Mystery illness-please help-Fukishma related?

I'm pretty sure this is not how radiation poisoning works, but I thought I'd ask. So, starting in April 2011, I developed a painful canker sore on my inner lip. It was much larger and more painful than the few that I had in my youth, and it lasted about 10 days. I didn't think much of it, until another one showed up a few days after that, and so began a pattern that has lasted almost 2 years. Currently I have three-two of them are on top of each other. These make my lips swell up to Mick Jagger-like proportions at times.

These are excruciatingly painful and inhibit eating, drinking and kissing. I have tried eliminating stress, spicy foods, and citrus from my diet, but nothing works. Doctors are at a loss. I have tested negative for HIV and celiac. For a while, they were concerned, because I'd lost about 10% of my body weight in 6 months and had excessive flatulence, but there is no abdominal pain and a scan of my internal organs showed no abnormalities or tumors.

One doctor declared the sores "viral", and prescribed mouth-numbing medicine (which I have to appy before I eat), but no one has been able to diagnose or treat the problem.

The only thing I can point to is that I was in Seattle on a job interview on March 20, 2011 and I did get rained on quite a bit. Is it possible I got Fukushima radiation in my mouth, or is that crazy? I also passed through Japan about a year later, but was only in Narita airport in Tokyo, and only for a couple of hours.

Any information anyone can give me would be great, and mods, please move this thread if necessary. Thanks.

H, i have no suggestions particulaly, but by the sounds of things you have travelled enough to have picked this up anywhere...
My suggestion is to ask a Vietnam medic vetran or other expert in tropical type infections?
Perhaps your doc doesnt know about this but somebody more familiar with asiatic and tropical stuff might...??
just sayin...

reply to post by Snsoc


You should be checked for Crohn's disease. Mouth sores are a symptom and so is gas. It is a gastrointestinal issue and you will have to see a specialist to get diagnosed. It may require an endoscopy and or a colonoscopy. It would also explain the weight loss as you cannot process food properly.

Here is a forum on a Crohn's site about mouth sores: www.crohnsforum.com...

Your normal docs will have you running around for years in pain and never know what is wrong with you. They may even blame it on you; stress and your diet and so forth. They have no idea. You have to see a specialist and they should be able to diagnose it pretty quick if it is IBD.

If it is. I am sorry.

I don't know what is causing it but I do know that taking lysine which is an amino acid can help with them, it can shorten the duration, and I've heard that taking it regularly has stopped some people who get them regularly from getting them.

I went through a very stressful period in my life some time ago and I started getting canker sores constantly and multiple sores at a time. It was strictly due to stress, once I eliminated the stress the sores stopped

I had very good luck taking lysine to ease them a bit, and have found it even helps when you bite your cheek creating a sore.

reply to post by Bakatono


Wow that was a very informative reply. I hope he finds the help he needs. I've never had that problem myself. Sounds painful.

Originally posted by Pixiefyre
I don't know what is causing it but I do know that taking lysine which is an amino acid can help with them, it can shorten the duration, and I've heard that taking it regularly has stopped some people who get them regularly from getting them.

^^ This ^^

I used to get these sores all the time. Now I only get one once every few years when I forget to take my lysine. I take lysine every day with my regular multivitamin and it really does prevent mouth sores!

I would also look into the Crohn's angle though as it sounds like it might be your diagnosis. In the meantime, taking lysine can't hurt; it's a harmless amino acid protein.

reply to post by Snsoc


Check pics on the net for the difference between fever blisters (herpes simplex virus) and mouth ulcers.

Fever blisters respond to lysine. Mouth ulcers are apparently more varied and there are many opinions. You'll have to try the basics and if they don't help get (more) medical advice.

My mom always put iodene (normally the discolored version) on the white ones you get inside your mouth, which burns like hell for a few seconds and the next day they'd be gone.

These days I'm big on nutrition and I can remember when last I had one. As pretty much 99.99 of ppl are vit c deficient, my guess is that could also help.

reply to post by Snsoc


have them check for erosive or ulcerative oral lichen planus - it isn't that common but I have it and sores like that (but on my cheek) are what I get .... also I am doing a Low Carb diet and have had fewer flare ups of it - perhaps giving up wheat would help if you don't want to do full fledge LC diet ...

I had to go to an oral surgeon and have biopsies done for a definitive diagnosis btw

reply to post by OuttaHere


There are some people who find L-Lysine to be beneficial if they have IBD. Others do not. Each case is unique.

IBD is absolutely something you should have checked. Crohn's affects your digestive track beginning at your lips and ending at your rectum. It can manifest anywhere along the digestive tract. The main concern is what you can't see. If it is Crohn's then you may have significant inflammation inside your small or large intestine which, over time, becomes life threatening. If treated you will be "ok" but there is no cure at this time.

Here is what a search for lysine, crohn's, mouth resulted in. You can see on this page there are multiple references to crohn's. Link

There are also a few other suggestions which may be helpful.

Thank you all. I am going to see a gastrointesinologist soon. I will also pick up some lysine.
And to paraphrase Arnold Schwartzenegger in Kindergarten Cop: "It's not a herpie!"

Strawberries give me those as well as pineapple. Haven't had a sore in years since I gave them up.