Breezecare, probiotics and other reviews + My Story

[pepper234]

After being ignored so much in real life, and stalking this place for years, I've decided to finally chip in. If my sob story doesn't appeal to you then do skip it... I just haven't said this before. Today was a tough day and I really wanted to share.

My bb when I moved to a new country. Before, I could talk in people's faces, as close as I want, and everything was wonderful. I still dream of those days. I did not appreciate them then. Then one day, I noticed people started commenting on smells as I started talking. I put two and two together, and I realised it was my breath.

I started getting severely depressed. I also started getting foul body odour for some reason. One day, the BO was gone. But the BB remained... somehow. I am grateful that at least the BO is gone, because at least, if I keep my lips as tightly pressed as possible, I could sit in a bus without people glaring at me. They wouldn't have much of an idea where the smell came from too, sometimes.

I started taking medication for depression. It didn't work, so I switched to Lexapro.

The years I've been on Lexapro were the best years of my life. I met a girl who loved me, I had a thriving social life, enough to throw a beautiful 21st and have the room full of people rather than my BB. Guys, if you need medication, I recommend this. Of course, different drugs work on different people. And you know what? It kinda was a cure for my BB. People still remarked about how I didn't know how to brush my teeth, and they'll scratch their nose, but they didn't hate me. They weren't so annoyed. My BB wouldn't travel as far as it does now, and as far as it did then.

I thought I got over my depression, so I weaned off. And now I'm back to square one.

My goal for this post is to add to the dataset. Let's all share what we have and experience, and see if there are any common root causes we can rule out or try to tackle.

CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION:
I have fecal BB. So I get your usual 'who farted' comments. It is probably the worse of all the odours. I had a friend whose breath smelled like plaque but it wasn't nearly as offensive. People even detest the mildest of poop smells. I'm thinking the smell gives an indication of the sort of chemicals behind the odour, so I'm especially interested in 'cures' shown to help this smell. However, recently since the smell gotten worse (more than what my nose is used to), I could smell it a few times. To me, it smells more like rotten eggs. But I guess it smells pretty similar to poop. fml


POSSIBLE CAUSES:
- Sinus
I had chronic blocked nose since I was around 7. No one could figure out what caused it. My nose is blocked even in the summer. Consequently, I breathe through my mouth most of the time, unless I'm trying actively to reduce BB. I don't think this is the most possible cause, given that I've tried nasal irrigation before and I didn't get all that disgusting stuff people talked about. Maybe I wasn't doing it right. Also, I had normal breath all the time, until I migrated. Furthermore, I had BO before, which I don't think sinus can explain. But if someone has research or evidence showing otherwise, I will definitely look at it.

- SIBO/ Bad bacteria overgrowth
This is the cause I've been leaning the most towards. My tongue has been tasting HORRIBLE, and my breath is possibly the worst it has been. I've read the BO can be caused by this as well. So somehow, the bad smell stopped leaking out of my pits but just out of my mouth instead. I think this might be caused by lactose intolerance. I am asian, so maybe I lack the enzymes to digest it, and bacteria started feeding off the undigested food.

- Stress
I know stress isn't a cause per se, because highly stressed people usually have perfect breath. However, it is possible that for us, our bodies are easily influenced by how we feel. Like I said, once I stopped feeling depressed, the breath was minimally repulsive. The BB did come before depression at first, but it also could have been caused by the stress of leaving my hometown and feeling out of place. This year is my final year of university, and I've been under a lot of pressure. Also, after breaking up with my ex girlfriend, my breath got really foul. I was not too upset by it because I thought it would go away as I got over her, but it didn't. Probably because I still feel really stressed and sad.

- Oral?
I'm not a fan of this theory because I've been to the dentist and they always say my teeth are fine, though sometimes I need to get fillings done but nothing major. No rotting whatsoever. I have wisdom teeth below my gums, but they haven't come out and I hope they never do. My tonsils feel perfectly smooth as well, so I don't think I have stones.

My oral hygiene is surprisingly good. Even when I floss I never get any plaque. I wonder if this means I'm not removing the plaque I have though.


"CURES" I'VE TRIED:
- Breezecare
After hearing all the hype about commercial products, I spent $90 (a HUGE sum for me, I am still a student) on some mouthwash, a tongue scraper, tongue gel, and toothpaste. It also came with probiotics which I will talk about later. So I scraped, brushed, and gargled away. I was so optimistic. They told me all that crap about how halitosis goes away with rigorous hygiene, but if anything, it made it worse. The mouthwash was like paint thinner, and they gave me this stool sample container to mix it in. Not worth it. If your BB was oral-related, it might help. But it didn't do anything for me and my fecal BB. Is there anyone who knows if fecal BB can be an oral issue?

- Probiotics
This I was particularly excited about. There was a lot of evidence in research that probiotics combat SIBO and bad breath. I have always eaten yoghurt, sometimes every day. I remember one day I ate Chobani, and the next day my ex (an ex-boyfriend from ages ago) said my breath smelled sweet. I thought I finally hit the nail. But it didn't work again. Perhaps my bacteria got resistant. Beat out all the yoghurt bacteria and made them its bitch. But I thought maybe it wasn't strong enough. So I tried Swisse probiotics. It mainly consisted of acidophilus. My breath got worse and worse, but I thought maybe it was a sign it was working at first. But after one month of using it, the few friends I still have this year couldn't tolerate me anymore. So I stopped. If it was going to work, it should have worked within a few weeks. I wasn't going to suffer anymore in the hopes it would suddenly turn around and go great.

I thought maybe it's the strain of bacteria. So I started on the K12, Streptoccus Saliaviarus. I spelled it wrong but really I don't care enough to look at the bottle and figure the spelling out. I ate two tablets after completing the cleanse from Breezecare, and my work experience client glared at me, and wouldn't move the hand from his nose.

- Regulating bowel movements
I thought maybe if it smelled like shit, it was congested shit, etc etc. So I started pooping every day. I still pretty much do, and I'm sure it's good for my body. But it still remained.

SHORT TERM STRATEGIES:
- Mouthwash (Breezecare, Colgate Plax)
If it does anything, I'm not sure, but it comes back within half an hour. And I'm sure the BB gets much worse as my mouth gets drier.
- Mints
Makes it worse I reckon, and gives me diarrhea, which probably fucks up my gut flora more

So today I tried a different routine. I had a meeting for a summer scholarship I really wanted but never gotten. I pulled out every thing I could think of. Started the day with 15 minutes of oil pulling. Spat it out, brushed my teeth and scraped my tongue. Used normal Oral B toothpaste because I didn't wanna mess with the Breezecare on a critical day. I ate lunch, then had the Zinc and Vitamin C tablets I just got. I spread it around my tongue like a lozenge. I think it helped, because my breath has been ridiculously foul after the whole probiotics trial, but still pretty bad.

Before the meeting, I brushed my teeth, popped out a sodium bicarb mouthwash. Gargled, spat. Then swallowed some. It tasted bloody gross. Like a sour dead corpse, and it burned slightly.

Reactions reduced, I think, when I just breathe lightly on strangers. But still, the researcher who I talked to left his office door open. A privilege only I get. I asked around and apparently researchers normally close their office doors when meeting students. And he kept scratching his nose. It was awkward. It was over in less than ten minutes. Safe to say I didn't get it.

QUESTIONS!!

I wanted to know what the best 'cure' threads are that you guys found? What's the cure rate, do you think? If we all tried something out together, we could have numbers far greater than the 40 participants studies have. It's really good to be able to discuss these issues here. Also, how about short-term strategies? Has anything reduced your BB for a few hours that I can use on special days? What are your other symptoms?

These are my next steps, let me know what you think:

- See a digestion specialist
I've got an appointment booked. I am going to explain my situation and get tested for SIBO, H Pylori, Candida, leaky gut, IBS. Other symptoms I have are fatigue, brain fog, depression, anxiety, and occasionally diarrhea. Hypothesis is that I cannot absorb nutrients from food properly, and bacteria feeds off it. But even so, not sure what treatment could help. I was thinking antibiotics and probiotics, once the bad bacteria is gone. I read acidophilus could feed bad bacteria. I think that was what happened with my previous encounters with probiotics; it just made the bad ones stronger because they were outnumbered.

- This mouthwash:
https://au.iherb.com/pr/NutriBiotic-Mou ... gJotfD_BwE
What do you think? Heard good things about grapeseed extract and zinc neutralising sulphuric compounds.

- Testing for zinc deficiency, vitamin deficiency, sinus issues

- Trying to think positive
I've read a lot of posts here which signal to me that stress could have contributed to our issues. We all sound sad, bad, anxious. Some people said bb started after stressful events as well. I experienced a bit of relief when my depression was gone. If I get less stressed, I think my gut flora will be more balanced again


- Getting back on meds
See point above... I don't want to live with these thoughts like this anymore.

- Diet
I've cut out pretty much all dairy. Avoiding eggs and red meat, but it's hard because I have low cholesterol and low iron, so I actually need these things. I will continue this and hope it makes a difference.

- Unflavoured yoghurt

- Honey as a natural antibiotic
Unfortunately we don't have manuka honey anymore. I'll gargle with normal honey and see what happens.

- Oil pulling??
Not a fan because it makes me nauseous. I've tried it before, but I've read it only works after a few weeks. I only did it for around a week before, then gave up because it was gross. I might just do it again, it's healthy anyways.

Any advice? Anything cheap I can afford that might help? Also let me know if you've had experiences with gastroenterologists before.

[ikageorgian]

@pepper234 See the topic: Chlorine bleach diluted with water as mouthwash. Also look up my posts too. It helped me and some of us on this forum, must say, that is best and most effective and powerful mouthwash I had, have ever used. Good luck and keep us posted.