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Posted 8/20/2007 2:39 AM (GMT 0)

Greetings!  It is so nice to be back and conversing again with my friends here at HW.  Maybe someone can help me with this one, though, it is something new for me.  For about a week now, I have noticed a weird "bump" that seems to pop out in my mouth when I am eating or sipping on a beverage.  I can push it back in with my tongue.  It is in the area of my mouth where my tongue is attached to the floor of my mouth.  There is not much pain, just a bit of soreness, but I am taking painkillers (methadone) right now due to an increase in kidney stone activity this month.  I am planning to contact my dentist tomorrow but I wondered if anyone here had experienced this before.  Any ideas?

Posted 8/20/2007 2:56 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Audry Ann ... its good that you are contacting your dentist first thing tomorrow. I hope he'll look at it for you and give you some advice. Mouth issues are so tricky . . . they can be very benign or really serious and the pain factor is not necessarily the best indicator of seriousness.

I hope you'll post and let us know what you find out. I hope he'll have you pop in so he can take a look at it.

Blessings!
Posted 8/20/2007 3:46 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, Audrey Ann. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that bump in your mouth. It sounds weird that you can actually push it in and out. The mouth and the nose are two of my least favorite areas affected! I've never had a bump quite where you describe yours as being though. Mine are usually small-sized bumps located in assorted areas on the sides and back walls of my mouth. Mine are usually painful too. Mine sometimes have what appears to be a "head" and sometimes they do not. Unfortunately, I don't know any secrets for helping those or making them disappear. I hope you can get some help with that soon. I'm sure it is annoying...but isn't that the way we have it? Take care, and let us know what you find out.
Posted 8/20/2007 1:56 PM (GMT 0)
Audrey Ann, one of the first mouth sores I ever had with lupus was like the one you just described. It was very weird. It was exactly where you described yours. It was odd because it would come and go like yours and sometimes it bothered me and sometimes it didn't. During that time, I had a rheumy who wasn't too interested in my case, so my pcp kept an eye on it. She chalked it up to a lupusy kind of thing and eventualy it went away, but it was quite a while before it completely went away. I agree that it would be a good idea to have it looked at by someone. Take care and let us know what you find out.
Posted 8/20/2007 8:38 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Rosie, Sharen, and Hippimom! I saw my dentist today and he helped me by actually pushing the small, stone-like thing from my mouth - OUCH! He said it was like a kidney stone but it was in my salivary gland. It is very much related to my lupus and is part of how my body processes calcium. The lupus causes me to have dry mouth (Shogrens?) and this thickens my saliva. Ultimately it clogs a salivary gland and a stone forms. Well, I had never heard of that before! Leave it to me to get a kidney stone in my mouth - LOL!
Posted 8/20/2007 9:47 PM (GMT 0)

Hi Audrey, Wow I'm glad your dentist was able to deal with it and get rid of it for you. I don't mean to sound morbid but that is just really wild and interesting to me. I had an x ray of my ribs done years ago and they all had little calcium depotsits on the ends of them. I had my gallbladder out because it was completely packed with stones . I have had kiney stones before and I get little round peeplie kind of things under the skin on my arms.

You kno it's too bad that we aren't oysters. We could be loaded by now! I hope your kidneys get feeling better soon.

thanks for the update

hugs

carol

Posted 8/21/2007 1:01 AM (GMT 0)
LOL Carol . . . .

Audrey . . . *phewwwww* I'm soooooo glad you had that checked out and that it was something he could take care of. I bet that was very painful when he did it. I've never heard of such a thing. Now, I'll need to "google" it.

Thanks for the update. . . and the new info. I hope you mouth feels better soon.

Blessings!
Posted 8/21/2007 1:55 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone! I am very sore tonight. Rosie, I did google "salivary gland stone" and I found this very interesting link:

www.drlouryent.com/Pages/PatientServices/1059.html

It is very much related to people with lupus, sjogrens, or any type of connective tissue disease. This has been a weird day!

(PS - Sorry, I am having trouble making this a live link.)


<Edited to make link 'live'.>

Post Edited By Moderator (Lynnwood) : 8/20/2007 8:57:35 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 8/21/2007 8:09 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Audrey Ann. I'm glad you were able to have that bump in your mouth taken care of so quickly, but "Ouch". It doesn't sound sweet! I've never heard of a calcium deposit like that in all my reading about lupus or sjogren's (I have both as well). I just know there are some strange things that can come from these disease's though. It's definitely something to keep in mind, just in case I ever run across it! Thanks for sharing and take care.
Posted 8/21/2007 9:08 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, Lynnwood, for making that link live. Also, Sharen, my dentist advises me to keep drinking a lot of water to stay hydrated and to make the saliva in my mouth less thick. This leads to the stone formation. My mouth is much better today. I have been eating lots of lemon drops to increase my saliva output. It really works!
Posted 8/22/2007 12:41 AM (GMT 0)
Make sure whatever you are sucking on isn't full of sugar or something else that will damage your teeth! I had a friend end up loosing some teeth & having some gum damage while sucking on something the Dr wanted him to use!
Posted 8/22/2007 2:58 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks, Lynnwood, I usually buy only sugar-free candies when I purchase hard candies. Very good point, though, thanks for the reminder!
Posted 8/22/2007 3:10 AM (GMT 0)
I don't know if it might have been something else (besides sugar) that was in the hard candies he was using -- you might want to check w/your dentist for sure. Isn't it a pain to have to check and double-check every little thing?! These illnesses suck!
Posted 8/22/2007 3:23 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks, again, Lynnwood. My dentist did specify sugarless candies and he is very picky about these things. His daughter and my daughter were friends since pre-school and when his daughter would spend the night she was not allowed to eat or drink anything with sugar. That was a bit tricky for me since I always tried to do a menu with variety and did not really worry if there was "some" sugar content. I just had to be extra careful. On a side note, his daughter actually hated to use toothpaste. She only used plain water with her toothbrush. I thought that was a bit funny but I guess you don't really have to use toothpaste to get your teeth fully cleaned.
Posted 8/22/2007 3:32 AM (GMT 0)
That's a bit of a relief -- sometimes by bedtime I'm just so tired I can't be bothered with toothpaste and lots of time brushing -- a quick brush and a couple of good rinses and that wears me out! Now I feel like I have permission to do that instead of this 'dental guilt' I've been having. Is the soreness from the calcium deposit healing quickly? Do they want to do any follow-up of watching calcium levels or anything like that? And here most of us make sure to take calcium supplements because we're on prednisone! It sounds more painful than I want to experience so I'm trying to learn from you so I can avoid stones myself. Cheers,
Posted 8/22/2007 8:44 PM (GMT 0)
According to my dentist, the stones are a result of the lupus or sjogrens making my saliva "thick" and this causes the saliva ducts to get clogged. The calcium and posphates in my saliva then harden and form the stones. He is not doing anything else with my calcium levels since my kidney specialist (I have LOTS of kidney stones, too!) does this regularly. It seems my lupus causes my body to dump clacium right out of my system. I have even developed "osteopenia". My kidney doc has me on a calcium channel-blocker type of high blood pressure med to counteract this. In addition, I take Actonel for my weak bones. My whole body seems to be full of stones and my situation seems to be very uncommon. The best preventative, however, is to stay hydrated and drink lots of water. This will help with ANY type of stones - kidney stones or salivary gland stones.

Prayers,
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