that serve the tongue

Solution:  there are different herbs and foods that actually support the neural growth hormone and consequently have the possibility to correct nerve damage – see a good health practitioner

Cause:  tobacco use

Solution:  obviously stop smoking and find a good health practitioner that can help reverse the damage

Cause:  oral cancer

Solution:  find a good health practitioner to reverse the cancer with foods and herbs – or Conventional Medicine that will use toxic chemotherapy – having had cancer – I admit I have a real bias here, I eliminated an ovarian tumor the size of a hard ball in 3.5 weeks using a particular diet

Be responsible, do your research, find a good health practitioner.  Here’s to your health!

For more information, contact: Dr Holly at holly@choicesunlimited.ca

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