Gingivitis, a body reaction to stress?

[Rey1989]

Good morning fellow anxious sufferers,

3 days ago I developed what seems to be gingivitis, my lower gum is swollen, tender and bleeds easily with daily tooth brushing. I have scheduled a visit to my dentist today in a few hours, but I wanted to know if some of you have ever had this, and how you were able to treat it?

Also, i've been having some rather often infections (this could be another one) and got freaked out due to the frequency. Of course, my initial reaction was to think the worse, but I know that the body under severe stress and anxiety can be compromised, specifically the inmune system and the body's ability to deffend itself. 10 days ago I started treatment for what it seemed to be cellulitis on my abdomen (I had this happen exactly a year ago on the exact same spot) so all of this seems very weird, but could it also be due to high levels of stress and anxiety im experiencing right now? Sorry for the long post, just wanted to add some details so everything makes sense.

Thank you for reading.

Rey

[Fishmanpa]

Gingivitis, a body reaction to stress?

Gingivitis is a reaction to poor oral hygiene. Smoking or chewing tobacco can contribute as well.

Positive thoughts

[unsure_about_this]

Gingivitis, a body reaction to stress?

Gingivitis is a reaction to poor oral hygiene. Smoking or chewing tobacco can contribute as well.

Positive thoughts

I have to agree with Fishmanpa on this one

[GlassPinata]

Do you floss?
I've heard gingivitis can result from not flossing.
Just a thought.

best wishes.

[Rey1989]

Thanks for the responses, turns out its not gingivitis, but I did have an infection on my gum. So 7 days of penincilin and a special mouth wash should do the trick. As to my other questions what do you think? Could stress be weakening my inmune system? Im just concerned because of the infections I've been getting lately. My GP doesnt take me seriously anymore, and im starting to feel the same way from this forum.. its just nice to chat with people here because my friends/relatives are sick and tired of all of this, just like I am. Just need to vent every now and again in a place where technically i shouldnt be judged based on my mental state. And as always, thanks for reading!

[Cakelady]

Hi, hope your infection clears soon. Stress can affect the body in so many ways, I guess its possible it could affect your immune system. I often find I am more prone to things after periods of high anxiety but I really don't eat well during those times & think that's not helping, making me susceptible.
Please keep talking here, its important to get worries out. Take care xx

[bin tenn]

I've heard of stress taking a toll on the immune system, but I think it'd have to be quite extreme to lead to infections. Oral infections just happen sometimes. Do what the dentist says and you'll be better in no time.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Stress does weaken the immune system, that's a known one in non anxiety sufferers as it contributes to the loss of work days. People under stress get cold like symptoms at times. But we are not talking about weakening the immune system to something dangerous, just some minor in the same way that having a poor diet can or as mentioned above, poor dental hygiene can lead to what you were originally querying.

Something I've found, which dates back before my anxiety, was that stress could cause me breakouts of ulcers or even acne. The latter sounds pretty obvious when you consider sweating.

But prolonged stress means nutrients are being burned more often. It influences your cortisol which leads to things like fatty deposits in certain areas as part of the expected physical response.

Drugs can cause certain things to be more possible e.g. steroidal inhalers can lead to oral thrush. Antibiotics can do the same, both due to killing off the healthy bacteria in your mouth that keeps the unhealthy bacteria in check.

Therefore look towards keeping yourself healthy. Vitamin C, for instance. Eat healthy, exercise, etc and your immune system will improve anyway.

[Rey1989]

Thank you everyone! I've read every single response, To me its clear now that the inmune system can in fact be compromised by stress and anxiety.

I have a reeeeally bad habit of forming connections to self diagnose myself with serious illnesses. It can never be a common cold, or a isolated infection, in my head it has to be the worse case scenario, like right now blood disorders are flooding my head (specially after feeling an enlarged lymph node under my armpit). After years of reading stuff online, I feel like it all comes together and this time has to be a blood cancer like lymphoma, leukemia, etc. I trully wish I had the ability to not jump to worse case scenarious... i fight with this every single day, its so tirying... again just wanted to get some of this off my chest.

PD: talking about chest, 3-5 days ago i felt a burning feeling in my right lung, the kind you get after heavy coughing, with the difference i wasnt coughing. Today I went to the gym and felt an unusual shortness of breath, so i just feel generally ill all around. Just wanted to add this piece of information.

Thanks for reading!

Rey