I’d been doing sooo well. About a year ago I changed to a toothpaste without SLS in it (Rembrant’s “For Canker Sore Sufferers”) and I hadn’t had one in ages, but here we go. It hurts like a screaming mad bastard, and I’ve tried everything over the years and nothing really works.
Sure, you can numb it, but it’s not like it dosen’t come back, and I hate numbing my tongue along with it.
There’s the film-making stuff, but that’s supposed to be bad for it.
Masochists suggest salt; I’ve been torturing myself religiously this time and I think it just irritates it, makes it swell more. (Sure, it helps with the pain afterwards - if I were to hit myself in the face with a hammer, I bet it would feel a lot better when I quit doing that, too!)
A list somebody posted a while ago suggested ear wax; I’m not yet that desperate. Besides, imagine the taste.
Yogurt? Been there, tried it. I’ve read that kefir is even better; where on earth do you get kefir? Do you just eat it? Is it nasty? I don’t really live in a kefir-eating area of the country.
Supplements? Got your acidophilus, your l-lysine, your folic acid - I’m taking a freaking pharmacy for this thing and none of these have ever made one heal one tiny bit faster. Maybe they cancel each other out.
I’m just utterly sick and tired of it, and it just got bad today! I’ll probably be stuck with it for at least another week, which will ruin the mini-vacation I had planned. It hurts! It hurts all the time! I’ve barely eaten anything for two days. I’m not looking for suggestions; trust me, I’ve tried it. (Except ear wax.) Just some “fuck you canker sore” sympathy.
It’s basically thin, drinkable yogurt. If you like yogurt okay, you’ll probably like kefir. It’s a hippy, natural-foods kindofa thing, so try a natural foods place.
I can’t attest to its canker-sore curing properties, though.
Oooohhh. You have me complete and total sympathy. Fuck you, canker sores. I haven’t had one for a long time, but when I was a kid I’d always sprout a mouthful every month when my period started. My personal record was six canker sores at one time, on top of the cramps and bloating and general 13 year old hormonalness. I don’t know what kept my mom from locking me in a closet. Come to think of it, that was the weekend she kept giving me wine coolers until I fell asleep…
Mouth pain of any kind is the worst, and canker sores are worse than that, because there’s no discernable cause for the damn things and they just hang around like unemployed in-laws, demanding all your attention and flaring up whenever you manage to forget they’re there for a few minutes. And no matter how hard you try, you just can’t stop yourself from poking them with your tongue, which makes it worse.
Well, right after I posted that, I found out what kefir is and acquired some.
Damn, people. How do you know if it’s gone off? It sure tastes like it’s teeming with life, at least. And no, it is nothing, nothing, like yogurt. But we’ll give it the Great Kefir Experiment; maybe I drink so much yogurt that my canker sores scoff at its puny acidophilus. Well, the Internet says kefir can colonize my guts all on its own. Kill or cure, sez I!
I really don’t like that word “colonize” as it applies to my own body, by the way.
I second that. I heart Kanka so much. Granted, it doesn’t make it go away any faster, and it burns like a motherfucker when you first apply it, but then it does help.
What’s bad about it?
I use Listerine (the blue one) and gargle with it. Yes, again, it burns like crazy (enough to bring tears to my eyes), but it does make it go away faster,
I can even take pulled muscles and sprains to various parts of my body.
However, get a canker sore, and my life will be ruined for a week.
I used to get a lot of them while I had braces. Imagine having ulcers in your mouth at the same time there’s sharp teeth-surrounding metal within very close proximity. That’s misery.
As for what to do, I was going to suggest changing toothpastes since the frequency of which I used to get them decreased considerably after I stopped using gel-based toothpastes. However, that didn’t work for you. I’m afraid all I can suggest is using Zilactin and eating an extremely soft and bland diet until they pass.
I’ve heard you shouldn’t use it because it irritates the sore; you know, how it starts to come off and then you worry the rest of it off with your tongue and teeth? Sometimes it’s the only way I can eat, though.
The kefir is going to grow!? Oh my god, what have I eaten? (I’ve been a little, er, burpy, since I tried the stuff. Perhaps it’s a First Contact war?)
So that’s what those things are. I’ve had those, but I always thought they were some sort of weird pimple. I usually wind up ripping the top of 'em off with my teeth, as I tend to chew the inside of my cheeks when one shows up. It hurts for a bit, but the pain usually disappears within a day. Then it leaves a little crater behind for my tongue to play with until it heals over.
I’ve never had any as bad as you describe, though, Zsofia, so I have no idea if that would work for you.
I did find a web site that says you should talk to your doctor if it keeps you from eating. Apparently there are prescriptions (pills or topical) that can help.
Huh. The kefir I’ve had is exactly like what you get when you put yogurt in the blender for a few minutes. Maybe the brand we have in the store is not very authentic? Some watered down, pasteruized thing? Strange.
What you have might not be the same thing, then; these aren’t really “rip-off”-able, their crater state is their “normal” state. They’ve got raised edges, are usually round, and until they start to heal they’ve got this gross white-ish film in them. You know they’re starting to heal when they begin to shrink a little and the film goes away, although they don’t really heal from the outside. Or maybe the ones I get are just more severe than yours.
I think maybe this one is so painful because I’ve been trying the salt treatment. Then again, I’ve certainly had them this bad before; constant pain, etc. It’s mostly hard to eat because it’s just where anything will touch it and my teeth scrape it. I’ve been trying not to talk much either, but that’s a personal struggle. I do think my lymph nodes on that side are a little swollen, but I don’t have the kind of insurance that would pay for a doctor’s visit for this unless it got a lot worse.
Nope, that’s them. Crater with a raised rim and a whitish center (which is why I always thought they were weird pimples). I may just be ripping the film out. All I know is, it hurts to probe pre-rip, and doesn’t hurt (as much, or in the same way) post-rip. And the crater walls don’t feel as high. As I said, though, from your description I’ve never had one as bad as yours, so it may not work for you.
And I really, really hope I never get one as bad as you’ve described, too.
Well, this stuff is from Earthfare, the place where I once accidentally bought a vegan cookie. It’s organic, made by a company called Helios, and I got the raspberry flavor; they also had strawberry, peach, vanilla, and plain. I didn’t quite feel up to “plain”. It smells a lot like yeast (plus raspberry yogurt.) It is most definately alive. I know that’s the point, I just wish I could stun it or something before I drink it. It’s thinner than yogurt but somehow also… denser. I eat my Yoplait all up and wish it came in bigger servings, but this, not so much.
It’s a taste that might be acquirable, though; it’s not actively nasty, just… active. Very active.
Yeah, that’s the stuff I get, the helios. It’s like a party on your tongue.
I get canker sores but have no help that works. I use the lidocaine type stuff and the spray on chlorseptic as much as I can to eat.
Oh, one thing. I do use aspergum to sleep. I get sores in the trough space behind my lower lip, so I lay in a line of aspergum in there to numb it - like nicotine gum, I think. It’s the only thing I’ve found that lets me fall asleep. I think it’s a combo of pain reliever and keeping the sore sealed off.
This has grown to be possibly the largest one I’ve ever had. Nope, the remedies aren’t helping one little bit. It hurts like a mad bitch and I haven’t slept worth a damn; I’ve been using the anesthetics to get to sleep but they wear off before I can make it there!
Also, I’m starting to like the kefir. Perhaps it’s quite literally growing on me. I still don’t think I could take down a brimming huge glass of it, though.
My mom is pretty freaked out that it grows overnight, though. She’d rather I didn’t put it in her fridge where it might touch her food. I told her it would colonize her, but she didn’t seem impressed.
Have you tried Silver Nitrate? AKA a styptic powder or stick or Quick Stop. The stuff you put on razor knicks or your pet’s toenails if you trim them too short and make them bleed.
It chemically cauterizes the area.
I used this once and it turned my sore into numb spot. Not like when you numb stuff with Ambesol, actually dead. It painlessly sloughed off after a few days. I don’t know if it will work for you. Worth a shot.
Say, are you using saltwater, or applying salt directly to the sore itself?
The latter is what works for me…about a teaspoonfull applied directly to the sore for about 30-60 seconds. Followed by a rinse, and some optional screaming.
And of course, IANAD, if symptoms persist, go to a hospital, etc.
I do think my lymph nodes on that side are a little swollen, but I don’t have the kind of insurance that would pay for a doctor’s visit for this unless it got a lot worse.