• TL;DR AT BOTTOM •
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Take this with a grain of salt. It hasn't been long & we all know how bad breath likes to come back.
With that said, I am cured!
It all started back in 2011. I was at school when one of my good friends starts telling me over and over: "Your breath smells like SHIT!" (verbatim)
I had no idea why, until 6 months later when I coughed up a yellow clump of "stuff", and couldn't help to notice it SMELLED EXACTLY LIKE FECES.
From this moment on, every morning I would remove the tonsil stones from each tonsil and brush very well, especially right before going outside. I did not use mouthwash (should have) or floss. My breath probably still smelled, but I did have a social life.
However, as time went on it got worse. Each passing year, my bad breath increased. By 2013 I would always need to carry gum, and even that did not fully cover the smell.
By 2015, there was absolutely no hope of covering the smell for even 5 minutes. Nothing could stop it. In early 2016 I overheard a comment from someone in French (I speak French, but live in an English country so he assumed I didn't) "(laughing) This guy's breath smells like SHIT!"
The worst part about it was not the comment itself, but that only 1 minute prior I had brushed my teeth and tongue and gargled Listerine.
This proves how bad my breath was. If I walked into a basketball court, it would take less than 10 minutes for the air to smell like actual crap.
To make matters worse, I finally went to the ENT who scheduled a tonsillectomy for me. This might sound like great news, and it is! Although you will not believe what happened the VERY NEXT DAY. I woke up and my whole room smelled... different than ever before. It was a distinct, musty odor the likes of which I knew was not "normal". Because I was already on this forum I knew about TMAU and assumed the worst. I decided to wait a few days to be sure, and sure enough all day I smelled and every morning I woke up to the same terrible odor and my blanket even smelled like fish. SEVEN YEARS, THE DAY AFTER MY TONSILLECTOMY GETS SCHEDULED, I GET TMAU...
This was a nightmare because I finally thought that the tonsillectomy would permanently cure me. Now I freaking have TMAU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The main thing with TMAU is there is no cure. It is a genetic disorder, and I knew I would never be able to get rid of it. Now, some of you might be thinking this is "too bad to be true"... well listen to this. A few days after first waking up to the smell, I went to get some blood tests for H. Pylori. The small hallway stunk up very quick. A guy sitting close to me was reading a newspaper. 15 minutes later his wife came and asked him (IN FRENCH): "What is that smell?!" to which he replies (IN FRENCH): "It is the fat guy over there."
Yes, I am obese. In fact, I have since lost 50 pounds from that moment. Anyway, I was the only fat one there so he was obviously talking about me.
P.S. The H. Pylori came out negative.
You might be wondering at this point how I am cured if I have TMAU. Well, I had this feeling inside that I must Google how to cure TMAU. The very first result is a thread where someone says they were cured with Kelp+Zinc. Now, many people make claims which usually turn out to be false, but this thread has hundreds of replies over 3 years and the OP seemed very legit. So I went ahead and ordered these supplements without any expectations. However, 1 week after starting on them - the odor disappeared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is the most miraculous thing to ever happen to me aside from being born and discovering God.
If I stop taking these supplements for just 2 days, the odor returns.
So now that I had cured my TMAU (thank God it only took 3 weeks!), it was time to seriously focus on my oral health. I had not been to a dentist in 7 years. Furthermore, I have severe deficiencies with enamel (the stuff that protects your teeth from getting cavities, etc.). It turns out I had 3 cavities + 1 root canal infection + 4 rotten Wisdom Teeth. I would need a root canal treatment, wisdom teeth removal, and cavity treatment.
We started with the Root Canal. Everything went smoothly. A few days after I noticed that my tonsils were were lighter pink and noticeably healthier-looking. This was a great sign. My mouth also felt better overall, and there was about 20% reduction of my bad breath (still couldn't talk to anyone, though).
2 weeks later I got the Wisdom Teeth pulled. Unfortunately I am currently travelling, or I would post pictures of them. THEY ARE DISGUSTING AND BLACK AND THERE ARE HOLES IN ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are so badly decayed I knew as soon as seeing them that my breath would improve... and it did. It got another 30% better (total: 50%). At this point I could actually go 1 hour without any reactions. If you think about it, that is a life-changing experience for someone who previously could not go even 1 minute.
All the gums under and behind my Wisdom Teeth had been infected. My mouth felt extremely clean. Like the infection just got wiped out.
All that was left was the tonsillectomy. Just 8 days later, they got removed. This was 10 days ago. I instantly felt like it worked, but of course due to antibiotics it is difficult to know until the effect wears off. I have been off them for 3 days now and I did not brush my teeth for hours and I did a finger test and can't smell anything at all. Before it always smelled like feces. Now, nothing.
If it turns out I am not cured 100%, it is still worth noting that these procedures CURED ME. My bad breath is at worse 20% now of what it was. With long-term good oral hygiene and getting the other cavities fixed (still have 2 or 3 more small ones), it should get even better.
What do we learn from this case?
GO TO THE DENTIST EVERY 6 MONTHS!!!
I cannot stress this enough. If I had just went to the dentist back in 2012, none of this would have happened. Instead I had 7 years of hell, lost all my friends and became isolated. Thankfully I make money online... I do not know how I would have got by with a social job... it would be impossible. Actually, after my root canal I did work for 1 day with 0 reactions as I carried my tongue scraper, strong mints and bottled water to sip every minute.
I quit after 1 day because I am not used to being around other people anymore, it was too hard.
So there you have it. I am confident enough to say my bad breath is ~80% cured. I can now go outside for over 1 hour, without getting any reactions. A simple tongue-scrape and brushing is enough. If I get a job, I will brush each break and will be OK.
As mentioned in the beginning, take this with a grain of salt. It has only been 3 days since I stopped taking the antibiotics after my tonsillectomy. With that said, there is no doubt in my mind my bad breath is 80% cured at this point. With good oral hygiene I should be able to work a normal job, participate in social activities, etc. going forward without any reactions. Thank you for reading. I hope this helps even just 1 person.
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TL;DR
Causes of my bad breath:
(in order of when they occurred)
○ No dentist visit for 7 years (2010 - December 2016)
○ Tonsil stones (2011 - January 2017)
○ Infected tonsils (2011 - January 2017)
○ Infected gums (2013 - January 2017)
○ Poor oral hygiene (2013 - January 2017)
○ 4 rotten wisdom teeth (2013 - January 2017)
○ Root canal infection (2015 - January 2017)
○ 3 cavities (2015-current)
○ TMAU (2016-current)
