My Story - 75% Better

[brightonguy]

I’ve purposely waited to post this message because I wanted to resist the temptation to tell you about something that was working for me until I had a good run of success. If you haven’t read my posts before and haven’t got the time to use the search function, let me provide you with a synopsis which culminates where I’m at today.

December 2010 – August 2011

Huge problems with BB; constant reactions from people; I could smell it myself; the more I tried to fix it in terms of increasingly rigorous oral hygiene procedures, mouthwash after mouthwash, low protein, low acid diet, the worse it got.

September 2011 – December 2011

Things started to get better, I’d have days or at least times during the day when I was BB free. Why? I stopped using mouthwash: I’d floss twice daily and clean my teeth for 3 minutes twice daily but that was it. Please don’t use mouthwash!!! Aydinmur, the expert (and I don’t use the term loosely, he’s the first and only professional I’ve come across who knows what he’s talking about) who writes on this forum conducted a study which showed how a variety of commercially available mouthwash products (not just those containing alcohol) actually exacerbate BB not reduce it – THAT WAS CERTAINTLY MY EXPERIENCE WITH THEM. Also, I stopped trying to improve my BB by altering my diet – I ate what I wanted and it felt great.

January 2011 – Present

About 75% better!! Why? Aside from sticking with my no mouthwash policy I started taking 5 mg Salagen once a day and drink a huge amount of water, like 6-8 pints per day. My mouth is unusually dry, this dryness started around the same time as my BB problem. Although your average person with dry mouth (i.e. < 1.5 mm saliva every 15 minutes) will have a mild-moderate BB problem, mine really was horrendous a lot of the time. I take Salagen first thing in the morning, it takes about 40 minutes to start working and then I have normal saliva flow for about two hours before it then starts to decrease. I had to source the Salagen myself online. My useless GP said there was no such drug. Ideally I’d like to try Evoxac which is also prescribed for dry mouth but it’s not so easy to get online and of course I can’t go to my GP about this given his clear lack of knowledge on the subject. I want to give Evoxac a try because Salagen is not without side effects: ideally I’d like to take 2x5mg tablets of it per day but then the side effects become too much. If I just take 1 per day I usually get no side effects at all, just a mouth full of saliva. Although Evoxac and Salagen are similar drugs, the user reports I’ve read about them suggest that people who get side effects from one of these drugs won’t necessarily get them if they try the other.

What has this meant for me? Well, I’m close to having my life back. I go out with my friends a lot more, I’m enjoying a good sex life again (hallelujah) and all the rest of it. I still get reactions, I still have a problem but there are periods every single day since the start of the year when I do not have a BB problem.

Fellow sufferers, I went through hell because of how badly I smelt, I understand what you’re going through. Keep strong, keep positive and above all else MEET EACH OTHER. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve met people off this forum. There are two people on here who I regularly meet and a third person who I regularly talk to on the phone. I’m surprised that more of you aren’t meeting each other – that was my rationale for joining this forum in the first place and it would be impossible for me to overstate the benefits I got from meeting people off here.

[halitosisux]

Congrats!

Did you get to try the metro mouthwash though? probably not advisable if you think you've identified the cause of your problem.

I think there are certain antidepressant meds that increase saliva flow, which is another avenue you could explore if you havent already done so.

Are you still intending to get tested for TMAU?

[waiting2xhale]

Im glad your better hun!!! I hope u get to 100% soon.

[brightonguy]

@ waiting - thanks very much for your kind words

@ hal - I tried the metro mouthwash just once but I felt like it gave me trouble breathing so I didn't try it again. I will still go for my TMAU test in April just to rule it out but I'm pretty sure my issues are at least mostly due to dry mouth. In terms of antidepressant medications, unfortunately they tend to cause hypo rather than hyper-salivation. There is an antipsychotic medication called clozapine associated with hypersalivation but I don't want to try that. My GP told be to take Citalopram sometime in 2010 - can't remember exactly when - just one dose dried my mouth out completely so I stopped that. Then in December I - reluctantly - tried Fluanxol (1 x 0.5 mg tablet per day, the lowest possible dose) and fortunately it didn't have any adverse effects on my saliva flow - it was still really low, but no lower.... hence why I started on Salagen in January. The Fluanxol has really helped me forget about all the hell I went through in 2010 because of how badly I smelt and it also helps me not to fall apart when I still get reactions from people.