Oral Lichen Planus

[Guild43]

Greetings,

I've been struggling with this terrible condition for almost two years now. It began when I had braces removed in February of 2010, at first I thought it was just irritation from the retainer, but obviously that is not the case. For the first year or so after the diagnosis my doctor prescribed just about every steroid imaginable (oral and topical) and though some of them did provide symptom relief in the short term, none of them were effective past the point when I stopped taking them.

For the past year I've been attempting to correct this condition via dietary and lifestyle choices. I haven't had any alcohol in over a year and I've improved my eating habits tremendously. I tried the raw vegan thing for 3 months with no noticeable improvement and have now been Mcdougalling for about one month (also with no noticeable improvement). I'm starting to wonder whether diet is going to do anything to improve my condition and am hoping that you have perhaps had experience with this condition in the past. I understand that medical science is unaware of the cause of this condition and is thus unable to cure it. I feel like I've tried everything and I'm hoping perhaps you know of something that I don't.

Thanks,
Brandon

[shell1226]

Brandon, I'm sorry I don't have any answers for you. I hope you find the answers you are looking for to remedy your ailments.

[Potatohead]

not sure if this will help, but I use a product called oramd....you can get it from amazon.com
it is peppermint,almond, and spearmint oil mixed together....I brush my teeth with it...I had gum problems awhile back, and this stuff really cleared it up, it is soothing to the mouth....but it is not pleasant tasting...makes your breath and mouth feel good though.
you can mix a few drops with water and use it as a mouth rinse.
it might help...might not....just thought I would add my 2 cent's worth...Good Luck, I hope you can find something that helps.

[DrFood]

I have been vegan for many years and I have a LONG history of lichen planus on my unmentionable girly areas as well as my lower back scalp near my neck. I developed the disorder as a vegetarian and going vegan did not cure it. Over the years I've been prescribed many a cream and foam for this condition. To be fair they all worked but what helped me the most was going gluten free. I am now free of creams, lotions, foams and lichen planus. I am not a big proponent of everyone going gluten free just for the heck of it but I thought I'd give it a shot and it worked so maybe you should try it. By the way, my dermatologist was shocked that this did the trick and is still scratching her head. Maybe that's because I don't need to see her as often or buy her expensive medicines, not sure....

[GeoffreyLevens]

DrFood, I'm not surprised by your gluten free success. I think gluten is right behind dairy in being a culprit in skin disorders (and all sorts of other stuff). The majority of people are not much bothered by it but I think that eliminating it for a few weeks is really the only way to know for sure, lab tests always having some inaccuracy. Of course that means really eliminating gluten and not just wheat. Takes a bit of learning and strategy but well worth it if that resolves your issue!

[Guild43]

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately Oral Lichen Planus is not something that can be treated by a mouthwash, I've tried all of them including OraMD (Most of them actually make it worse). As to the gluten free idea, I'm interested and have been trying it over the last months. May I ask how long it took on a gluten free diet before you noticed an improvement in your condition?

[sweetfruitlover]

I just looked up this disease to see what it is, and it sounds like an inflammatory condition where the body is attacking itself. I'm so sorry you are going through this! I know what it is like to suffer from something like this as I have had autoimmune disease and many inflammatory conditions, but I am free of them all right now, and it's all been through changing my diet, no medications.

I healed myself of autoimmune thyroid disease and dermatitis herpetiformus by going gluten-free many years back. I didn't know I had celiac disease because I didn't have the typical digestive discomfort that most celiacs do.

Then this year I found out that potatoes and tomatoes were causing lots of inflammation in my body. My main symptoms were these tender red patches of skin, and a grinding pain in my hip. I thought the hip pain was structural, but a doctor told me that it was much more likely to be bursitis or tendonitis. A light went on when I realized that it might be more inflammation. I already suspected tomatoes, and an elimination diet confirmed it. Then later I found that I reacted the same way to potatoes.

Probably not everyone is so sensitive to their food choices, and there are probably many other things that cause inflammatory diseases, but for me it's all been diet, so I would encourage you to explore this option too.

Dr. McDougall describes a plan for doing an elimination diet here:

http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_allergic.html

It takes a lot of dedication and discipline to do this, but it sounds like you are motivated enough. The key for me was going down to a very simple group of foods that allowed me to be symptom-free, and then carefully testing each new food by itself to see if I had any negative reaction to it. I think I've found the major culprits, though I still test foods as my life allows to find ones that I am possibly having a more subtle reaction to.

Burgess (a star McDougaller and member of this forum) has many posts here and a website of his experiences getting inflammation-free through changing his diet. My group of foods is different than his, but it was really helpful for me to read what he wrote to understand the process of an elimination diet and to get motivated to do it. You can do a search for his posts and he has a link to his blog in his signature.

Good luck!

[julescamp]

Brandon,

I'm sorry for what you're going through. I suffered from oral lichen planus a few years ago. My skin in general has gotten thinner and more sensitive as I've gotten older. That includes my mouth, I guess. I developed a sensitivity to some ingredients in most toothpastes and mouthwashes that eventually resulted in lichen planus. The oral surgeon I saw suggested using Biotene toothpaste. Once I stopped my regular toothpaste and switched to Biotene, the lichen planus eventually went away. I didn't make any other changes. You may have tried this already, but if not, I hope it helps. Now if I accidentally use my husband's toothpaste, I can tell right away -- it burns!

Ann

[GeoffreyLevens]

Ann, great info! I had not thought of sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) as possible culprit but it is indeed very inflammatory for some people. The only reason it is present in toothpaste (or shampoo, etc) is to make foam which does nothing at all except look "cool". People expect lots of thick foam so they use SLS in all sorts of bath and washing products. Stupid human tricks!

[Guild43]

Hey again,

Thanks for the reply regarding the elimination diet, I actually found Burgess' page a few weeks ago and have been trying to follow his elimination diet to the letter, I suppose it's still too early to tell if it's helping.

Thanks also for the toothpaste idea, I've actually been using an SLS and gluten free toothpaste for over a year with no noticeable improvement. I have not tried the biotene toothpaste, but I am hesitant to use it unless there is a non-mint flavored version. Anything with mint in it has a detrimental effect on my OLP.

[GeoffreyLevens]

If gluten is the issue, you likely have to be really scrupulous about eliminating it from your diet. For some people, traces can be enough.

[sweetfruitlover]

You can just stop using all tooth paste and mouth products for a while and brush your teeth with a toothbrush and water and see what effect that has.

I personally love Ecodent powder, in the anise flavor (yum!) They also have cinnamon and lemon/lime as well as mint. It has no SLS.

http://www.amazon.com/Eco-Dent-Daily-Ba ... 875&sr=8-1

[Guild43]

You can just stop using all tooth paste and mouth products for a while and brush your teeth with a toothbrush and water and see what effect that has.

Hi and thanks for the reply!

I tried this for about a month while I was doing the raw food thing, it didn't really seem to make a difference.

My theory of the cause of my OLP is a bit outlandish, but it makes sense to me. I believe that I had braces on for so long (Almost 4 years) that my body forgot my teeth were supposed to be there. Once my braces were removed and my teeth were again in direct contact with my gums my body freaked out. At the same time I was in the process of losing a large amount of weight (Close to 100 pounds over the course of two years) so my immune system was very weak.

Please note that I did not lose weight on a healthy eating program (I did a version of carb restriction along with exercise), and that my body was likely in a calorie deficit for a large portion of those two years and perhaps even beyond up until a few months ago when I initially tried the raw food thing. My fear is that I have irreparably damage my immune system and that I'll have to live with this condition for the rest of my life.

[janluvs2heel]

"My theory of the cause of my OLP is a bit outlandish, but it makes sense to me. I believe that I had braces on for so long (Almost 4 years) that my body forgot my teeth were supposed to be there. Once my braces were removed and my teeth were again in direct contact with my gums my body freaked out. At the same time I was in the process of losing a large amount of weight (Close to 100 pounds over the course of two years) so my immune system was very weak.

Hi Brandon,

I worked for an Orthodontist for a long time & also in dentistry for 41 years. I have never seen anything like that. I am assuming you had brackets on all the teeth except the molars, although on occasion we had to use bands on the bicuspids, but not that often. But the brackets, while they do cover a very small area, your gums still touch the teeth. However, losing 100 lbs & it sounds like even though you did not do it rapidly, maybe was not as healthy as you could have, seems that that could certainly have triggered this. But I would really be suprised if it was anything to do with the braces.

I did a little reading on it, one of the articles reading said that it can sometimes just go dormant so maybe that will happen with yours. I certainly hope that you find the answers or that yours does go dormant.

[sweetfruitlover]

At one point in my journey to health I developed a major inflammatory condition in my body. The skin on my toes became red and very painful. I couldn't wear regular shoes, so I wore sandals even in the winter, and if I would accidently touch my toes against anything I'd be in such intense pain that I'd start crying.

I had this condition for about a year. I was able to get it to be a little better by taking lots of fish oil and a little borage oil, but I couldn't figure out what to do to heal from this, and I too worried that I would have it for the rest of my life.

As I kept on getting healthier and cleaner, the inflammation eventually went away. My theory is that when it first happened, my body had gotten to a point where it was a little healthier and more able to detox from all the toxins I'd been storing in my body for years, and it manifested this as inflammation. Inflammation is a healing response from the body - it's hard to remember that when it hurts and it feels like the inflammation itself is the problem, but it's the body trying to get healthier. So for a year or so while I was getting healthier but still had lots of toxins in my body, I dealt with this inflammation. Now it manifests again if I eat foods that my body doesn't like (potatoes and tomatoes in my case), but otherwise I am not plagued with it, thank God.

If this theory is correct, then it kind of makes sense in your case too. You were losing lots of weight, even if it wasn't on the healthiest of diets. As you lose weight, your body is starting to have to deal with all these toxins that have been stored in your body fat. Thus, your body developed this inflammatory condition.

If so, you can likely heal from it too, but it may take quite a bit of time for your body to get healthy and clean enough that it won't feel like it needs to create all this inflammation. And obviously if you are still consuming or being exposed to things that are currently causing it, you'll need to identify and eliminate those.

Good luck! I know what it's like to deal with something so painful and hard to figure out. But I believe that our bodies are able to recover health in most cases, and the fact that your body is vigorously manifesting this inflammatory condition may actually be a sign that you are getting healthier in the long run.

One more thought. I've never fasted myself, but maybe you might want to consider going to True North or some similar facility where you can do a fast under a doctor's supervision.