stupid health TMI

[rm]

I have something that looks like a blood blister on teh inside of my cheek that I've never noticd before, and since I noticed it because it's kinda large and feels weird, I have to assume it appeared suddenly and is what I think it is.

So how many days should I give it before I freak out and go to the doctor because I'm scared I have oral cancer or something?

ETA: Well, I just popped the thing by accident, so I guess that's a good sign in its way. I'll keep an eye on it though, and since I already contacted my dentist, I'll get stuck having the celiac talk if nothing else.

Comments

[crazycatlady.livejournal.com]

I had one of those once. Well, two. One was a benign cyst and the other was a random third tonsil. I had both of them for a couple months before having htem removed and I'm fine.

If it hurts, is oozing, or if you have a history of oral cancer, go ASAP. Otherwise, I'd watch it for a few days and then go get it checked out.

[rm.livejournal.com]

well, since it's the inside of my cheek, I don't think it's a tonsil. thank you for telling me not to freak out. I still am, of course.

[crazycatlady.livejournal.com]

My tonsil was on the side of my tongue. Sons of bitches can turn up anywhere, oddly enough. Or so my hot oral surgeon said.

[rm.livejournal.com]

OKay, that's just creepy.

I'm just freaked out by how suddenly I'm aware of this (it isn't small). OI.

[crazycatlady.livejournal.com]

You're telling me. I felt like I'd spent my childhood eating lead under power lines.

If it's bothering you, and I know it'd be bothering me, get it checked out. Put yourself at ease.

[mobobocita.livejournal.com]

LOL, It's amazing the things I learn about you in other people's comment threads!

[crazycatlady.livejournal.com]

Would you like to hear about my sex change operation?

[mobobocita.livejournal.com]

Promises promises.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

Okay, that third tonsil thing is just all kinds of awesome.

right

[lilchiva.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking that

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's not just a canker sore? Try gargling with salt water and see if it helps.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Doesn't hurt and it's not white, but dark purple, like a blood blister.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Well, it could be a blister. Maybe you just bit your cheek last time you were eating? I get random bruises all the time from injuring myself and then forgetting about it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

well, I just popped it by accident. I guess that's a good, if disgusting, sign.

I am such a hyperchondriac (although after the year I've had, I think I'm actually entitled for a change).

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that must have tasted disgusting. But if it pops like a blister, then probably not horrible tumor or anything.

Yeah, I'd imagine so. But it is freaky when your body does stuff you don't expect.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Completely.

You missed the three months of "what am I dying of" when it just turned out I'm severely gluten-intolerant. Time to go eat a bagel made out of applesauce and rice.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I have a couple of other friends who can't eat gluten, but at least they didn't have to guess at what was going on. That would be terrible.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah. My doctor kept saying "just eat bread until your stomach recovers."

So yeah, that was fun. Fun fun fun.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

Though ouch even once you figured it out- I live entirely off of bread and pasta, and would probably starve to death if I had to eat anything else.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I feel so much better now that the willpower is rarely difficult, and then usually only if I've been drinking. There are also several restaurants here that have gluten-free pasta and bread and one is actually very very good, and unlike most gluten-free food -- cheap. The hit to my budget for a lot of this crap has been immense, and the social vagueries of it (parties and such) can be hard.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I would think so. Because gluten's the kind of thing that's in everything, and doesn't really come with nice warning labels like peanuts.

My favorite coffeeshop sells gluten-free brownies, but I've never had them, so I don't know if they're any good.

[rm.livejournal.com]

There's a gluten-free bakery near fencing that I go to every wednesday (it's not open on mondays) that's so good I get paranoid it has gluten in it.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yum. I had a really good gluten-free chocolate cake once, but it was at a resturant in California, so that doesn't really help you.

[miep.livejournal.com]

i get something like that from time to time, but they're small, and they go away on their own.

I'm not seeing anything cancer-related about the ones that aren't painful.

did you eat anything new that might have irritated you mouth? new toothpaste?

maybe it was the smarties! no gluten or mollusks, but I bet it didn't say anything about mouth-attacking additives! I'm thinking colouring or flavoring...

[vondow.livejournal.com]

How dare you besmirch Smarties good name, the would hurt no one. Or maybe they would, what do I know. I just like the taste and crunch.

[crazycatlady.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I felt kind of like an X-Man. Woman. Whatev.

[mobobocita.livejournal.com]

Wow, now that it's popped, are you as freaked? I know I've bitten my cheek something terrible and gotten that before, but um, well, one tends to notice when you bite your cheek!

[ekatarina.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I get little "spit blisters" on the inside of my mouth. It's when I bite my cheek or such an dthe skin heals over a salivary gland. If I keep popping it the skin will eventually heal *around* the gland and stop making blisters.

The only time I had to have surgery for it was when I had cut my mouth in a kick boxing melee and it had healed over three glands.

Maybe this is similar?


Ekatarina

[(Anonymous)]

I get blood blisters on the inside of my cheek every few months. It almost always coincides with eating incredibly hot (temperature hot) food.

[manycolored.livejournal.com]

I get blood blisters on the inside of my cheek every few months or so. I think it's because I grind my teeth and sometimes pinch myself doing it.

Oral cancer fear

[(Anonymous)]

You're in luck. I can arrange a free oral cancer exam for you with a dentist in your area, in which they'll use a glow-stick (no kidding; it's FDA-approved as a medical device) to check for abnormal tissue, including pre-cancerous and cancerous cells.

With the symptom you described, I doubt you had anything serious, but... the ADA says 25% of oral cancer occurs in people with no known risks (no alcohol, tobacco or cancer history),so it pays to have a check-up.

The 10-minute, totally painless exam, is called ViziLite Plus. Write me back and I'll arrange it.

For everybody else on this thread, get an exam! More insurance carriers are covering ViziLite each month. Info at www.vizilite.com.