mouth pain after/during long rides
 

Anyone else get a sore mouth on/after long rides? Roof of mouth, gums, kind of hurts to swallow? I feel like I've heard people talk about it, but not finding much on the internet. Anyone else get this *and* have found a solution? It only happens to me sometimes, but I haven't figured out the pattern.

And no, it's not because of scratchy French baguettes.

Are you taking any Medication's?
Good Be Side Effects?

Occasionally. I think the only cure is ranndonesia

The thing I get that would be easy to fix is chapped lips. I think that's pretty common.

Try chewing gum every few hours.

Yes to medication, but not on the list of side effects.

Yeah, I get that too, especially on cold-ish spring rides with lots of pollen in the air. But if I put on chapstick more often I'd solve that one. I'd just have to remember to dig it out of my pack before it starts to hurt.

I...do not think riding a bike and chewing gum are two things I can do together. Haha. I'd swallow it. Could try gumdrops or taffy, though.

I'm wondering if it's just mild electrolyte imbalance/hydration issues, but not strong enough in either the not-enough-salt or not-enough-water direction to give me any of the more obvious symptoms.

Yeah. I guess I attribute it to eating so much food. Variety helps. I've started using different types of liquid fuel, to reduce the amount of solid food I have to eat. That seems to help.

Possibility one - something like exercise induced asthma due to cold, dry air? At least for the throat discomfort?

Possibility two - too much sugar?

Possibility three, dehydration?

It could be an ingredient in your fuel. Does your diet vary from ride to ride? If so, this could explain the random nature of sore mouth/throat. I avoid citrus fruit and ascorbic acid on long rides and also only take a ride on the little red ambulance when critical.....I find those tear up my mouth and gut. I have found that I have to eat a lot on long rides and if I consume too much high fructose corn syrup, my mouth gets sore. If I eat too much fructose in general, I have GI distress. So, I minimize both. This is a long shot but worth considering.

I find pine pollen this time of year makes my mouth and throat burn to the point of discomfort but not pain. I have not found a solution. This is very repeatable for me.

When I've had similar symptoms, it seemed to be caused by not drinking enough. (Mouth breathing under a load, starting to dehydrate, the back of my mouth is where the incoming air dries out the tissue.) Consciously drinking every 15 minutes or so helps a lot.

I took Singulair for Six years then the Side Effects showed up.
Dried Cracked Swollen Painful Lips.
Then all my teeth began to Hurt.

Side effects of Singulair include:

• skin rash,
• mood changes,
• tremors,
• headache,
• stomach pain,
• heartburn,
• upset stomach,
• nausea,
• diarrhea,
• tooth pain,
• tiredness,
• fever,
• stuffy nose,
• sore throat,
• cough,
• and hoarseness.

I've had throat irritation and dry mouth. Besides allergens, I thought it was just from breathing heavily through the mouth. I find that some hard candy or such to suck on helps.

It's usually from using a sugary sports drink. If that's the case, switch to one which uses maltodextrin instead. You want a sports drink with almost no flavor, just a hair to make it palatable.

Get a dental checkup and mention it.

Take some Vit C

Also, don't use Gatorade!

Interestingly enough, I think "use Gatorade" might be closer to the right answer for me. I think, looking back, that I must have been a little short on electrolytes; one of the controls was a wonderful little cafe with great herbal tea, and I bought two large iced teas, drank a bunch and and filled up my bottles with the rest, instead of using powdered sports drink (Skratch, which I did have with me). So I had no sugar or electrolytes in there, and when I stopped at another control I bought a can of soda, but I drank that all right there and continued with the tea in my bottles for the rest of the ride. I wasn't dehydrated after (based on pee and not having any other symptoms). But I was also not sipping at my bottles -- I was drinking in occasional drain-half-a-bottle chunks I think in part because it wasn't sweet/salty; gatorade or skratch I will sip at.

For some of the other suggestions: pollen was definitely prevalent in the (cold, dry, blowing a headwind in my face for the first half) air. I don't have exercise-induced asthma but I am a bit of a mouth-breather when exercising in general.

But I think the lesson of this (and my PBP DNF) is that I can eat whatever looks good at fun stores along the way but I need to fill my bottles with something with at least a little sugar, standard "exercise" electrolyte levels, and no caffeine (caffeine mismanagement was PBP, not this ride). And if that means carrying powder and using it, it means carrying powder and using it.

I've only had this happen occasionally over many years of randonneuring -- like once a year or so.

I've been carrying powder for a long time. Maltodextrim/chocolate flavored whey protein mixed 7:1 by weight. On long rides, I mix 2 cups in a 24 oz. or liter bottle with water. That'll get me to the next control or somewhere. The other bottle (or Camebak for long hot ones) has plain water. I never mix electrolytes in, preferring to use Hammer Endurolytes as seems good depending on the temperature and ride effort. Since I started doing this, I've never had a nutrition issue. I eat anything that looks good at controls or mini-marts, Hostess fruit pies being a fave, sandwiches, anything but sports bars and that sort of thing. I'd rather eat a Twinkie! Never a real meal, though. I can carry enough powder in my Ortlieb large saddle bag to get through a 400 if I supplement at controls. That strategy would not work on PBP, though. Well, maybe with one pannier or some such. I usually do a 6-swallow suck, 6 on the food bottle, then 6 on the water.

Carbonfibreboy, do you mean two 8 oz cups of Malto into a liter of water or two of those small caps ? Either way, have you found a good way to keep the clumping down when mixing? Or do you drink it like a lumpy slurry? I like Malto because it is cheap and goes into you quickly. I used to use only about 120-150 per hour and that worked for me but the mixing was a pain.

I tend to stay away from soft drinks during rides due to the acids. Maybe the sore mouth was like a canker sore.

Yes, two 8 oz. cups. Fluffed up by mixing with the whey, I think that's about 750 calories. I don't bother to weigh it every time. A bottle lasts me 3-4 hours on long rides. The longer the ride, the more calories on needs. The whey is to help prevent pulling protein from one's muscles. One does burn a certain amount of protein on the bike.

Malto quality may vary IDK. I buy mine in 50# bags from a homebrew supply house. A bag lasts me about a year. I keep the bag in a metal garbage can out in my shop, so it's in the PNW ambient. Mixes OK anyway. Mixing it with whey protein may also have a positive affect w/r to mixing. Try that if you haven't. I mix the two in an old 5 lb. whey protein container using a big metal slotted spoon. I mix until the color is even.

What I do for the 2 cups of powder is put ~2" of water in the bottom of the bottle, add the malto/protein mix, then fill the bottle the rest of the way and shake like the very devil for 100 shakes. Yeah, I'm that sort, I count them. Then I put it in the frig overnight, shake again in the morning and it's fine, no lumps. On the road I just shake it more and every time I drink, I shake it some more. Sometimes there are small lumps in the road-mixed stuff but not bad. The reason I put so many calories in a bottle is so I don't have to mix more very often. I usually at least add some powder at every control, if not make a whole fresh bottle. I put 1 cup of powder per ziplock bag. That takes a little time which is a PITA, but if I'm efficient I can leave with the group again.

Sometimes the day after a long ride my mouth hurts the first time I eat, in the back of my mouth, under my tongue on the sides. It goes away by the end of the meal. I always assumed it was from mouth-breathing.

Sometimes after a ride I get excruciating pain in my mouth when I try to eat. I'm pretty sure this is the same thing as @kingston describes --he and I have discussed this before.

It generally happens after a ride that didn't go so well, as compared to a ride that went well. By 'didn't go so well' I mean I was getting weak toward the end, probably didn't eat/drink right during the ride. Even so, I can usually keep eating something throughout the ride. I'll be feeling okay at the end of the ride, snack on something on the way home, finally settle down to dinner, and the first bite of food sends pain shooting through my mouth. I believe it's the salivary glands that have for some reason shut down and getting them to restart is, well, painful. It may take a few bites of food before this goes away, but usually I'm able to finish my meal, though it leaves the whole inside of my mouth very tender (and makes me a bit wary of food). A couple times it has also happened the next morning, after a ride.

Recently this has happened to me a few times when i haven't been riding. That is perhaps even scarier, because if I've just been riding I know I can blame the riding.

For me, on longer distance rides, such as a 200-300k brevet, I try to drink as much Gatorade/Powerade I can at the control stops, along with bottled water so that my two water bottles on my bike only start getting used towards the end of the ride. Their more like reserve tanks, and control stops are where I hydrate/fuel up. This seems to work well for me.

As far as your mouth soreness, I never get it, so I have no good advice. However at the end of some rides, I feel like I have some exercise induced asthma, where I have to take shallow breaths for a hour or so after a ride. Deep breaths results in coughs.

A number of posters here have suggested this is a sugar issue. I haven't ever seen it and I have been riding a long time; raced, lots of long rides, ridiculous total mileage. But all of that time (well since I was in my early 20s long ago) I've been using the same sport drink that does not contain - sucrose, maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup, etc, just small amounts of glucose and fructose. I am convinced that the inventor of it nailed it. He was a biochemist and marathon runner; a good one, fully capable of qualifying for the 1968 Olympics but on his trials run, it was very hot. He drank GatorAid, got sick and didn't finish. Thought "there has to be a better drink". So he used his biochemical knowledge to brew up a formulation that would absorb fast, stay down and not lead to other issues. My long experience with it suggest he pegged it. Its also the drink I can down the fastest and in large amounts. On hot days I can put down half a waterbottle in one swig. I cannot do that even with pure water. (A real blessing on the fix gear where in hills I cannot drink going either up or down!)

The drink: now called Vitalyte. It started with the names E.R.G. and Gookinaid (his name) and was Hydrolyte for a while but the formulation has never changed. It disappeared from the sports store shelves when the highly market sports drinks came out in the '90s but they kept on making it because they had a market that wouldn't go away - 3rd world relief teams. The drink is a life save for whose with dysentery, cholera and the like, especially in places where plasma and hospitals are not available.

You might be able to get it at REI and they can probably order it for you. (REI goes up and down on carrying it. I think their bottom line people want to get rid of it but some of the employees petition to keep it simply so they have access. (They know!) You can also Google Vitalyte and order from the source. Straight forward and fast. I buy the bulk packages a couple of times/year unless the local REI has it.