White film on tongue

[Mazen]

After starting to take Prednisone again, and also antibiotics, I noticed a thick white film on my tongue. I investigated the net and it seems that it's common with immunocompromised people to have this and that it's some kind of fungus!!!.

Has anybody had this before and does it go away by itself? it doesn't hurt or anything but it looks ugly and I'm worried it may spread to my throat or something :confused2:

 

[Kev]

OK, Mazen... Fess up... where have you had that tongue??? alright, kidding aside, I never had it..... I share your concern about the possibility of it spreading. I would try extra strength 'Over The Counter' mouth rinses or washes w an anti bacterial agent in them first (in case it's bacterial Vs fungal). If that didn't work in fairly short time, I would see a doctor, since fungal infections can often be tricky to make go away.

 

[D Bergy]

Personally I think fungus plays a bigger role in Crohn's than is generally recognized.
Not only Crohn's but other diseases as well. Having said that, I will also say I have no hard evidence of this.

I have had the white film in the past, but never really paid any attention to it since I was not ill. I have very little of it presently.

The fish oil you mentioned seems to help me, but I cannot tell how much it helps by itself since I take a combination of supplements and most of them have anti fungal properties to them. White tea is also supposed to have anti fungal properties.
You can add these without any other change in what you are taking. That may not be enough to get rid of it, but at least it will make it more difficult for it to thrive.

Dan Bergman

 

[killerzoey]

If you are taking antibiotics run, don't walk to the health food store and grab some probiotics. At the very least start downing some yogurt. If you don't follow antibiotics with probiotics you can really screw up your resident flora. You don't want to kill off your good bugs and have the hoodlum bugs take over. They're badder and they pack more heat. I wonder if I had done this with my last round of antibiotics (which brought out my Crohn's GI symptoms the first time) if I would even be in this position. I just got lazy.

You might try Oil of Oregano, too, which is a powerful antifungal. They say to rotate it with something else like Grapefruit Seed Extract, but I am unsure if this is ok to take with steroids. I remember I was told not to eat grapefruit with steroids and I am not sure if this would include the extract of the seed.

 

[Mazen]

Thanks guys. I had an appointment with my GI yesterday, and he said that this is normal after antiobiotics and it should go away by itself. He said it's a minor fungal infection and there is no need to take any strong antifungal medicine for it...

Killerzoey, I totally agree with the probiotics issue with you, but unfortunately I seem to get worse on them. I've tried several brands and most of the time they gave me gas or made feel uncomfortable (I read that refrigerated ones are better, like Culturrelle, but here in Lebanon we don't have them). So now I try to eat traditional yoghurt which is common in my country, which doesn't seem to bother me a lot (I tried Activia but it also didn't suit me, don't know why; maybe it's not fermented enough!)....

 

[kpratte]

I seem to remember metronidazole doing funny stuff like that to me. I did the same stuff suggested above with the probiotics and things were better.

- Ken