Canker Sores/Stress

Nurses General Nursing

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I was reading an article about canker sores . And it said the some cases of

canker sores may be cause by stress. Since nurses tend to be put under a

lot stress , I was wondering how often do nurses deal with canker sores?:confused:

Thanks

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Specializes in NICU, Telephone Triage.

I've been getting them a lot lately. They hurt like h...

I'll have to read about them being stress related, or are they a virus?

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I have definately found canker sores related to stress. Although yes they are viral (herpes simplex), stress increases incidence. That's why Pantothenic Acid (B5), the "stress vitamin" probably helps clear them so quickly. That & some Lysine at onset (1st tingling), & you may even prevent it.

Some meditation, stress mgmt, & a good walk help too! You can even take these preventively, Kimbalou, when you see that you're getting run down. It's worked for me.

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Specializes in ED.

Yes! i get them more often when I am under stress and/or getting less sleep than normal. If I get overtired I always get them. I use biotene mouthwash since I read it helps prevent them but I still get them occassionally. I'd be interested in how others deal with them and prevent them.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I have suffered with canker sores since my childhood, generally a handful of times/year. I recently started a new job in March, and by April my mouth was FULL of cankers - and they all clustered together to make one BIG canker. Generally, my cankers go away within in a week. I was close to 3 weeks with those....it looked like I had gotten punched in the jaw I was so swollen...and my lymph nodes...VERY swollen. In fact, I even had a fever of 39.3 - yikes! What was it? STRESS. I took some days off...I stopped running (how could I run!?), and I just RESTED. All the time. When I finally felt better (but still had the sores), I did some research on some pain relief measurements. Some helpful tips to my fellow stressed nurses with massive pain:

~Toothpaste without SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate). This is an irritant. Look at some of the Sensodyne brands or Tom's of Maine.

~SmartMouth mouthwash. Pricy, but worth it.

~Lysine & Acidophilus supplements.

~CANKER COVER (found these at the drugstore). MAGICAL.

And get that much needed rest:yawn: I feel your pain!

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Specializes in LTC.

I'm a nursing student, but I get them from stress occassional. I also have a few foods that trigger them.

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Specializes in ICU.

Im a dental hygienist who is currently returning to school to be an RN. Maybe I can help out a little bit here.

Canker sores and cold sores are two different things.

The cold sores/fever blisters are contagious, are caused by a virus (herpes simplex), and normally appear outside of the mouth, although I have seen clusters of herpetic ulcers inside my patients mouths. An OTC topical can help with this. If they happen a lot, your doc can give you a preventative antiviral drug. The DDS I work for will prescribe this to patients that have many recurrent outbreaks.

Canker sores/apthous ulcers are not Herpes, are not contagious, and appear inside the mouth. Researchers still aren't sure exactly what causes them. It could be stress, fatigue, trauma, certain foods, immune problems, bacteria, or viruses. They can be linked to some diseases such as hand foot and mouth disease. The first time I had an outbreak, the pathology/microbiology professor asked me if I had been around children recently as she thought I could have picked up Hand Foot and Mouth.

Peroxyl, an OTC mouthwash, or a numbing mouthwash, can help with the pain. Also, some dentists offices (the office where I work has one) have soft tissue lasers that can "burn" these canker sores away. (Not literally burn, they still heal up, but the laser can take the pain right away). This is a relatively new use for the dental soft tissue laser.

I used to get clusters of canker sores during dental hygiene school- I noticed it happened a lot more around boards. They were all over the inside of my mouth and they hurt like h**l!! Most of the time they went away in a week or so, but there was one time I had the lasering done because I just couldn't stand it! I have not had one canker sore since I graduated from dental hygiene school. That was the only time in my life when I ever got those. I"m sure I'll be having some more once nursing school starts, lol.

You nurses probably know all this stuff, but I hoped this helped!

RDH1

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Whoops on my part! :-)

Thanks RDH1!

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i have to share my canker sore experience.

for decades suffered from canker sores (inside mouth)... then when my daughter was born and turned about 8 she started getting them too. quite by accident, we ran out of toothpaste (the kind we always used, aquafresh) and i used crest and liked it better and decided to use that from now on... never (i mean NEVER) had a canker sore since and that's been about 20 yrs.:eek:

about 12 years ago i worked with a guy and he said he suffered from canker sores and i asked him what kind of toothpaste he used and he said aquafresh!!! i told him my story and he changed toothpaste too.

i cannot use any toothpaste except crest regular paste (no whitening or other weird variations) we always thought it was allergy to foods but i think it is ingredients in the brand.

just thought i'd share. good luck:saint:

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