# Swelling/tingling lip HELP!!



## mrsjtc (Dec 23, 2008)

This has been going on for about 9 months now. Randomly, my lip will tingle and then swell. Not my entire top or bottom lip, usually just a localized part of a lip. I can usually feel a bump that then gets bigger. If its mainly an outer lip issue, you can see that the skin on my lip is a different color - almost white-ish/translucent. If it is an inside my lip bump on the top lip, my mouth and area surrounding it get huge. (Think of a Who from Whoville - lip goes straight from nose to mouth, with no distinction.) Here are photos of it -not great but you can see how my bottom lip is huge to one side. It doesn't look that bad but irl its huge, uncomfortable and embarrassing.









So far, I've cut out sugar and yeast and started taking probiotcs and digestive enzymes thinking it is a reaction to candida overgrowth. I ate some salsa two days ago and puff! It was huge a few hours later. Could the vinegar and sugar in my salsa really have affected me that quickly?? I've been off sugar for about two weeks now. Any other thoughts as to what it could be?

I'm going to an iridologist on Monday but would cancel and save my $$ if any one here had a similar experience or knew for sure what it was.

Thanks!


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## Missa (Mar 19, 2008)

I'm not sure about swelling but I do remember reading something about numb/tingley lip being a symptom of hypoglycemia. If it were me I would have it checked out. Allergies would be another thing to investigate. I hope you figure it out soon.


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## A&A (Apr 5, 2004)

Do you wear lipstick? Some types contain lead, which can cause tingling.


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## mrsjtc (Dec 23, 2008)

I don't wear lipstick regularly, only Burt's Bees lip gloss.

I've not looked into hypoglcemia,thanks for the tip.


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## Chinese Pistache (May 29, 2006)

Google Oral Allergy Syndrome. Raw tomatoes are a big culprit with OAS.


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## William's Mom (Oct 6, 2004)

I have episodes of the oral allergy syndrome also, when I eat something that I'm allergic to. Though it's not always consistent. Recently, it was pineapple. My lips tingled and became very swollen. It was very uncomfortable and painful. I'm not much of a medicine taker, though I did finally have to resort to benadryl to relieve the swelling and itching.

Hope yours gets better soon.


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## mumkimum (Nov 14, 2006)

Wow, I have had this happen, it feels crazy.

Personally, I had a few full-body hive episodes for months related to major life stress, and had lip swelling more often following thoat so I personally assumed it was related to that and now (it happens maybe 1x year or less now) think of it as a small recurrence of something like that when I am more stressed. In that light, I've hardly done anything about it. There was never any kind of consistent trigger for me.


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## Soul-O (Mar 14, 2004)

I don't mean to scare you, but...

I had similar symptoms (angioedemas which resolved themselves within 24 hours without meds), which gradually became more frequent, turned into longer episodes, and eventually began moving into swelling in my throat and airways. It turns out that I have a rare autoimmune condition wherein my body attacks itself randomly with this type of histamine response. I take daily zyrtec and flonase (low dose inhaled steroid) to ward off the reactions, and will probably have to move into more aggressive treatments in the future. I also keep an epipen nearby for a particularly bad flare up. If the oral allergy syndrome is not the cause of your symptoms, I would suggest seeing an immunologist.

Good luck







.


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## kimiij (Jun 18, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mumkimum* 
Wow, I have had this happen, it feels crazy.

Personally, I had a few full-body hive episodes for months related to major life stress, and had lip swelling more often following thoat so I personally assumed it was related to that and now (it happens maybe 1x year or less now) think of it as a small recurrence of something like that when I am more stressed. In that light, I've hardly done anything about it. There was never any kind of consistent trigger for me.

Yup. This is what happened to me. I had full-body hives due to severe stress. Lip tingling followed by swelling would occur if I was stressed out and _had just eaten._

At first I thought it was food allergies but I kept a food diary and there was nothing consistent to cause the hives. The attacks were more associated with times of the day (literally would start as soon as I walked into my apartment which was a a major stressor in my life at the time) and my emotional state.

If you don't have major stress it's probably a food allergy.


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## kimiij (Jun 18, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mrsjtc* 
I ate some salsa two days ago and puff! It was huge a few hours later. Could the vinegar and sugar in my salsa really have affected me that quickly?? I've been off sugar for about two weeks now. Any other thoughts as to what it could be?

Not sure what else it could be but yes, food allergies can work very very quickly.


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## ArtificialSweetner (Mar 20, 2009)

Did u ever figure out what it was? Ive had the same problem and would like to know what it is. Someone Help! I dont get blisters or anything like that so i know it cant be herpes or anything. My lip just swells randomly like yours does. Keep me updated, thanks =)

~Krystal


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## mrsjtc (Dec 23, 2008)

I went to an iridologist who putme on an intestinal cleanse. Also, I'm not eating any refined sugar, limited honey and very limited white flour. I don't now if its working or if its just that I haven't been in a stressful situation lately.

Tomorrow morning is our Friday Enrichment program and I teach 8 kindergarteners charatcer class. I'll let ya know if its stress or not tomorrow afternoon. ;-)


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## ArtificialSweetner (Mar 20, 2009)

O ok, so its an intestinal problem? Is that what the dr told u?


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## mrsjtc (Dec 23, 2008)

In case anyone is interested, I figured out what caused the swelling.

I'm allergic to local honey. Weird, huh?! I have severe environmental allergies and I think the pollen in the local honey triggers a version of OAS. Store-bough honey is fine.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Google searching Oral Allergy Syndrome really helped me figure it out.


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