Inner lip sores with GF

garina · Post by **garina** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:28 am

I don't know if I'm posting this in the right place or not, and it may be off topic, but I am getting small painful inner lip sores since I've been on a GF diet. I have never had them before, and I get usually one every other day, then, after two days, gone.

My diet has changed to GF for one month now, and I'm doing so much better with the MC, however, these new sores are a mystery.

I do eat more fruit it seems, drink an extra cup of coffee each morning, and do not eat wheat, barley or rye. I also eat more nuts, pistachios, almonds, and I do eat peanut butter, all natural from Smuckers.

I just can't think what I'm eating that would cause these every-other-day inner lip sores.

I am grateful for any help.

garina

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:40 am

Dear Garina,

I've noticed in the past that I get mouth sores if I eat a lot of pecans. This was before I was on a gluten-free diet, so it wasn't related to being gluten-free. You say you eat more nuts than before; I'd try cutting back on those and see if it makes a difference.

Love,
Martha

Post by **tex** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 11:08 am

Garina,

There's no reason why the GF diet, per se, should cause mouth sores. Apparently, you're allergic/sensitive to something that you're eating, though, so Martha's suggestion might be a good place to start, to try to track it down. The last time I got mouth sores, (actually, blisters), was when I ate a hamburger patty at a local cafe, and a new cook was on duty. Apparently, he must have added some sort of meat tenderizer or flavoring, because it caused my entire mouth to become inflamed, starting within about 10 minutes, and lasting for about a day.

Improperly-processed cashews could possibly cause that kind of reaction, because the hulls on them contain a resin very similar to the resin in poison ivy, (urushiol), that causes allergic reactions. I've never heard of that actually happening to someone, though. The hulls on most other nuts, are not toxic.

Do you by any chance eat mango fruit? The peel and sap of mango also contains urushiol, (and so do the leaves and stems), and it can cause contact dermatitis in people who are susceptible to the resin.

Tex

garina · Post by **garina** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 1:50 pm

Tex,

Interesting about mangos. I put Mangosteen juice (1 T.) in a small bottle of joint juice and drink that every day. It is Trace Minerals Ultra Mangosteen Juice that I buy from Vitacost. I wonder if that could be the cause. I don't know if that has anything to do with mangos, tho.

Also, I starting eating potato chips as a snack, which is something I never did before, and I wonder if it could be the salt in the chips. I am pulling at straws, just trying to figure this out.

I don't eat cashews, but there were some in a jar of mixed nuts that we got at Sam's Wholesale that my husband eats. I eat the almonds from that jar. Pistachios are a new nut to me, though.

Cherries are plentiful right now, and I devour them. I hope it's not that.

I will try eliminating some of these, one at a time, and I might come up with an answer.

Thanks very much.

Martha,

I have eaten pecans lately, so that could be one to watch. Thank you.

garina

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 3:48 pm

Mangosteens are quite a different fruit from mangos, although I don't know about the chemical make-up. I have a friend who credits mangosteen juice with his recovery from a stroke.

Love,
Martha

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 3:54 pm

Tex, back in our early, naive days in Indonesia, my husband found a cashew fruit at the market. He brought it home, and we tried to eat it. At the first bite, our mouths puckered up like we were eating alum! Lots of washing out of mouths followed.

When we get raw cashews, we soak them in salt water for an hour or so to get that sticky sap out before roasting them.

Love,
Martha

Post by **tex** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:35 pm

Martha,

I've never even seen a cashew "apple", let alone tried eating one. Apparently I haven't missed anything.

Soaking raw cashew nuts is probably a good idea. Are you aware that they should be roasted outdoors? Because the gases that come off them during roasting, (if they're actually raw), can cause the same serious lung inflammation, (and skin rash), that the smoke from burning poison ivy can cause.

Garina,

I apologize for not being aware of this, but I just looked up pistachios and found that they're also a member of the same plant family.

Like other members of the Anacardiaceae family (which includes poison ivy, sumac, mango, and cashew), pistachios contain urushiol, an irritant that can cause allergic reactions.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistachio

Tex

garina · Post by **garina** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:59 pm

Tex,

I think you may have solved my problem...I have been eating pistachios lately, ever since I've gone GF. It seemed to fill a void. We just happen to buy them one day, and ever since, it's been a snack. We seem to munch on them quite regularly.

I will do an elimination of them tomorrow ... and I'll see what happens. To think cashews and pistachios are in the same family as poison ivy and sumac - how strange, the things we eat.

Thanks.

garina

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:58 pm

My situation is likely different from yours, but I traced my mouth sores to fruit and vinegar. Even though I've eliminated all fruit and vinegar, I still get mouth sores about once a week. I suspect it has something to do with mast cells.

I'd try eliminating the foods suggested by others first. If that doesn't get rid of them, suspect some other fruit.

Gloria