MAPPED TONGUE

[J.VENKATASUBRAMANIAN]

Friends,
Can anyone tell me what causes the tongue to get mapped ( patchy) ?

In what way this is different from the other sensations ` Tongue,
excoriation' and `mucous membrane denuded'

My son aged 5, has a patchy tongue eversince he was treated with
inhalers for his chronic cough with wheezing . He is not able to
tolerate even moderately spicy food and desires cold milk and cold
food. I am including it as an important concommitant for any
treatment to him. Nat M is cited almost as a specific but his other
symptoms decided against it. In another similar case, my elder son
at the same age had this similar symptom after inhalers for his
similar cough ( which disappeared after two years). Is this a semi
chronic expression of the system or a dyscrasia?

Neither Kent nor Hering has explanations for the physiological causes
of this phenomenon? Any idea?

J.Venkatasubramanian

[Liz Lalor]

Immune system issues = remedy to consider Nat Mur.But consider Thuja before
the Nat mur ? try it and see.

[Mary Marlowe]

At 04:20 AM 8/12/2003 +0000, you wrote:

If the inhaler contained steroids, then I would suspect opportunistic
fungus infection. Removing starches and sugars from his diet will help
starve the fungus, but as for homeopathy, you need to look at the whole
case. The chronic cough with wheezing sounds important to me. The inhaler
only works to suppress, not to cure, which is why he now has the mapped
tongue. I suspect the mapped tongue is mostly a side effect of the inhaler,
and perhaps not as relevant as the symptoms before the suppression.
This is not so strange, rare and peculiar, either. It goes along with the
damaged/raw tongue. I would not put so much weight on it, since most anyone
with a raw mouth would avoid spicy foods which burn...
The Complete Repertory has 48 remedies listed under MOUTH, Mapped tongue.
Some are acids, and that seems almost self-explanatory. Many are sycotic
miasm, some are syphilitic miasm, some syco-syphilitic miasm. That leads me
to suspect that some are from an overenthusiasm of reaction, some are from
a self-destructive reaction and some are from a combination of the above.
There are even a few psoric remedies, and I would expect that the reason
behind those cases would be an overall weakness. I would even expect there
could be cases in the cancer miasm, but don't expect the remedies to be
well represented in the repertories...

It is a tempting symptom, and I would probably include the rubric, but I
would not give much weight to it. Steroids really do muddy the waters, and
make the case harder to see, because they weaken the immune system.

Hope this helps,
Mary Marlowe

[J.VENKATASUBRAMANIAN]

Mary,
I found some new material on this subject.

C.G. RAUE( CHILDREDN'S DISEASES)- Calls this Pityriasis (Geographica
Linguae) and describes this as a catarrhal inflammation of the mucous
layers of the tongue), of constantly changing boundaries and
occasionally accompanying rickets. Origin not mentioned and usually
does not last long.

The inhaler administered to my son contained aerosol delivered
fluticazone- a steroid. But one thing comes out clear. It is the
body's indication of a suppresed condition. Just as cracks appear in
the heels after a supression elsewhere. You are right when you said
this symptom is not to be included in consideration of the drug. The
very fact it is there indicates suppression and its utility end there.
Thanks for your insight.

J.Venkatasubramanian

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, Mary Marlowe wrote:
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