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I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Tell us your story with bad breath
asd
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I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by asd »

Hello all. If you search my post history you will see I am an old member of this forum. I was recently looking through an old diary of mine that reminded me of this community.

Intro

(I know I posted before reporting a cure, but tbh I think that was a slightly false dawn, as I now smoke etc and don't have any issues, either way it can't hurt to reiterate some positive facts about my journey).

So people, I can relate to all of you, and I was once stuck in the prison that is BB. At first you're oblivious, then you start to suspect, then you know and the true hell begins, where all social encounters are a nightmare, constantly worrying, self-testing, looking for answers...

It is now some 7-8 years since I initially began to post here, and that would have been about a year or two after first realising I had a serious BB problem.

I would say I begun to consider myself completely cured and to no longer worry about this somewhere around 2012-2013.

So that's the intro now Ill provide as much info on how I cured it and my opinions on the matter as a whole.

My Story
My BB was very bad at first, not even my close family would admit I had a problem (I once asked my mum if it smelt, breathed directly on her so she could test, she winced but said it was fine. No one else in my family would say anything but I did catch friends talking about it on a couple of occasions (one of my friends said to the other 'dog breath' and the other replied 'more like shit breath'. Anyway, that's mainly aimed at the halitophobia crowd which I remember posting denial threads every now and then on this forum which were not helpful at the time.

I grew very stressed about my BB and it affected my social and sexual relationships greatly, for obvious reasons. Initially I tried what the average person does: mouthwash and going to the doctors; doctors did nothing as this is quite an undervalued area of medicine, probably because chronic BB is quite unusual. Plucking up the courage to go to the doctor was huge for me, and I was sure it would lead to a cure, and it didn't. They prescribed me some mouthwash which didn't help and that was the end of that.

Taking a slight detour here, the first time I 100% remember that I realised something was wrong was that I ran down the stairs and when I reached the bottom I detected a hint of a fecal odour. I was like wtf? It was gone almost instantly so at that point I knew that smell had to have come from me, and it was definitely not in my head as I had got hints of that smell before. This brings me to the point that all these self-tests such as licking your wrist and smelling it, capturing your own breath etc are basically unreliable. There is no evidence that any of them work. If you want to test yourself, go up to a stranger and speak directly in their face. Yes people are polite and will often mask it, and you don't want to get sucked into a world of paranoia, but ultimately what I am saying is the only real test is yourself. If you believe you have it because the way people react to you and the things you've heard then you probably do have it. Go on a date maybe, via tinder or something. Start speaking directly in their face, they are not a stranger completely and they will let you know I imagine, probably by bailing on the date or you will notice the mood change rapidly. I was in denial for a long time, and one of the key things for me was it all going well with a girl, she had been quite forward early on (turning round in class and smiling at me etc), then one day I finally pinned her down and had a proper conversation with her, I was up close for the first time and she acted very strangely and basically ran away. She looked disappointed and shocked.

So anyway, doctors did nothing as this is quite an undervalued area of medicine, probably because chronic BB is quite unusual. This is when I started on a spiral of depression and anxiety. How much of those would have developed had I never had BB issues is impossible to tell, probably some, but that is outside the scope of this post. The subconscious is very powerful and anxiety about other people or being close to other people could somehow be related to BB development.

A major point in my journey was when I randomly coughed up a tonsillolith (tonsil stone). It stank to high heaven and I recognised the smell of it as the hints I had been smelling from time to time before. So naturally I followed that path and identified it as a tonsil stone and I bought a water pik online. This is a device that can pump water for dental use. I altered it slightly to make the jet less powerful and I used it to clean out my tonsils. Many stones came out over a period and I truly believe these things are very helpful for those with tonsil issues that don't wish to have them removed. I would use warm salt water to cleanse the tonsil crypts of the stones and I felt that it helped although I still was not convinced I was cured. Eventually, because I didn't want to always live in fear of these stones causing me BB and always having to have the waterpik with me on holiday etc. I decided to get them removed. I had this done and was finally like yay I'm cured.

This obviously cured any tonsil-related cause of my BB, but I was not convinced. I struggle onwards trying to make myself believe I was cured but I didn't buy it, I still got those signs. Next, I identified my sinuses as the cause. The reason for this was that my sinuses often hurt, and I read that sinuses can cause BB.

I first considered some sort of medical intervention, and consulted doctors etc again. I realised the only option was quite an invasive and even dangerous operation which they may or may not have been willing to perform for me. Either way I never went through with it. I battled on in my world of doubt and confusion until finally I randomly came across some information. It was in a book called the 40 day body or something like that. In the book the author said that he went to a doctor (in the US) who said that his sinuses were completely full of a white residue, and that they were surprised he was able to get up in the morning. The doctor said it's caused by stimulants eg. caffeine, cocaine etc.

So, as an avid tea drinker I decided to switch to decaff. This cured my sinus issue. My sinuses no longer had that dull ache, even if I smoke (currently am a smoker). If i so much as have a coke or a cup of coffee or even chocolate I can feel it in my sinuses slightly. Whether caffeine fills or simply dries out the sinuses I am not sure, but for me it has made a massive difference and the combination of that and the tonsillectomy + improved oral hygiene has led me to be cured. I have recently got back from two years backpacking in Australia during which time I had two serious relationships, living with girls and made many friends etc and NEVER had any indication that I had BB.

I am now confident that I am cured and I don't think about it anymore.

What I have Learnt
-There is not a good source of medical information about this issue. It is a blind spot for the medical industry and I think by and large the medical industry is quite impotent in many areas, as cures are not their goal etc etc.

-Mental beliefs etc can have an impact on your health. Look at the placebo affect. If this is the case then there must be some potential for an influence of the mind on certain illnesses. Something to think about at least although not that pragmatic

-Narrowing it down is key. Look, this is a real illness. Something is going wrong in the body that is emitting a strong odour when you talk or breathe. it can come from the following places: the nose, the mouth, the stomach, the sinuses, the tonsils (main tonsils I highly doubt those ones at the back of your tongue can cause it). It must be from a place that can transfer odours into the airways. It also must be able to transfer a significant amount of smell to your breath which takes it over the threshold of detectable smells for the human nose.

-The origin of the smell will be bacterial/fungal in origin. I did Microbiology at Uni, I am not an expert but this has given me some insight into the human body, bacteria and scientific methods of research

-You can be cured. My point of view now is so far beyond where it was when I was suffering BB. Take a scientific approach: you are not cursed, there is a specific cause (perhaps multiple) and once you find and remove that cause you will recover.



My Guide To Recovery
This is where I shall detail my opinion of a plan for recovery.

Identify the cause.
Start with the mouth. Have a poke around, notice any smells? Any pain or soreness? Does your mouth have any problem areas? Dodgy teeth or gums? Do your gums bleed? If yes to any of these, have a dentist look at it. Get a second opinion. Is it legit? There are a lot of bad doctors who don't care or listen enough.

Look at your tonsils, have you had tonsillitis before? If you have then your tonsils may be permanently damaged, and therefore will have crypts (these are indentations in the tonsils that can harbour bacteria and other organic matter which produce the BB. Touch them, do they smell?

How is your stomach? Does your stomach hurt? Do you have acid reflux? The stomach is a bit of an odd one, obviously it is unlikely that constant BB can come from the stomach, as the stomach is sealed off from the mouth usually. It may be possible to have some kind of issue there, or perhaps H.pylori (not sure if this can actually cause BB, never had to look into it).

How are your sinuses? Do your sinuses hurt? Do they ache? Sinuses are all around the face and front of the head. It may be quite a dull and imperceptible ache, but that's all mine was.

Nose is another one I looked at but never too closely. There is a potential for there to be a nasal cause and if your BB is nasal but not oral then obviously it's a nose/sinus issue. Otherwise just because it is detectable from the nose and mouth does not mean there is a nasal cause as the airways are too closely related for bad odours to be present in the mouth but absent from the nose.

If you still cannot identify it, work through these regardless until you find an answer. Break it down mentally and think logically. A doctor/scientist would approach this systematically via a process of elimination.

Treat the Cause
These are things that worked for me based on my experience.

-Hydrogen Peroxide is the only mouthwash you should be using that I know of. There will be other good ones I'm sure but if you're not using this then I can't understand why. It's dirt cheap and it kills anaerobic bacteria. Alcohol based mouthwashes are a joke and they dry the mouth making BB worse. Used it thoroughly, brush with it, floss with it, whatever u need. Don't overdo though may hurt your mouth. As a sidenote, I noticed that if I skipped brushing my teeth for a few days, they usually got sensitive in a few areas. I would then brush with H2O2 and lo and behold there would be white areas marked on my gums around the areas that hurt. This is believe is bacteria being killed and oxidised by the peroxide. Either way this cures it.

-If you have tonsil issues, find a way to clean them out, either a waterpik or something else. If you do get a waterpik be careful as they are not designed for tonsil use and the thin jets of water will actually punch holes in your tonsils. I personally cut the tip of the head off which made the jet a trickle instead of a jet and allowed me to fill my tonsils with water or hot salt water and flush the stones out. If you still have tonsil issues consult a doctor, (not all doctors know of tonsilloliths so you may have to enlighten them) and potentially push for a tonsillectomy.

-Floss. I am sure this is preaching to the choir but you never know.

-If you have any sinus issues at all, cut out caffeine from your diet. Drink only decaffinated tea and coffee. Avoid chocolate. To this day I very rarely eat chocolate and I almost never have caffeine and if I do my sinuses flare up and I'm pretty sure I have BB.

-If you believe it is stomach related see a doctor. If it is stomach related BB will not be the only symptom

My Personal Diagnoses

So I personally believe that I initially had BB due to my tonsil stones. I had tonsillitis for the first time around the time I started having BB issues. The waterpik was a revelation but having them removed finally put the tonsil issue to bed. However, I then started having issues with my sinuses and I'm not sure whether I had this issue as well as tonsil issues before or not (I probably did). Then for some reason (maybe psychologically developed another cause - just food for thought) my sinuses were the main concern and cutting out caffeine fixed the pain and the BB.

In summary for my personal diagnoses I believe due to natural genetic variation, my sinuses are unusually tight/small/narrow and therefore they are far more susceptible to clogging/dryness which causes the BB due to their close proximity to the mouth. Due to this, I must avoid drying/clogging my sinuses with caffeine.

So yeah, I can never drink caffeine because it will give me BB acutely, so what? Caffeine has been proven to be bad for you anyway and once you are weaned off it you won't be as dependent on it for dictating your state of tiredness/awakeness.

My causative areas were my sinuses and tonsils and I cured them in the stated ways leading to a normal and functioning life which I now enjoy.

Final Thoughts
You can all do the same, I truly believe that. Start with the obvious stuff and don't be hamsters running in a wheel scouring the internet for alternative cures. This is not some vague yeast or bacterial or enzyme based thing in your body. Yes you may have some kind of immune system that makes you more susceptible to BB for various reasons but BB is not congenital. I personally believe you all could be cured. If you like, post me info on your situation and I will try and advise.

I was like many of you once, thinking there is no cure and I was doomed to suffer this because the medical establishment didn't take it seriously.

The medical establishment has it's uses and consult them by all means, but if I went to a doctor today and said I had persistent sinus problems would they tell me to stop drinking caffeine? Or would they give me a nasal spray and tell me to come back in 3 months? Only one of those helped in any way and I read it in a random book.

Hope I can inject some positivity into this forum, and remember you can all cure this, be positive and believe you can cure it and work on that.


Attraction
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Re: I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by Attraction »

I am currently taking antibiotics for the first time. No expectation for them to fully cure. I have read a report of it curing some guy for 2 years. But I just wanted to see the effect for personal knowledge reasons, and if the bb diminished enough could potentially visit my family. Unfortunately, while the effect is definitely noticeable, I still get extreme bb on the back of the tongue. The kind that optimal oral hygiene can't fix. I think you know what I mean.

Anyway, I have had tonsil stones for at least 5 years now. With that said, I am going to need to get a tonsillectomy before any certain progress could be made. On antibiotics, the front of my tongue is pink and normal, but the back is still white. I still get stones. I don't think it is an intestinal issue. I am currently undergoing a 14 day water fast (on day 3). This should flush out a significant amount of toxins. If any bb is coming from the stomach/gut area, this seemingly should clear it up. After all water doesn't smell naturally which means it must be what we consume.

At the end of the day, I just can't see it clearly being anything other than my tonsils. The first time someone told me I had bb, about 6 months later I coughed up my first tonsil stone. I think it is very likely I had them the whole time without knowing.

Cure threads are most valuable here. Thank you for posting this.
asd
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Re: I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by asd »

Hey mate well I think you've found your cause and I would resolve that first before you worry too much about the stomach, as like I've said I doubt the stomach is responsible for much BB as detailed above.

For your case I would strongly recommend following my advice about a waterpik above. Should be relatively cheap on ebay or amazon.

Good luck brother
blessedrich
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Re: I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by blessedrich »

asd wrote: So yeah, I can never drink caffeine because it will give me BB acutely, so what? Caffeine has been proven to be bad for you anyway and once you are weaned off it you won't be as dependent on it for dictating your state of tiredness/awakeness.
That a very hopeful post. Nice to know there is hope for a better future.

You caffeine comment really struck a note. I drink this high caffeine green tea. At first I didn't notice it having any effect on my BB but lately my BB goes over the roof anytime I drink it. This is making me reconsider the black tea that i drink daily. The past 8-12 months my issue has been worse and i have been taking inventory of things that i have changed and never thought to include the fact that i drink the highly caffeinated green tea at home and this black tea all through the day. Very interesting observation. Infact i am pouring out that tea now!! and i will stay off it for a week and see how things goes.

I know i have sinus issues lately but i believe it started after i started taking GSE and I had parasite scattering and some crawling as far as into my sinuses. I believe they may have carried some bacterial or fungus from my stomach into my nostrils.

Do you think washing my sinuses with hydrogen peroxide and sea salt will help with sinuses issues? You did not say how you dealt with the sinus issues.

I also have the white stuff around my gums when i use H2O2 this use to give me gum soreness but i have reduced the concentration drastically and my gums don't hurt anymore when I use H2O2.
blessedrich
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Re: I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by blessedrich »

Attraction wrote:I am currently taking antibiotics for the first time. No expectation for them to fully cure. I have read a report of it curing some guy for 2 years. But I just wanted to see the effect for personal knowledge reasons, and if the bb diminished enough could potentially visit my family. Unfortunately, while the effect is definitely noticeable, I still get extreme bb on the back of the tongue. The kind that optimal oral hygiene can't fix. I think you know what I mean.

Anyway, I have had tonsil stones for at least 5 years now. With that said, I am going to need to get a tonsillectomy before any certain progress could be made. On antibiotics, the front of my tongue is pink and normal, but the back is still white. I still get stones. I don't think it is an intestinal issue. I am currently undergoing a 14 day water fast (on day 3). This should flush out a significant amount of toxins. If any bb is coming from the stomach/gut area, this seemingly should clear it up. After all water doesn't smell naturally which means it must be what we consume.

At the end of the day, I just can't see it clearly being anything other than my tonsils. The first time someone told me I had bb, about 6 months later I coughed up my first tonsil stone. I think it is very likely I had them the whole time without knowing.

Cure threads are most valuable here. Thank you for posting this.
Be careful with the antibiotics because they believe they have contributed to the reason why i have had a bad year this year.
Johnv713
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Re: I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by Johnv713 »

asd wrote:
For your case I would strongly recommend following my advice about a waterpik above. Should be relatively cheap on ebay or amazon.

Good luck brother
Amen.... A waterpik has been a life saver for me. It flushed out most of the bb bacteria in the gum pockets thereby the odor is eliminated or reduced.
blessedrich
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Re: I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by blessedrich »

Yes the waterpik is working magic for me too. I am beginning to believe what i read somewhere that about 80% of chronic BB is from periodontal issues. What I don't understand is why these periodontist don't show people who have periodontal pockets how to clean them.

After careful observation, I think i may have found the cause of my issue. I have enclosed space between my low wisdom tooth and the gums around them. Every time after I eat i feel like something is stuck between my tooth but I can't get them out even when I floss. this is because what ever is stuck is not between 2 teeth where I floss but rather between my last tooth and the gum next to it. I think people normally don't have gums that close to the last tooth but i do.

With the waterpik and H202, i use the pocket cleaner to wash that space every night after i brush. I don't do it in the mornings because the first time I did it my BB went from 10 to 1000 on a scale of 1-10. So i got scared to do it. I actually stopped for a few days but decided to go to it again because my mouth felt fresh after i did it.

Now after couple of weeks I am beginning to feel the improvement. All I am left to deal with now is the nasal smell from the sinus infection that I got after dealing with parasite scattering. I ordered the nasal irrigation tip for the waterpik and i am going to use that to treat the sinus infection also. One tool that does it all.
messithegoat
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Re: I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by messithegoat »

blessedrich wrote:Yes the waterpik is working magic for me too. I am beginning to believe what i read somewhere that about 80% of chronic BB is from periodontal issues. What I don't understand is why these periodontist don't show people who have periodontal pockets how to clean them.

After careful observation, I think i may have found the cause of my issue. I have enclosed space between my low wisdom tooth and the gums around them. Every time after I eat i feel like something is stuck between my tooth but I can't get them out even when I floss. this is because what ever is stuck is not between 2 teeth where I floss but rather between my last tooth and the gum next to it. I think people normally don't have gums that close to the last tooth but i do.

With the waterpik and H202, i use the pocket cleaner to wash that space every night after i brush. I don't do it in the mornings because the first time I did it my BB went from 10 to 1000 on a scale of 1-10. So i got scared to do it. I actually stopped for a few days but decided to go to it again because my mouth felt fresh after i did it.

Now after couple of weeks I am beginning to feel the improvement. All I am left to deal with now is the nasal smell from the sinus infection that I got after dealing with parasite scattering. I ordered the nasal irrigation tip for the waterpik and i am going to use that to treat the sinus infection also. One tool that does it all.
What device do you use and what's a pocket cleanser ,
Johnv713
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Re: I cured my bad breath. I used to be on this forum and hopeless

Post by Johnv713 »

He's refering to one of the tips that come with the Waterpik. Mine came with 6 diffrent tips. Periodintal tip is the one with the smallest outlet, nozzle if you will, that can clean your gum pockets efficiently.
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