Oral/Tongue cancer fears. A mess.

[Jase.]

Health Anxiety has been under control recently, and then September hits and everything goes to hell.

My symptoms;

A small swelling/thickening on the left hand side of my tongue. I don't even think I'd class it as a lump. It's fleshy and seems part of the tongue. It's painless which unnerves me.
Yellow coating at the very back of my tongue.
Red gums for weeks (maybe even months) now.
I've developed a strange almost bitter taste in my mouth over the past few days.

The thickening has me extremely worried. I went to the dentist 2 and a half weeks ago and he said it was swollen papillae, but to go back in 2 weeks if it hadn't gone. Guess what? It hasn't gone. So I'm absolutely spiralling about it. Apparently swollen papillae should resolve within a few days-to a week, and the fact it hasn't is terrifying me.

Don't smoke. I sometimes drink. 38 years old.

Convinced it's tongue cancer and I'm absolutely drowning in fear at the minute.

Just needed to vent and I guess looking for a little reassurance.

Thanks for reading guys.

[nomorepanic]

If your dentist was in any way worried they would refer you to get it looked at so I really wouldn't worry about it.

See how it goes.

[Button1]

The other thing is is that if you rub/ catch/ keep touching those things they definitely don’t just disappear…

[Jase.]

Not touching it. Can barely bring myself to look at it.

I can't get past the fact its been over 2 weeks and it still hasn't gone. That tells me something serious is going on.

Didn't sleep at all. Just spent countless hours staring at the ceiling. Crying now as I type this. Still no change this morning. I'm trying to reassure myself by reading up on statistics, but it's not really working. So low.

[nomorepanic]

It really isn't worth making yourself so ill over it. That is just your HA talking and that is NOT real.

It doesn't matter that it is more than 2 weeks - everybody heals at different paces.

Stop googling and get on with your life please!

Give it time to heal, use a mouth wash maybe and go back and see the dentist and tell them you are worried it is cancer.

Good luck.

[Jase.]

So I posted a picture on a dentist forum and a verified dentist responded with


"Everything appears within normal limits. I don't see anything that you need to worry about."


I'm trying to let that reassure me, but it's hard.

[nomorepanic]

Good news then - don't make a negative out of it please!

Are you treating your HA though?

[NoraB]

Most likely cause is that you've bitten your tongue in your sleep (I do it a lot - to the point where I had to have a mouth guard fitted to wear at night)

A coating on the tongue and bitter taste in the mouth will most likely be food related (spicy foods etc)

Try not to use harsh mouth washes...