By Lawrae B.
When I First Heard My Dentist Say, “You Have Geographic Tongue.”
Hello, Tim.
I’m 20 yrs old and I remember when I first heard my dentist say,
“Oh, you have a geographic tongue.”
I felt like an animal in a zoo. He showed someone else and I felt like I was on exhibit. I’m pretty sure I was around 12 or 13, but I think I had it before that. Although it never was beautiful, as you will see from my photos, it has gotten worse. I actually think it looks worse than any of the other pic’s you had on your site. Except for the picture of severe geographic tongue and fissures. I was so glad to find your site. It was very informative and I did not feel so alone anymore.
A dentist or doctor telling me it’s no big deal, as you know, makes me want to yell- “Yeah, not to you. You don’t have to deal with it!” I have felt so alone and lonely. It has also affected me socially. I’m a very playful person and I can’t remember ever feeling comfortable just sticking my tongue out at someone. Now that I think of it, it would be great to be able to do that.
But, I’ve always tried to hide my tongue and have worried about people seeing it when I laugh. You can tell by the look of revulsion on their faces. Even my own mother is apologetically disgusted by it. I have tried to keep the same friends I have had since grade school so that I don’t have uncomfortable, embarrassing and humiliating moments. Guys also react to it differently, depending on how weird or understanding they are.
But, like you pointed out, there is not much info on the subject, so how CAN people be empathetic?! Some say it’s cool, others say it must be painful. Others say its alright, but I know if I didn’t have it, I’d think it was disgusting. They all lied. Even looking at my own pictures, which I just took tonight kinda disgusts me. I have not noticed many changes because I think I avoid looking at it. I will start to observe it from now on.
Your site gave me comfort though. It’s amazing that so many other people have it. I’ve never seen anyone else’s GT. So it was really cool to see pictures and gave me the idea of sending you some of mine. I can’t imagine how much mail you get with people telling you their stories, so I will try to keep mine short and hope that you might find time in your busy schedule to write back with comments.
As far back as I can remember, it has always given me pain, especially when eating tomatoes, oranges, pineapples and other foods that contain citric acid. I only experience the burning sensation on the sides, top, and tips of my tongue, though. I love these foods but have sometimes used the pain as an excuse not to eat them. Most of the time, though, I suffer through it. Once in a while, the pain is so excruciating that I have to yell, which makes my family and friends look at me funny.
I may have scraped my tongue too hard because it hurts right now.
Or maybe I need a drink. Or maybe just thinking about it is causing me to have sympathy pain. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your site. It has been very helpful and informative. I will start a food diary to get a better idea of what foods bother my tongue. It makes complete sense that it could be a B12 deficiency for me in particular, because I lose my temper easily and am a very nervous person. And I mean, even if I hear someone walking behind me and see their shadow, if they say boo I jump a mile. I also get depressed but have not gotten diagnosed because I heard it was a big pain. My grandmother has schizo-affective disorder and I’m theorizing that B12 could help her too? I didn’t know that there was a good reason for my nervousness, stress, and temper, but it sounds like this deficiency is at least part of the problem. Thank you very much for your insight and sharing your experience and others. I hope that you and your family are doing fine and I look forward to hearing from you, if possible. I am now going to look for further information, now that I have wet my palette. Hee, hee. A pun. Thank you for listening.
Going surfing,
Lawrae
This and other tongue problems are covered in more depth in “Treating and Beating Geographic Tongue and Other Tongue Problems” by Timothy McMahon of Healthy Tongue Secrets. For more information about this book and how to get your copy Click Here