Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS): Anyone found any relief?

What causes it?

@engelee Cause of BMS / OLP is unknown. They also say there are many different causes. In India, supposedly, BMS is very common because of spicy foods. Again, medicine does not really seem to know what do say or do about this. For example, why is it much more common in women, also, in older women?

My mouth was irritated or burning for 6 months, no doctor could figure out what I had, but I figured it out. How can I contribute, add information to the Burning Mouth Syndrome page?

Please tell us what helped you. I have the same problem. My mouth burns, my tongue feels weird, and my palate feels numb.

Hi Mark, I moved your message to this existing discussion about Burning Mouth Syndrome. I did this so you can connect with members like @engelee @joybringer1 @plm9 @alwhite @ristu @destinnana @htinlizzy @htinlizzy @meadowhouse @rgpadilla and @mamajomclane.

You may also be interested in these related discussions in the Skin Health group.
– Burning Mouth syndrome – Bloodwork Normal https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/burning-mouth-syndrome-5/
– Burning Mouth Syndrome. I have it very severe. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/burning-mouth-syndrome-very-severe/

Have your doctors confirmed your suspected diagnosis of burning mouth syndrome? What helps you find relief?

Does anyone have the same burning type pain in their throat thats been diagnosed with Burning Mouth syndrome?

I have never had my mouth sores given a name but mouth sores. I went to both my dentist snd my pcp and had bloodwork drawn by pcp. Nothing showed up but my mouth was so painful for months. I finally tried sensitive toothpaste a couple of weeks ago and it really made a difference. My sores are healed at the moment. I know this is something very simple but maybe it will help someone get a little relief.

Summary:
I had a feeling of irritation/inflammation/dryness, and certain weeks I had an unbearable burning sensation, as if my saliva was burning me. It turned out that I slowly developed a habit of pressing my tongue against my palate or front teeth, and after I tried relaxing my mouth and tongue, I felt tingling and realized that my mouth was numb, especially the tongue and palate. I also massaged the jaw muscles and stretched them by opening my mouth. The burning quickly went away (maybe a few hours to completely go away). As for the sensation of irritation and the tongue feeling weird, that is because of the numbness, and it takes a few weeks to go back to normal. Just don't forget to relax the tongue and mouth, until it gets natural again.

Details:
I may have had the same thing as you @willows, and I had no idea my palate was numb. I was feeling that my mouth was irritated/inflamed, and certain weeks I had an unbearable burning sensation and couldn't sleep or work. I went to the emergency at night once, I thought it was an infection, but no one was able to help. This lasted more than 6 months, I've seen almost 10 doctors and specialists, and some gave me a lot of Miconazole, Fluconazole, ..., thinking it may be Candidiasis, even though my mouth looked normal.
Since no one could help me, I started doing a lot more research. I thought that it was my saliva burning my mouth because when I tried sugarless candies or chocolate, it got worse. I bought some PH paper tests to see if my saliva had an abnormal PH, but the PH was normal. On the Mayoclinic page about Burning Mouth Syndrome, I saw that one of the causes can be tongue thrusting. I almost ignored it, but then I thought maybe I'm doing it unconsciously, so I tried to relax my tongue and jaw, and that is when I realized that my tongue muscle was contracted! I started to feel tingling especially in the tip of my tongue, and the burning sensation stopped! Then I realized that my tongue and palate were numb, I had no idea before that.
I still had the irritation/inflamed feeling, but then I realized it's probably an illusion that the numbness tends to give us, or the poor blood circulation could have inflamed the areas too. So now it's been 2 weeks and the numbness is almost gone, and I'm completely healed and can live normally again.
The reason candies and chocolate, and acidic drinks were making the burning sensation worse, is because we use our tongue and mouth muscles even more to suck on the chocolate and candies. And acidic drinks tend to make our muscles contract, like lemon does.
Funny note: during my research I went on a gaming channel, a place where there was 20k random people, and I asked if anyone had a similar experience. Someone told me that he found out he was biting his cheeks during sleep. This is not the same as me, but when I read "Tongue thrusting" on Mayoclinic, I might have ignored it if it was not for that person's similar experience.

I think that the other causes of "secondary burning mouth syndrome" on Mayoclinic, like stress, anxiety, dry mouth, are just indirect causes. For example, stress or dry mouth tend to make us close our mouth and contract our muscles, but it could be that the real reason is the tongue and mouth muscles being contracted and preventing good blood circulation.

For everyone having BMS, try relaxing your tongue and muscles in your jaw. It worked for me.
I used to get some relief when I used certain mouth gels, but that was just because I was relaxing the mouth when using the gels, and it had nothing to do with the gels or medicines.
I hope it's the same for you, and simply relaxing the tongue/mouth will fix it. Also if it's something you do at night, try recording yourself in your sleep.

I have OPL and BMS syndrome is certainly part of that whole thing. Initially, I thought the burning tongue was yeast (thrush). I looked for a mouth wash specifically for yeast but no luck there. My mouth was so dry (exacerbated by meds?) the burn worst so I drank a lot of water and took Diflucan (rx) which is an oral yeast treatment - just one pill every so often. I think it helped some. When I had a lot of ulcers in my mouth I swished with hydrogen peroxide which made a HUGE difference in the rate at which the ulcers healed. If it was really bad, I drenched a piece of gauze with the hydrogen peroxide and kept it in my mouth (between my teeth and gums) intermittently throughout the day. No one told me to do this but it dramatically cuts the healing time. When really unbearable, I have used Kanka to numb it. I also moved away from mint toothpaste and went with non-floride version which has helped incredibly (get enough fluoride from drinking water). I am not a doctor but since there are no definitive answers out there I have done a lot of research and trial and error things. So helpful to hear your efforts to address this demon. Thank you.
Btw... Oral Lichen Planos ( the mother of BMS) can effect other parts of your body. If it is limited to your mouth consider yourself blessed... It can change your life in ways too great to enumerate here. 🙁 No help to be found as of yet here in the US, the UK and New Zealand seem to have the corner on the market at this time but I have not given up hope. I can't give up. I will keep studying and digging. I refuse to believe that someone out there has not discovered a way to address this successfully. Keep you posted....