Recognizing the Menopausal Symptom of Burning Tongue

What happens when you sip a too hot coffee? Your tongue gets burnt right? This is the sensation of burning tongue, which is distinguishly experienced every now and then during menopause. Also known as the burning mouth syndrome, burning tongue is described as the state of tongue in which its tip and back burn along with the area of the mouth. There are many medical names given to this symptom - glossodynia, glossopyrosis, oral galvanism, stomatodynia, and stomatopyrosis. The sensations of burning tongue seem to strike during the daytime and that it often progresses throughout the day, but disappears at night – such a pattern lasting for a few months to several years.

Many women complain that burning tongue is one of the irritating and painful symptoms of menopause. But, they need not worry; as there are many treatments available. However, treatment has to be taken as per the underlying cause and prevalent symptoms. So, in this article, you will become familiar with the symptoms, causes, and the treatment options. Keep reading!

• Symptoms Listed below are the common symptoms of burning tongue.
• Burning sensation
• Dry mouth
• Sore mouth
• Itchy mouth
• Sticky mouth
• A tingling or numb feeling in mouth or on the tongue tip
• Metallic taste
 
 
• CausesIt is not that easy to identify the underlying cause because there are several causes of burning tongue. However, during menopause, it would not be wrong to judge that the main cause is hormonal imbalance, especially due to the declining estrogen levels. As per a survey, it was found that burning tongue occurs in around 40% of menopausal women, which strikes between three years before menopause and lasts until 12 years after menopause.
  
  Estrogen plays an important role in the production of saliva. So, as per the researchers, the drop in estrogen levels can lead to burning tongue because of decline in saliva. Further, estrogen influences the bitter taste buds situated at the tongue’s back and so with the drop in estrogen, some women also tend to lose their bitter taste buds. Besides hormonal causes, there are some more causes of burning tongue, which are as follows:
• Diabetes
• Oral candida (oral yeast)
• Dry mouth (xerostomia)
• Medications such as diuretics, oral diabetics, some blood pressure tablets
• Blood abnormalities such as dyscrasias and anemia
• Nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin B-12, niacin, iron, or folic acid
• Gastric acid reflux
• Allergies (foods, toothpastes, mouthwashes, chewing gums)
• Geographic tongue
• Dental disorders
• Noxious oral habits (tongue biting)
• Psychological causes (depression)
• Chronic infections
• Inflammations
• Lingual nerve damage
• Tobacco chewing
• Oral cancer

If pain or soreness in your tongue, lips, gums, or other areas of your mouth persists for several days, consulting a doctor becomes inevitable. A doctor can then look for the possible cause or causes so that you get the correct treatment.

• TreatmentTo get rid out of the physical pain and discomfort, it is recommended to begin with those options that involve the least or no side effects. So, take a step to make certain lifestyle changes like drinking more water for stimulating saliva production; avoiding spicy foods, cinnamon, and mint; and chewing sugar-free gum. Definitely, you will experience relief or might even come out of the symptoms. However, the root cause of the symptom is still to be addressed without which you cannot eradicate it.
  
  So, the real attack needs to be on the declining levels of estrogen, which is only possible by alternative medicines that when combined with the lifestyle changes give out the best result. Alternative medicines involve different herbs and techniques such as acupuncture. Actually, this combination is regarded as the most effective, safest, and easiest way to combat the symptom of burning tongue.
  
  It is only if your case is severe that you will be advised to go for different drugs and surgeries, which carry some dangerous risks such as various types of cancer. The most common therapy here is the Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) that is most risky and costly as compared to other options/approaches. So, it is always therefore safe to deal with burning tongue via simple changes in life.