This could change your life

[breath]

Could the belief of having bad breath be in the mind? Could you not have bad breath but believe you do? Could it be Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
Thoughts of having bad breath interrupt your day?
It becomes an obsession- you look for cures, look for social clues from others, bad breath always in your thoughts or you just want to hide away?
Then you develop compulsions- brushing teeth several times a day, chew gum and use mouthwash. This leads to having your wisdom teeth out, tonsils out, going on restrictive diets, trying the most recent miracle cure.
Then you have avoidance techniques. Avoid friends, relationships, work.
Every avenue has been explored. Then what?
Go to the Dr and enquire about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and a course of anti-depressants that can help in OCD.
From experience...................its worth a try . That person above was me! Now I feel better. For me it was not that I had diagnosed bad breath just the fear of having bad breath combined with low self esteem.

[halitosisux]

Can you please tell us more. What sort of BB did you assume you had?
What were your symptoms?
What kind of things told you for yourself that you must have had BB?

Congratulations if this is truly something you've managed to overcome.

[breath]

I am not going to go into the history of the bad breath because I am looking forward. I went to the Dr as a last resort and explained to him about my anxiety and depression (related to breath)and he suggested I see a mental health nurse for an assessment. I went and told her about my breath problem and she thought it may be OCD and registered me onto a CBT course and booked an appointment to see Dr and was prescribed citalopram. This took the edge of my b b obsession and so the compulsions of teeth brushing and everything reduced.
Just to say today is the first time I have registered onto this site and just wanted to pass on my story and that there is hope just get help and waste no more time.

[breath]

citalopram is an anti depressant and effective with OCD symptoms.

[halitosisux]

No problem. Thanks for sharing your story. I'm sure I have a lot in common with you.

I'm obsessional about many other apects of myself.

Made to feel like worthless trash since very early childhood - but I just happened to have confirmed BB anyway. I never stood a chance.

[thissux]

@Breath - I was told previously, while actively drinking alcohol during a relapse that I had halitosis, confirmed by 2 docs and 1 psyc doc. I am now being told I do not have the condition at all by everyone I have asked. I have been out on a couple of dates but feel really nervous. People still rub their noses all the time as I come up or walk by and this makes me believe fully that I still have it. I am on Prozac and Klonopin. Doctor just put me on 2 weeks of Diflucan due to coating on my tongue (did not take culture once again) and I am waiting for upper endoscopy and colonoscopy. How do I find out if I do have bad breath?

[deebo]

we've heard this plenty of times . its good that people with ORS find help with CB therapy and/or meds . There is even a place for the same therapy for ppl with genuine malodor . BUT there is a Major issue with medical and mental health professionals denying odor . This becomes especially fucked up when the have no understanding of chronic malodor and prescribe mind altering drugs simply because they can't smell or admit to an odor .

As I understand it,some mental health professionals tried hard to hard ORS entered into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) under Schizophrenia ! The malodor community fought hard (rightly so IMO) to avoid that . ORS is instead under OCD now. Breath, there are Dozens of ppl with genetic tmau for instance that I know that were told the same things by their doctors as you . "Diagnosed" with some delusional disorder and actually prescribed cocktails of drugs to 'fix' their brain ,Only to later be diagnosed with genetic tmau !

So ,i wouldn't be so quick to talk about what meds help OCD . This is a BB forum , and while I admit some percent of members with bb do over-exaggerate their odor , have phantom odor , or even not have any odor ! Its far worse of an oversight in my opinion to be handing out psych meds or be deeming people clinically delusional without looking at the whole picture.

[deebo]

I went to the Dr as a last resort and explained to him about my anxiety and depression (related to breath)and he suggested I see a mental health nurse for an assessment. I went and told her about my breath problem and she thought it may be OCD and registered me onto a CBT course and booked an appointment to see Dr

breath , did you ask how they would treat genuine odor vs delusional odor ? How do they (you) know your odor isn't intermittent ? Have you never had actual verbal comments ? I'm not trying to be negative to what helps you but I believe 2nd guessing ones thinking isn't a bad thing when it comes to bb Or ORS. I think your post would be just as apt on an OCD forum (maybe more so )

[halitosisux]

I think we should organise a RIOT.
To get every country that has a health service to establish a specialist centre that helps people with odour problems, whether they actually have odour or not, to either PROVE or DISPROVE. We need places like this run by trained specialists like Dr. Aydinmur.

Because this inherently involves shame and despair, we all stay quiet and go to shitty doctors who don't even know what TMAU is ffs.

Yet here in the UK we have a dedicated centre for people who can't smell - FFS what about the people who SMELL and are desperate??

We keep having these petitions, but what's needed is AWARENESS. And that can only come when people feel able to be open about their problem and entrust professionals to help them the way all other health issues are dealt with.

[FedUp]

If I had the means and education plus the know how I would love to somehow create a centre dedicated to Halitosis. To identify the causes and cures, now how great would that be?

Have an ENT Team, A Gastro team, a dental team all in one place. A place where the specialists will be honest and open about the patients problems instead of ignoring the odors.

People who get occasional (manageable) bb, those from foods like garlic or onions will never understand the true psychological distress halitosis causes. To others we are dirty bastards who smell of shit and do not practice good hygiene. If only they knew our dental and shower hygiene was 10 times better than theirs and still we're smelling....

Life is short yet we're stuck wasting our time trying to get a cure for such a condition that I myself never thought was even possible until last year. Even now I don't really get reactions anymore hardly but still I hold my breath at times and nearly pass out (I feel pathetic doing that). I pretend to cough into my hand to let air out when talking to someone....

[deebo]

I think we should organise a RIOT.
To get every country that has a health service to establish a specialist centre that helps people with odour problems, whether they actually have odour or not, to either PROVE or DISPROVE.

we really need fool proof voc devices to do this . At this point I think No Doc or Psych should be legally allowed to diagnose ORS without an industry approved and calibrated device .

google "can doctors legally lie to their patients" in quotes. 1st thing that comes up is someone with a malodor concern what other health issue is like this ?? ffs in deed

[meowkity1]

Has anyone been to a microbiologist or somewhere to have the mouth or nose swabbed. I definately have ocd but I'm sure it only makes me obsessive not imaginary

[Garlic]

I prefer Halitophobia than room filler