Dental Health Forum - White Lumps On Back of Tongue

Hi

I have had an issue with relatively painless white lumps on the back of my tongue for about 6 months now. I am male, 33 y.o. and consider myself to be relatively healthy except that I smoke. I will take you through a chronology of what I have experienced (in some detail as it has bothered me for long enough now):

1. late jan 07 - suffered a severe sore throat for approximately 2 days. Exteme difficulty swallowing but my tonsils were unaffected and the glands in my neck were normal. It cleared up after a couple of days but some symtoms continued as follows:

2. feb 07 - occasional low grade (annoying) sore throat on and off, white lumps noted at the back of my tongue, discomfort while swallowing. I always wake up with a dry throat - this gets better throughout the day.

3. March 07 - Gave up smoking cold turkey. Sought a doctor's advice who put me on a course of antibiotics. Antibiotics didn't seem to do anything and the symptoms continued albeit with less regular sore throat episodes. Doctor also gave me Olbas oil to take before sleep - this didn't seem to reduce the dryness of my throat in the mornings and I am confident that I am breathing through my nose whilst asleep. Even when I first lie down in bed and breath through my nose with my mouth closed, I begin to feel the dryness develop in my throat. Two weeks later I re-visited the same doctor and had blood tests for allergies. Nothing came up in the tests except that I am at risk of developing gout - I have a family history of this.

4. April - June 07 - White lumps are still there although not causing as much discomfort (maybe I was just getting used to them??). Unfortunately I resumed smoking again, although I didn't notice any reduced symtoms when I gave up for 4 weeks.

5. July 07 - last week - visited doctor (a different one) after having flu-like symtoms (sore throat and sneezing often, I usually wake up with a lot of phlegm in the back of my throat). She gave me an anti-fungal medication after I suggested that it might be fungal. I have almost completed this course of medication but with no reduction in my symtoms. Doctor noted that there was a lot of redness in my throat but my tosils were unaffected. They referred me to a mouth-throat specialist who I am planning to see as soon as they can 'fit me in'.

One other thing...I did actually scrape off one of these lumps on my tongue - one that was towards the middle of my tongue more so I could reach and observe it more easily. It bled a little and there is now a tiny reddish 'scar' still there after several months.

Any ideas on what could be causing my symtoms?

Many thanks
HF