In
the past week, I have developed cracks in the corners of my mouth. I
looked these symptoms up and have found that this can be a riboflavin
deficiency. I take a lot of vitamins every day, so this seems odd to me.
The only other cause that I can think of is stress. Up until last week I
was under a lot of stress. What do you think the cause is, and how should I treat this?
Symptoms
of stress can be anything from looking and feeling tired to more severe
problems like the kind my client, Debbie, has described. Many times stress will
have a delayed response in the body, so even though the stress may be
over (the wedding, the divorce, the new job, the event) the symptoms of a
depleted body may keep on coming. It’s as though your body takes the
brunt of the stress for a certain period of time, then it crosses over
the threshold of tolerance. That is when the symptoms really begin to
show.
Cracking
at the corners of the mouth is thought to be a riboflavin (vitamin B2)
deficiency. The B vitamins are known as the “stress vitamins.” When we
are stressed out, vitamin B is easily depleted from our system. Because
these vitamins are water-soluble, they are easily destroyed by alcohol,
pollution, smoking, and stress, to name just a few causes.
Although
Debbie was on the right track for figuring out why she was experiencing
cracking at the corners of her mouth, it wasn’t until another six
months went by that she discovered the real culprit. After trial and
error with vitamins and products put directly on her lips, Debbie
returned to her dermatologist who said it could be toothpaste
that was causing her troubles. Honestly, when Debbie first told me this I
was skeptical, although I had recently read about toothpaste causing
reactions like perioral dermatitis, a condition that I didn’t link to
Debbie’s.
You
really have to become your own private detective when it comes to
figuring out why you have “all of a sudden” developed a skin
condition—or a change in anything having to do with your body. I talk a
lot about this in regard to sugar and breakouts. Without finding what
the offending substance is, whether a food or in Debbie’s case, a
product, your problems may persist. If Debbie’s doctor hadn’t suggested
this seemingly unrelated product (toothpaste) as being the cause, she
would have continued to use it and continued to have skin problems. Or
at some point, Debbie might have gone off the toothpaste, and her lip
problems would have cleared up, but she might not have connected the two
events.
Awareness is the key, along with
being able to dissect your life in such a way as to figure out even the
most mundane of activities or products used and how they may be
affecting your health. I am happy to report Debbie’s cracking problems
have completely gone away, and needless to say, she won’t be using teeth
whitening toothpaste ever again!
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