What’s a burning tongue? Everybody has burnt their tongue before, right? Hot coffee, hot soup, hot lasagna….goes away in a day or two, but not burnt tongue syndrome. Burnt tongue syndrome is the feeling of a burnt tongue that lasts for several days, weeks, months, or years. Yowsa! It can be caused by menopause, oral thrush, dry mouth (xerostomia), nutritional deficiencies, and psychological problems including anxiety and depression.
So I’ve had this sensation for the last five days–had me real perplexed, too. But I remember that vitamin B deficiency can cause some unusual tongue symptoms, so I started pounding the vitamin B (actually three supplement capsules a day). And what do you know? Burnt feeling going away slowly but surely.
How does one become vitamin B deficient? Chronic stress, heavy alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, heavy sugar consumption, heavy coffee drinking and poor digestion (inflammatory bowel syndrome) among other things. In my case, could have been any of those things, with the exception of alcohol and smoking since I don’t do either. But I love sugar, and I do get stress out…plenty. And, when I don’t eat right (for me–i.e. sugar, caffeine, wheat, pork, mint, and other food substances) I definitely have digestive disturbances (The Six Keys To Optimal Health, it’s in there).
So if you find yourself with a burnt tongue sensation for more than a couple days, try increasing your vitamin B. If it doesn’t get better within a few days, then you’d better get it checked out by your medical doctor.