Did you know what you see on your tongue tells what is happening inside your body? I have always said your tongue is the dipstick of what is going on inside your gut (stomach, liver).

The appearance of your tongue (i.e., color, shape, texture) reflects your digestion along with giving you hidden clues of health conditions that are going on in your body. For example, when your tongue is very pale and swollen, it may mean you are anemic. Burning tongue is a sign of having a problem absorbing B12. Dark protruding branches under your tongue show varicose veins and or hemorrhoid problems.

How to Check Your Tongue for Health Conditions

Different parts of your tongue represent different organ systems in your body, just as the palm of your hand and bottoms of the feet do. When your tongue has a coating or cracks on it, depending on the location, it will tell you what organ is affected. Your tongue may show you more than one organ system being affected in the body at a time. For example:

• Tip of Tongue – Represents your heart
• Sides of the Tongue – Correlates to your liver, lungs, gall bladder (right side), spleen (left side)
• The Whole Tongue – As a whole represents your stomach and liver
• Left Side of Tongue – Correlates to your inner organs
• The right side of the Tongue – Correlates to your outside organs (muscles)

What Does Your Tongue Look Like?

Here are the common characteristics you may see on your tongue and homeopathic remedies to address the affected organ system:

• Crack on the Tongue (deep cracks or fissures) – Deep cracks can mean dehydration. The cracks on the right side of the tongue are gall bladder and stomach issues (i.e., stomach ulcer). You want to select one of the following homeopathic remedies needed: Natrum Phosphoricum, Kali Muriaticum, or Natrum Sulphuricum.
• Spots on the Tongue (i.e., raised speckles) – Homeopathic remedies to use are Belladonna or Taraxacum.
• Ulcers on the Tongue (white ulcers) – Homeopathic remedies to use are Arsenicum Album or Silica.
• Teeth Marks – Means sluggish inflamed liver, abdominal distension. Homeopathic remedies you can use are Lycopodium or Mercuries Solubilis.
• Red Tip of Tongue (heart) – Usually caused by a dietary problem from eating too many acidic foods. You can use a homeopathic remedy called Rhus Toxicodendron.
• Tongue Swollen with Red Dots – Means inflammation somewhere in the body. A homeopathic remedy recommended for this is Apis.
• Trembling Tongue – You can use the homeopathic remedies Lachesis or Mercurius Solubilis.

Shape of Tongue

• Tongue Thick or Thin – Means something is off in your body. You’re exhibiting symptoms in your body, and having a thick or thin tongue tells you that.
• Tongue Curled – Liver lungs and heart is affected stressed out.
• Scallops on Sides of Tongue – Along the middle side of your tongue means your liver is stressed out. Scallops along the lower part of the sides of your tongue mean your lungs are affected somehow.
• Sides of the Tongue – Red and swollen, indicates fire (heat) in your liver.
• Swollen Tongue – This can mean a B12 deficiency or stomach issues.

Tongue Color

Coating (also called fur) on the tongue signifies toxins released from the gastrointestinal. The specific coating color and location on your tongue show what organ affected and caused symptoms. When the entire tongue has a coating, it means the toxins are throughout your gastrointestinal tract. Here are some of the homeopathic remedies you can use for specific instances:

• Yellow Coated Tongue (liver) – Consider one of the following homeopathic remedies: Calcarea Sulphuricum, Chelidonium, Lycopodium, or Mercurius Solubilis.

• White Milky Coated Tongue (Stomach) – It is a thrush of fungal infection after illness or medications throw off the balance of bacteria in your mouth. Consider the homeopathic remedies: Antimonium Crudum or Kali Muriaticum.

• Black Tongue, Dark Blue Gums (Digestion, kidney) – When you have dark blue gums, this can be caused by healthy floras being killed off, heavy metal toxicity, or overuse of antibiotics. Consider the homeopathic remedies Arsenicum Album, Carbo Vegetabilis, or Mercurius Solubilis. When your tongue is black down the center of the tongue, Phosphorus can be the homeopathic remedy needed.

• Mucus on the Tongue – Signs of a sinus infection. You will need a homeopathic sinus remedy like Kali Bichromicum or Pulsatilla.

• Pale, Dry Tongue – Often indicates anemia, particularly iron-deficiency anemia. For this, you can use the homeopathic remedy Ferrum Phosphoricum.

• Fiery Red, Swollen, Sore, and Tongue feels Scalded – Use the homeopathic remedy Apis Mellifica.

• Geographic Tongue (Mapped) – Indicates stomach ulcer problem or can also be a sign of low B12. Look for where geographic formation starts on the tongue; it shows what organ is stressed out. You can use the homeopathic remedies Natrum Muriaticum or Taraxacum.

• Red Edges or Reddish Tongue with Pale Edges – This can indicate a liver problem. Consider one of the following homeopathic remedies: Chelidonium or Natrum Sulphuricum.

•  A Strawberry Tongue (bright red tongue with white spots or a white-coated tongue with red spots) – Indicates the homeopathic remedy, Belladonna.

• Fiery Red Triangular Tip of Tongue – This means your heart is stressed out in some way. For this, use the homeopathic remedy, Rhus Toxicodendron.

What’s Under Your Tongue?

• Swollen Veins Under the Tongue – This indicates varicose vein problems in the body.
• Growth Under Tongue – This can be similar to skin tags.
• Red Dots or Dark Blue Spots Under Tongue – Represents overuse of antibiotics and heavy metal toxicity.

What Does a Healthy Tongue Look Like?

A healthy tongue is a moist, evenly light pink color with no coating. The surface is rough. Free of cracks, spots, ulcers, or teeth marks. And does not have any discomfort (i.e., pain, stinging, burning) or swelling.

Best Time to Inspect Your Tongue

The best time to look at your tongue is first thing in the morning before having any food or drink.

Inspecting your tongue before eating and drinking will give you a good picture of what has occurred during your sleep and how your body digested.

After inspectingyour tongue, you also want to scrape your tongue. Scraping your tongue every day is an easy way to keep the tongue healthy and remove the buildup of bacteria and toxins that occur overnight. Tongue scrapers come in various shapes and sizes, plastic and metal. Scraping your tongue should only be done on an empty stomach in the morning.

Five Benefits of Tongue Scraping

1. Improve the appearance of your tongue
2. Remove bacteria
3. Improve overall health
4. Reduce bad breath

     How to Scrape Your Tongue

1. Extend the tongue and place the scraper as far back in the middle of the tongue without causing a gag reflex.
2. Gently pull the scraper forward in one long stroke, removing the tongue’s coating.
3. Scraping the middle, left, and right sides of the tongue with each stroke.
4. Rinse the scraper after each stroke.

Scraping the tongue is an excellent way to begin the day and look at the tongue and can also help to know the condition of the internal organs.

Tomorrow morning look at your tongue to see what is happening inside your body. I recommend you address whatever organ system is affected. You can select a homeopathic remedy according to the signs you are exhibiting and address what is going on in your life that is causing the organ systems to be affected.