My cure after 8 years of misery!!

[NOTANYMORE]

I've never posted about this in the 8 years since I became aware of my Halitosis. It took lot's of trial and error, online research, and a few trips to various types of Doctors but I am cured. I hope this information is informative and can help you in some way.

Metallic taste in mouth........2002.........the start of it all.
Told to take NEXIUM for reflux........DIDN'T WORK.
saliva was thick and frothy so was sent to ENT who did bloodwork....NORMAL.
was tested for SJORGREN'S (dry mouth condition)........NEGATIVE.
was tested for ARTHRITIS (yeah, wtf?)............NEGATIVE

Years passing by.............very unhappy, depressed, what is wrong with me?

I tried all kinds of "BREATH PRODUCTS"...........DON"T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

About 2 years ago I stopped eating Dairy products at the request of an allergist. This didn't cure me but it helped with my saliva so i stuck with it. cont............

[NOTANYMORE]

Untill one night I was feeling particularly depressed, and you know, food gets the saliva going and makes us forget about our breath......so I ate a whole pizza. Well that night was the catalyst for my breakthrough!!

I woke up basically choking on super thick saliva. It was then that I realised I had post nasal drip. I made an appointment with the doctor <-------------yes, you may need to fork out some money. I was put on Prednisone (oral steroid) for 6 days.......within 30minutes of the first pill my tongue was pink......I was on cloud nine. By day 3 my tongue was white again and my breath was awefull and I was ready to jump off a bridge.

After 6 days, I started FLONASE (nasal steroid) and ASTAPRO (antihistamine)

About 3 weeks into this treatment I noticed I could swallow alot better and the front half of my tongue had a nice pink shine to it. My Breath was maybe 50% better at this point. At almost 3 months of treatment I had another.........cont

[NOTANYMORE]

breakthrough!!

I was drinking my usual morning caffeine.....I think it was tea. I drink either tea, coffee, or even energy drinks from time to time just about every day. Well after drinking the tea, I got that metallic tast again (but just a little). So I said to myself, HEY STUPID, MAYBE CUT BACK ON THE CAFFIENE AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. THis was the hardest thing to do. I stopped drinking caffeine and after about 3 days, I noticed MAJOR improvements. Breath was waaay better and my mouth had more saliva.

I went to see my doctor about my nasal drip and was told to quit the meds because i was getting nose bleeds and I thought my PND was gone anyway. Well guess what? Yeah, since I'm not on friggin MEDS, my saliva was flowing even better and my breath was even better.

Side note.........confidence was up........stress was down.....hence, more even more saliva!!!! Saliva is your friend and breath's enemy.......Why do you think babies NEVER have bad breath? you guessed it......lot's of saliva!................cont

[NOTANYMORE]

Well, 2 weeks ago, and I'm feeling pretty good but my tongue still has a white coat......(although much better than before).

I started thinking about everything up untill now and I realized the problem is ACIDIC in nature. CAFFEINE = ACIDIC, NASAL DRIP (MUCUS) = ACIDIC, I am a bodybuilder so HIGH PROTEIN = ACIDIC. SO TOO MUCH ACID STUPID.

I've been using a tongue brush for years and it works fairly well.
Every once in a while I will brush my tongue with sea salt and water. This will make your tongue pretty pink but only for a while. cont.....

[NOTANYMORE]

The major thing I started doing was gargling with a mixture of 1 part baking soda to 4 parts water. This mixture is extremely alkalyn which counter-acts all the acid.

I can safely report that after doing this for 1 week, my tongue is pink and my breath is great! This has been verified by my wife (who holds no punches) and my best friend.

This has been a long time coming and I can finaly breath (no pun intended). I've been reading post after post about things not working for people and vowed NEVER to be that guy. I told myself that IF I ever found a cure I would post it so that maybe other people who suffer this terrible affliction could benefit. I'd like to give you a run down of things I still do, and things I believe don't work and are a total waste.

cont.

[NOTANYMORE]

Here's what WORKS.
1)Water...Ever wonder why that metallic taste gets worse right after you drink water? Well, water can be acidic in the right environment i.e. interacting with mucus. it's called Bronsted-Lowry....google it. Anyway, you still need it to stay hydrated so drink plenty

2)NetiPot...Yeah, you've all heard of it. Since getting off my PND meds I still use it and it works great. Put some iodized salt and baking soda with H20 to keep your sinuses moist.

3)Tongue Brush.......Use it. Try brushing with sea salt and water. Works like charm to get the gunk off.

4)Avoiding Caffeine and Dairy......Besides lowering stress levels and increasing saliva, avoiding caffeine can help virtualy eliminate GERD in many people. Also, chronic caffeine intake can stress you adrenal glands and become mildly toxic. Look it up.

5)Baking Soda.....see above.

[NOTANYMORE]

Drugs....you may just have chronic infection or post nasal drip. These things require PRESCRIPTION medication. Go see a doctor!

Sugar free gum......Anything you can do to increase saliva will help with BB. Don't chew too long or you'll get TMJ.

Other things I take.....not sure if they help with BB but......Probiotics, Multi-vitamin, Fish oil, extra vitamin C at night.

Remember, anything you can do or NOT DO, to Increase saliva production and DECREASE ACIDITY, will help with Halitosis. I eat tons of protein and low carbs every day. This alone can cause bad breath (ketosis). That is why I make sure to eat Veggies (VERY ALKALYN....remember ALKALYN IS GOOD) and use the baking soda rinse.

I'll post my DON"T WASTE YOUR MONEY list later today.......

[jollibee1208]

how long did u not take dairy product? are u sure u did not even cheat sometime ? yea were same im having post nasal drip, super white tongue. im really allergic to dairy now. but i thnk its working on me. it is not worse than before,
but im having belching, "means gas coming from the stomach going to ur mouth " which smells fart. but this i guess was a problem in my colon or somewhere on my belly. im having bloody diarhea.
thx for the info dude this would really helps.

[NOTANYMORE]

I cheat but only once in a while and only just a little cheese........like on a taco. This makes a Huge difference in the quality of your saliva. Dairy makes it thick as does bananas and starchy carbs......like pasta.

[NOTANYMORE]

Here are some things that are a total waste......IMO

1) Mouthwash.....Use it if you want to start the day with dry mouth as 98% of all mouthwash has ALCOHOL in it. Besides, I have NEVER heard of anyone curing their BB with mouthwash.

2)"breath products".......I will probably get banned for saying this but DR. K is a huge rip off. We've all tryed his products and If they worked this forum wouldn't exist. Skip it.

3)Oral Yeast infection diets....I've heard of people having mild results from this and I'm sure it is because of the elimination of ACID foods and nothing else. NO YOU DON"T HAVE CANDIDIASIS!!! If you did, you'd have cottage cheese looking curds in your mouth and it would be painfull to scrape off.

4)Peroxide....Yeah, I said it. This is a very MILD anticeptic and does NOTHING to prevent bad breath. Actually, it can make it worse because it dryes out your mouth.

[NOTANYMORE]

Random thoughts.........

GERD doesn't cause bad breath. Almost everyone in my family and tons of co-workers complain of reflux to some degree and I was the only one with breath problems. DON"T WORRY ABOUT IT!

Don't listen to what people say in these WIKI answer type forums unless you want some 14 year old telling you that you have a friggin "YEAST INFECTION IN YOUR MOUTH". What a joke.

Most people with breath problems have impeccable oral hygiene otherwise. SO IT"S NOT YOUR TEETH OR GUMS!! DON"T WORRY ABOUT IT!!

Chew gum for no more than 20min at a time then wait at least 1 hr. before chewing another piece. Gum flavor doesn't last much more than 20min anyway and you'll prevent TMJ problems........trust me.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP!! I know it's hard but you have to try and have fun. There is no magic bullet for this "disease" but with research and listening to your body, you can overcome this.

[KeepTrying09]

Hey NOTANYMORE,

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for the post. It's good to hear that you've found your cure, it gives people hope which is much needed around here.

I agree with a lot of the things you say in your thread. Saliva production (or a lack thereof) is definitely related to bad breath, as well as post nasal drip, excessive amounts of caffeine, and a high protein/low carb diet. Personally, I also don't really give much credit to the bad breath toothpastes and mouthwashes that are marketed heavily on the internet and in the drug stores (you know which ones i'm talking about), but I'm not gonna say they are a 100% failure because I haven't spoken to every single person who has used those products. I can only speak from my personal experience and they didn't work for me. I also agree with you that there is no "magic bullet" for this condition.

Of course there are a couple things in your thread I disagree with. You say that if you had Candidiasis, you would have cottage cheese looking curds in your mouth and it would be painful to scrape off. Yes, it's true that Candidiasis of the mouth (otherwise known as oral thrush) causes exactly what you mentioned, but Candidiasis is not just a fungal infection of the mouth, it can affect any part of your body, including your skin, vagina, esophagus, bowels, hair and nails, sinuses, groin area, lungs, and even enter into the blood stream (although that last one is really really rare). These infections can be mild to severe, so while some people who have oral thrush might have those cottage cheese looking curds in their mouths, others might not have such apparent manifestations. With that being said, I agree with you that a lot of these Candida diets you find online are not only way too strict, but pointless. However I do believe that eliminating the major foods which all the diets seem to agree on have helped to prevent a recurrence of Candida from affecting me. I only eliminated yeast containing products (primarily bread), mushrooms, and I stopped drinking alcohol. Every other food is pretty much fair game.

Also, you said that GERD doesn't cause bad breath. It's true there doesn't seem to be a really strong correlation between bad breath and acid reflux itself. A relatively low percentage of people with GERD experience chronic halitosis, it's just that research is coming out which shows that the medications people take to avoid GERD (like ppi's) are much more likely to cause bad breath.

Doctors at UNIFESP in Sao Paulo, Brazil, examined 23 adult patients with GERD and 17 adult patients with dyspepsia (indigestion) to see if there is a connection between halitosis and GERD. The results showed that 39 percent of the GERD patients suffered from halitosis and that treatment with a PPI was deemed a factor in at least 75 percent of the cases. Dyspepsia did not seem to be a leading cause of halitosis, with just 18 percent of the dyspepsia patients suffering from bad breath.

Dr. Luciana Camacho-Lobato, Ph.D of UNIFESP, stated, “Once we excluded oral causes of halitosis, we discovered that bacteria overgrowth associated with PPI usage might play a role in causing bad breath.” The drugs, it seems, may cause an overgrowth of odor producing bacteria in the mouth - and anaerobic odor producing bacteria in the mouth are by far the most common cause of chronic halitosis.

Anyway, as you mentioned there is no "magic bullet" for this condition. People just have to go down the list of all possible causes, and check them off one by one until they find their cause.

Thank you for sharing your cause and cure. I'm sure it will help someone here.

[PR1988]

@NOTANYMORE

i think i have PND as well. before i found out i did, i would clean my throat with tolet papter and salavia gave out a really bad odor.

if you have PND will your breaht comin out of nose have a bad odor too?

sooo then wat i did was i order DR. K product so far its working for me. i went and bought a Netipot and that worked aswell but im still self concious about my breath. i wont talk to anyone upclose and im to embarrased to ask ppl if my breath is bad.

do you recommend i got to ENT dr and get medications for my PND? Is is curable or is it pernmanent

(sorry bout the spellin to lazy to spell out every word)

[NOTANYMORE]

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay in posting. First let me tell you that everything I say here is my only my opinion. I am not a medical doctor. That being said, I HAVE done a great deal of research on halitosis and it's causes and especially on PND.

Keeptrying09....thanks for the post! Regarding the candidiasis..I was only talking about ORAL candidiasis, not any other type. Yes, people CAN get a yeast infection anywhere in/on there body but who ever heard of someone getting chronic halitosis from a VAGINAL yeast infection? So IF you are the 1%'er who HAS oral candidiasis WITHOUT showing any signs....I.E. painful white patches....then by all means get it checked out. However, if you just have a white coating, don't ASSUME and FREAK out about it be a "yeast infection" because the chances are extremely remote.
.
To the point about GERD, I still don't think it causes BB, but I do agree and can speak first hand about the proton pump inhibitors causing BB. A common side affect is dry mouth so there ya go.
.
pr1988....to answer your question, yes I did have a bad smell coming from my nose with PND and yes you do need to see a DR about it. This study, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/68539.php says that over 73 percent of PND pt's taking JUST nasal steroids were cured. I read somewhere else that 85 percent of people were cured with prescription meds alone. If you don't have insurance ask yourself this....how much is it worth to have AT LEAST A SHOT at getting your NORMAL life back. Just be sure to tell them your fears and concerns and gently guide them as to what YOU think may be going on. Don't get there and be too shy to bring up you halitosis.
Your pal,
Notanymore

[PR1988]

@NOTANYMORE

i went to ENT dr once already all he gave me was Mucinex, should i go back and tell him that i have PND? And he will give me meds or does he acctually have to test and check if i really do PND?

Also i drink alot of protien shakes may dat cause my breath too?