Halitophobia after you're cured

[elliott]

You sound like a pretentious jerk when you talk like that

People with halitophobia (or who just read reactions 'wrongly' as dictated by you) are stupid and have small brains but you..... YOU have this keen awareness about you body that is so ****ing intelligent that you know exactly how bad your breath is and instantly know what reactions are legit and not legit.

You're a legend in your own mind.

Precisely. Now, if you can figure that out, you should have no problem with halitophobia.

[spygirl]

Halitophobia is not crap, it's a serious problem,
....

for people who have small brains.

Sorry, but I know that I am intelligent enough, aware enough, and have the common sense to base my judgement off of something concrete. I can't speak for anyone else, but when I gauge reactions I don't use them alone to assess my problem. Reactions are only a supplement to what I already know. I already KNOW my breath stinks and I use reactions to confirm. The very few days when my breath is a little bit better, I know that I need to shift my perception of reactions. I know that on a good day, a scratched nose might be just that, an itchy nose.

My bad breath is something that I can sense. I know my body and trust my senses. I'm in tune with what my body tells me. I'm analytical about changes that go on with my health and well being. I'm honest with myself when something feels 'off'. These are just some of the tools that I have further developed as an awareness to my halitosis.

Put it this way. Before I had BB, I didn't pay attention to reactions. When my BB slowly developed, I became aware because my body was changing. I just felt different. I began to pay attention to these differences, and try to make sense of them. Over time, unfortunately those feelings became regular, and I noticed a pattern. After awhile I developed a sense mechanism to maintain personal awareness of these new changes. A few years later, and I know I have BB, and I have an idea what triggers it, when it's at 70, 80, or 90% strength. At this point, I've learned how to use reactions as a measurement device. When my halitosis developed, it wasn't human reaction that made me aware... it was the change in my own body.

If I'm ever cured, I will be able to sense the change in my body. There will be no reason to believe I have BB, if my senses don't tell me so. Nothing more to it. I'll go back to normal. If I'm cured, 1st of all (if I am truly cured) I shouldn't see real reactions. I'll probably notice all the fake reactions that plague the dumb people with small brains. The random scratched nose for example. We all know that everyone scratches their nose. Some of us know the difference between a casual scratch and a "your breath smells like shit" scratch. Some of us simply know that our breath f'in stinks, and that is the only issue. It's not false perception at all. I understand that others aren't able to distinguish between perception and reality, and I feel sorry for those people. I work with people at my job that have no common sense. These people exist, and yes they will develop halitophobia if they are ever cured.

Yes halitophobia may be a problem but you do realize it is a persistent psychological problem. It does not follow a pattern of social withdrawal alone. I live in a country where bb cannot be measured objectively (chroma/halitometer) so I rely on observation alone. I know that most people here said they could get a whiff of how they really smell and I do not doubt that. But to actually smell yourself on command is just too phenomenal an ability for humans, Einstein, this is why gadgets like halitometer exists. However, I just couldn’t smell myself and my health has been the same, if not improved, over the course of my bb years. I know when my bb is offensive, it is the reaction of people around me that tells me this. A statement that is generalized on the development of their halitosis being signaled by the changes in their own body and not by the reaction of people around them is but arrogant and ignorant at the same time (they normally come in package).

I myself am a usual victim of nose scratching. I will normally look straight at the person doing this. They are actually cupping their noses while looking at me. When you sit next to someone in the train during the rush hour and that person would rather stand while cupping his nose (with the rest of 10-15 other passengers). I will suspect that there is something wrong with him. But if the seat beside me remains vacant for 30 mins. after he left it and those 10-15 other standing passengers are still looking at me while cupping or scrunching their noses. Then I will suspect that there is something wrong with me. When someone mention nose-scratching, I will not usually think of it as a part of a-biliion-and-one reflex actions of the body. I would rather refer to it as the one that comes with or as a specific definitive reaction to something, and in this case my bb. I wouldn’t want to explain this as I believe you don’t even need brain or common sense to dig it…seriously. I believe that even monkeys can fully assimilate this information, ‘though at a lower rate than humans.

I have no experience working with people who have no common sense, but if I did maybe I’ll be like you too, Einstein. Because from experience, I can state that birds of the same feather flock together. I wouldn’t and couldn’t establish perception from reality unless I am provided with facts but since this is impossible I use observation techniques for benchmarking purposes. I do not claim that I am intelligent enough to the industry and university standards where I belong, but I know that it will be an insult on my intelligence to further challenge a view that is too myopic.

[spygirl]

You may become paranoid about people scratching their noses for whatever reason but you are not exactly dumb to ignore that there are times that you can have normal conversation with other people without igniting any reactions at all.

I'm not sure I'm understanding this part. If someone ignores the times when they don't get reactions, it doesn't mean they're dumb - I agree there. It just mean that the problem is severe and that many of us will still assume our breath stinks even without reactions and that can still ruin a day.

As long as I have bb, I will be an outcast.

What if you're cured and still see people touching their noses, looking away or giving you what we usually see as reactions to our breath? Wouldn't that bring up the old insecurities again, cause you to begin overanalyzing and developing a degree of halitophobia?

Actually, it's not the nose-touching alone. But rather a series of very mean actions initiated by nose cupping, sometimes it is followed by remarks intended to humiliate me. I do not think I have to emphasize on this as we all know what I am referring to. If I can just talk face-to-face or whisper for 15 minutes to 5 people (excluding my 2 kids) without them backing off or excusing themselves, I would write off all those nasty nose-cupping and I'll throw a big party... but so far my experience has accumulated to 1 person only. In the end, if you are really cured, you can be paranoid to a certain degree BUT there are facts that are just too hard to ignore, such as being able to take a cab without the driver winding his window down during the whole trip for example.

[thanatos]

You sound like a pretentious jerk when you talk like that

People with halitophobia (or who just read reactions 'wrongly' as dictated by you) are stupid and have small brains but you..... YOU have this keen awareness about you body that is so ****ing intelligent that you know exactly how bad your breath is and instantly know what reactions are legit and not legit.

You're a legend in your own mind.

Precisely.

Good, I'm glad the both of us see eye to eye.

[whatevz]

If you get vague reactions then don`t think about it. Just continue with your life.

After a life-time of halitosis, that could be easier said than done.

Well said. I know I had halitosis at one point, I don't know when it disappeared, I think I actually only had it for two years lol, but I am only realizing this 6 years later! Halitiphobia is VERY real, and even though I know I don't (well, I am always going to still be a little suspicious) have it, I can't stop checking reactions, I can't see myself talking up to someones nose any time soon. It's ridiculous! It's definitely a slow process, it took me 6 years to realize I didn't have it. It definitely manifests the same downfalls a person with legitimate BB has. I had some serious breakdowns because of it. I felt even more alone because I thought my parents were lying to me when they said it didn't smell, I tried telling them they're probably just immune to it - had so many arguments over it!