Old Timer Here, Fully Cured

[asd]

Hello folks and hello Jimi. Haven't posted in many a year, maybe a decade or so. Didn't forget about you guys and the support this forum gave me for this deeply frustrating, embarrassing and painful issue. Big props to Jimi for still running it after all these years.

Chapter 1- Tonsil Origin
My story started when I was about 16ish. Fecal bad breath. After some time I realised I had tonsil stones. These can be treated relatively well by flushing them out with a water pik, using either salt water or Hydrogen Peroxide (be careful with this, I would dilute it greatly before use). The motion of the water itself flushes the stones out and the antibacterial action of the salt/H2O2 keeps the bacteria under control. Eventually, sick of having to manage and be paranoid about them, I had a tonsillectomy. That was the first stage of my cure and it was a cure, if it wasnt for me dealing with my tonsil stones I would still either be having to clean them every day (roughly) or living with BB and I think tonsil stones cause a particularly foul, fecal odour.

Chapter 2- Sinus Origin
I was in that hellish phase where you are seeking a cure desperately and you think you have found it and then you see those same old reactions and it is devastating. Eventually I realised that I often had pain in what were my sinuses (I was simply not aware of them at the time and it was subtle). I also noticed that when they hurt, I had BB. The correlation between the pain and the reactions I got became obvious. So I searched for the cause and I eventually discovered it was caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant and dries out the sinuses. I cut caffeine out of my diet and my sinuses got a lot better, and people's reactions did too. I was also a smoker which didn't help. Cutting out both of these helped greatly. To illustrate, even if I have chocolate, I can feel the slight pain in my sinuses, if I have Coke or tea/coffee, they will 'ache' for a few days. This is when I got to the point of being mostly BB free. I had relationships and it was clear that I mostly had fresh breath.

I also had acupuncture to treat them in the latter part of this chapter, and it helped greatly. My acupuncturist was also quite informative, saying I simply had quite a narrow set of sinuses and therefore I was more susceptible. She said I had nasal polyps, and she popped many by putting needles up my nose.

So these days I don't smoke, and avoid caffeinated drinks except for tiredness emergencies. I have a bit of chocolate every now and then. I do still vape though and my sinuses seem to be able to handle that.

Chapter 3- Oral Origin
There was still one thing, if I wasn't 110% on top of my oral hygiene, my gums would get sore in certain areas for a few days at a time and this gave me BB during that time. This was really caused by my laziness(skipping tooth brushing in the evenings if really tired). However, after having my teeth cleaned at a hygienist and brushing + flossing properly, I resolved that too.

Summary
So now I live a normal life. I have had several relationships, with all the closeness that entails, with no reactions. I am immensely relieved and grateful to be rid of that plague.

General tips: H2O2 is a great mouthwash, it's cheap and will kill the anaerobic bacteria it contacts.

I will check up on this thread and also add more advice + info over the coming days so feel free to ask questions.

Ultimately these things are our karma and take us on a healing journey. You have to be ready to be cured, as I believe all diseases have an emotional cause on some level. Eg. Maybe you subconsciously want to keep people away from you?

Anyway, stay strong, see the future when you WILL be cured and work through a scientific process of elimination to find the cause and cure.

Much love to all and keep your head up.

[Stevian]

@ asd

Thanks for posting.
Yes, I do use hydrogen peroxide at 1% strength, and it’s a decent maintenance rinse if and when things are under control. Definitely not a cure.

The psychological theory is hocus pocus, though.
Even if there’s a correlation between social anxiety and bb, it introduces the “chick or the egg” puzzle. Does the person have social anxiety because they have bad breath, or does the social anxiety cause the bad breath?
There’s some evidence that stress in general can make bad breath worse, but the subconscious desire theory lacks evidence.

I’m going to be taking an antibiotic oral rinse approach as soon as I get back a bacteriology lab report.

[Ethanklein]

Hello folks and hello Jimi. Haven't posted in many a year, maybe a decade or so. Didn't forget about you guys and the support this forum gave me for this deeply frustrating, embarrassing and painful issue. Big props to Jimi for still running it after all these years.


Summary
So now I live a normal life. I have had several relationships, with all the closeness that entails, with no reactions. I am immensely relieved and grateful to be rid of that plague.

General tips: H2O2 is a great mouthwash, it's cheap and will kill the anaerobic bacteria it contacts.

I will check up on this thread and also add more advice + info over the coming days so feel free to ask questions.

Ultimately these things are our karma and take us on a healing journey. You have to be ready to be cured, as I believe all diseases have an emotional cause on some level. Eg. Maybe you subconsciously want to keep people away from you?

Anyway, stay strong, see the future when you WILL be cured and work through a scientific process of elimination to find the cause and cure.

Much love to all and keep your head up.

Hey, Congrats on solving the issue! And thanks for coming back and sharing your story,

So basically to summarise in short points, your ultimate cure to ridding BB was -

Tonsillectomy, with a diet that produces less harsh "fumes" for your sinus e.g no fizzy drink no caffiene, mouthwashing somewhat regularly with a small hydrogen peroxide solution, and sinus acupuncture that targeted polyps. Would that be accurate summary?

Could I just ask a few things, what impact do you feel the acupuncture had in regards to the sinus issue? All your other reccomondations seem fairly easily doable to replicate for most people reading this but just wondering what you thought about this part, how big a difference that particular step had?

Would you of described yourself before as having "Nasal BB" - as in, you were exhaling the odorous air without speaking, people able to detect your BB by you breathing nearby not needing to speak, like on a bus/train/cinema or just standing around? Or was it only when you spoke upclose?

I noticed in one of you older posts when you were analysing your issues, and speaking about your swollen/narrow nasal passages, you described -

" 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.

Were you referring to balloon sinuplasty here? That's something I read about and considered that previously too. Can you expand on that anymore would be good to hear your thoughts and considerations around that.

Thank you for returning and sharing your successful journey, much appreciated!

[telpar]

Hi
i'm happy you've solved the issue.

Your case is an injection of optimism her. It seems to be the confirmation that we have not to fight against bacteria.
We have to determine and eliminate the underlying causes. For you, the culprit were coffee and smoking who provocate sinus infiammaction and dry mouth, and the oral hygiene.

[asd]

@Stevian the psychological theory is not hocus pocus mate. But believe what you want I'm not here to convince you.

@EthanKlein generally speaking yes. I can and do have fizzy drinks but it is specifically caffeine I avoid.

I never had a sinusplasty, I went to the ENT, had an MRI scan and 'my sinuses were completely normal'.

No I don't think I ever had nasal BB although I'm not totally sure.

Regarding acupuncture, it made quite a big difference. Probably wasn't essential though but would definitely recommend.

@telpar, caffeine dries out my sinuses, as do other stimulants. I guess this makes them get blocked up and then I get sinusitis which causes BB.

[asd]

My general approach for anyone would be:

Don't be overwhelmed. Work through the potential causes eg:
-stomach
-tonsils
-mouth
-sinuses

Remember there is a scientific reason you have this, so take a scientific approach. Use a process of elimination.

[poco333]

Ultimately these things are our karma and take us on a healing journey. You have to be ready to be cured, as I believe all diseases have an emotional cause on some level. Eg. Maybe you subconsciously want to keep people away from you?

@asd On a certain level I think many of us agree. One of the most most difficult elements of BB is being able to talk to those around us about it. It takes a very strong person to listen to us and not be dismissive. And on top of that we have to be even stronger in our determination to find answers.

It is quite something, though, when we do start to find those answers and the chains start to be loosed, so to speak. Especially if we can help someone else with our story.

I am grateful for this forum