Member-only story
Was Oral Cancer, Oral Thrush, or Something Else Causing My Pain?
It was time to Google symptoms or consult a doctor.
The pain was unbearable every time I ate or talked.
I went to lunch with friends, and found myself cutting my sandwich into tiny pieces, like a grandma with dentures. I’m a grandma, but I don’t have dentures. I can’t take my teeth out when they hurt and set them aside, like my mother used to do.
There was no way to alleviate the discomfort. My tongue burned like a lit match and the inside of my mouth ached.
At first, I attributed it to a canker sore. I rarely get canker sores, but my husband does, so I asked him for medicine. He has a cabinet stocked with bottles and vials to address every twinge.
Fishing a bottle of lysine from his cornucopia of supplements, he said, "Take these and it will clear up in a day or two.”
I took them four days in a row and the pain, instead of subsiding, got worse.
It was time to consult Dr. Google, because whatever was going on with my mouth was something more tenacious than a canker sore.
Researching symptoms can be both a bane and a blessing. When you Google medical sites and message boards, three things are possible.
