Can anxiety cause mouth symptoms?

[nygrl]

Over the last few months I've been suffering from major anxiety. I've been convinced that I have ALS. It started with some weird hand weakness. I'm waiting for the results of some blood tests and Xrays...my Dr. thinks it could be rheumatoid arthiritis. Anyway, I have had all kinds of weird symptoms..muscle spasms and cramps in legs, weakness, you name it. These have decreased recently.Over the last few months I've been extremely fatigued, like I can barely get out of bed. My newest scare is that I feel like my tongue is swollen and I'm salivating a lot more than usual. I don't feel like I'm clenching my teeth or anything but it feels difficult to speak clearly and my jaw and behind my ears really hurts. My husband says he doesn't hear anything different when I talk...he's probably just sick of hearing me complain of my latest ailments. I don't know if this is just anxiety or if it's really something I need to be concerned about.  Has anyone else had a problem like this? I'm so sick of feeling this way and worrying obsessively about my health. Has anyone else had problems like this with their  mouth or should I head back to the Dr?

[karatekid123]

this is kind of an interesting story...now...i know that some of those things are symptoms of anxiety. for example, muscle spasms, cramps in legs, weakness, extreme fatigue, feeling like your tongue is swollen, and pain in the jaw can all be symptoms of anxiety. im not sure about salivating alot, or trouble speaking, but it's possible..
get checked out by a doctor and see what happens. but it seems like it could all be just anxiety. go to this website and check out the symptoms:

http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml

[Mamma1972]

Anxiety can do a ton of "weird" things to us.  The most important thing, however, is to never ever self-diagnose.  While all the things you are experiencing could very well be attributed to anxiety, it's best to get that sort of confirmation from a doctor.  You're doing the right thing by getting diagnosting testing done.  Try to relax (easier said than done!) because anxiety only makes the symptoms worse (vicious vicious cycle!).

Bless you...and be well.

P.S.  It's odd, I used to get the swollen tongue thing when I was experiencing panic attacks.  However, instead of salivating too much, I'd get a totally dry mouth...couldn't produce any saliva at all.  See how different anxiety can be for us?

[Pum]

I also had this feeling (too much saliva) a few years ago in the middle of an anxiety phase.  It was associated with swallowing a lot and swallowing a lot of air.  In the end I reckon it was an indegestion type thing caused by stress.  When I stopped thinking about it, it went away.

Good luck.

[AnxietyDrivingMeCrazy]

I too have anxiety and feel my mouth/tongue is sore all the time. Burning Mouth Syndrome is what I found I may have. Almost absent in the morning, it progresses as the day goes on. I have been dealing with it for almost 4 months. Sometimes it's my tongue, other times the inside of my mouth. Two different doctors didn't see anything abnormal to the eye. Funny thing is that when I was away from everything on vacation it went away and came back a few days after I returned to my regular life. My anxiety is driven by hypochondria in regard to HIV although I would be considered at low risk (heterosexual male and selects partners) and had a negative test almost 5 months after my last sexual encounter (protected intercourse and unprotected oral).

[obsessed1]

I have suffered from anxiety for the past 2 1/2 months.  I could not eat, could not sleep, felt nauseaus all the time, had stomach problems and was losing weight.  My mouth was dry all the time and I could not taste food.  

I was convinced that I had contracted HIV years ago and it just wasn't showing up on the test.  I could not get this out of my mind despite the 6 tests I have had over the past 10 years.  I have been married to my husband for 3 years and we have been together for 5.  I went from doctor appointment to doctor appointment convinced that I had a deadly disease and my days were numbered.

I am currently on Paxil and am getting off of it.  I still have 3 1/2 weeks to go to taper off of it, but I have never felt better than I have in the past week.  I actually laugh again and am eating like a pig.  The mouth dryness went away and I can actually taste food again.  AND I AM SLEEPING.  ACTUALLY SLEEPING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Believe me when I say that ANXIETY can do ANYTHING TO YOU!!!!!!!!  I actually laugh now which I haven't done in a long time and it feels great!!!!!  Hang in there and just know that once you let go of the evils that make you feel anxious, you will feel a world of difference!!!!

  

[chicks77]

It is so good to know that other people have had similar experiences, the WORST that you can do is to sart searching the net for what the symptoms might mean.When I did, I came across MS and I have been convinced that I have MS ever since. It all started with a bladder problem about two months ago which led to a panic attack about two weeks ago. My hand went numb and ice cold. I ended up in the ER! They took my blood, did a ECG, everything was PERFECT. I was even examined by a neurologist whose fingers I nearly 'broke' .I have an MRI exam tomorrow which will hopefully finally convince me that it is all in my head and continue with my life as before... I have been having a lot of work as well as personal related stress. I think once I hear from the doctor that all is ok I will feel world of a difference.... I WANT to feel good again and I know I will, I keep telling myself this is a phase and it will pass...

[reggiemcfly]

Hey, I totally get where your coming from.  I'm only a teen but I recently started having panic attacks. It started over the summer after I nearly choked to death and now at random moments when Ieast expect it my throat will  close up and I won't be able to breathe and then my mouth will go dry and I can't swallow either.  It's the worst feeling in the world because all you can think in that instant is oh my god I'm going to die, but it ends and then I'm shaking and cold, but it's not the end.  I'm always the one who ends up with the problems in the family.  I exercise and eat the best of everyone in my family yet I'm the one with the knee inflamtory problems, and other cronic problems that my doctors don't even get why I have, but the thing is you have to learn - and I'm still working on this part - that you can't let it get to you.  A lot of it's genetics and such my dad has a lot of the same problems as me which is probably where I get my problems (the power of genetics)  actually most of our problems are pretty much identical the thing is, is that you can't let it hold you back or dwell on it.  My mom says it's a mind over matter thing, if you let it control you life it will and if you stand up and take control of your life and not worry about it, it will all turn out okay.  Sometimes you've just gotta roll with the punchs.  I'm saying it's easy, it's hard especailly when your scared, but if you ask for help you can get it and just trying to help yourself makes it better, half of the fear is what causes it to be bad in the first place so it actually just amplifies the problem.  I know I really young like 15 young but I'm right I know I'm right and if your problems anything like mine I suggest that what you do is something that completely takes your mind off of your problem, like for me I like to read and i like writing poetry especailly because it allows you to convey your feelings and by the time I've finished reading or writing of even making a scuplture (love art!) I feel so much better, I need something to really immerse yourself into, loose yourself in, I swear it's the best therapy there is.  Also good things to do are not drink caffine at all.  I just learned this rule but when you have any kind of anxiety caffine makes in a hundred times worse and I know because I drink coffee 24/7 litterally.  I found out though that with panic attacks that's like feeding the fire.  So no caffine.  Also breathing exercises and and excercising in general is good even if it's only taking a walk or doing a few sit ups and the reason is that it gives you endorfans which naturally make people happy and feel better it's good for you and endorfans help releave anxiety.  While breathing exercises help relax your body and maintain a steady heart beat with tends to go haywire when were anxious.  Also stretch while doing your breathing exercises it releaves tension build up in the muscles of your body which believe it or not can also releave mental stress.  Then finally my secret weapon HALLS! whenever I have my stupid panic attacks my mouth gets really dry and sticky and I can't swallow, it's because when your really anxious your fluids go to other parts of the body to remain controled try to calm you down.  So, suching on halls or any hard candies help return the fluids to your mouth better than water as I've discovered.  I perfer halls to hard candies mainly because the menthol helps open up my airways after a panic attack which usually isn't easy for me.  Also if your anxiety ever causes you to shake bundle up, it helps to be warm it calming.  And remember effects of an attack can last from 10-20 minutes to over 24 hours depending on how bad and how scared you were if your attacks often last around or over a 1 or 2 hour period or progessively get worse you should see a doctor because you may have a disorder or if it's happening to you because of a tamatic event like mine was for me then you should consider seeing a phscologist.
Finally plenty of rest and do things that make you happy because it really does help and remember when in doubt laughter IS the best medicine.  Also you've just got to learn to roll with the punches and go with the flow if you learn to deal with it and except that this is just a part of your life then it'll get easier and could eventually be overcome.  I hope some of my advice helped.  And don't worry about the constant complaining I do it to my mom to and it's normal, we're human we need someone to be there and tell us that's it's okay even if we already know or just as a reasurance so that we can believe that and not go to the worst case scenario.  It's like a safety blanket, it protects us.  I hope some of my advice helped and good luck to you.

[sierrasong]

I have had some kind of sores in the mouth also for the past 6 months or so.  The dentist has checked and check and can find nothing wrong.  It is ok in the morning (as another poster mentioned) and gets progressively worse throughout the day.  It is lessened by Xanax for some odd reason.  I'm soooooo frustrated...