paranoid about halitosis

[unsungzero7]

hey guys, i have been struggling with bad breath (or the illusion of such) for the past 6 months or so. I have become extremely paranoid and lost much of my confidence. I am a senior in college and both my personal life and my academic life have suffered as a result of this. I have tried most all products to no avail (therabreath, blis, probiotics etc). I am so glad I found this site because finally I am able to realize that I am not alone in this and that there are other people searching for a cure. The thing with me is that I do not know if I actually have bad breath, or if it is only something I created in my mind in order to hide a much deeper problem. I have never had a problem with getting girls and have only been told that my breath smells 3-4 times in my entire life(and believe me, I remember each). I have a modest white coating on the tongue but it usually is only really bad on days after I consumed alcohol. During the week when i drink a lot of water and habitually clean my tongue i can get it pretty pink. I have asked almost all of my close friends if i have bad breath and they all have told me i do not, but they are nice people and probably know how fragile my ego is. As far as the lick and smell test goes, it varies. In the morning it is usually pretty bad but after cleaning my tongue and stuff it improves significantly. Can anyone tell me how accurate this is? Anyway, I was wondering the extent of the white tongue the rest of you experience, is it white all of the time? How white is it? etc. I don't know how much longer I can go on like this, nor do I think I have the guts to actually blow into a halimeter. Any help would be appreciated and I am very glad I found this site. Thanks

[unsungzero7]

I also thought it might be important to tell you I was on minocycline for over a year, but that was about 5 years ago. As a result I developed a yeast infection in my urethra which caused great discomfort but has since been relieved but not completely resolved (been through the works) Anyway, I just thought that might be an important fact to throw in. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks again

[Busted]

Pick out a target, then stand really close to that person and start talkin to him/her. If u notice any reactions e.g. person touches his/her nose, turns his/her head away from u...any signs that he/she gives u that show u make him/her uncomfortable when u talk, then u might have a halitosis problem.

Try to pick out more than one target. As although the chances are very small that it's a coincedence that they don't make those reactions because of your breath, but because of something else. If u pick out more targets, and each of em have somewhat the same reaction, then u pretty much have a bb problem. If they don't, then your breath may not be as bad as u think, which means u can talk as much as u want to, and not be so self-conscious about it.

[waitingforrelief]

hi there.

if you have already asked all your close friends and they have told you that your breath is ok, i wonder if you are just being paranoid about it. do you have a friend who "tells it as it is"? there are nice people who are direct as well. what about your family?

it doesn't seem like you have a problem asking someone, so why is blowing into a halimeter scary? altho' i thought that it's supposed to be inaccurate anyway.

if you are ok with asking people around you, i'd suggest, again, pick someone who'd tell you the honest truth and believe them. a lot of people have morning breath. but a lot of them don't need much more than a cup of tea or breakfast to get rid of it. maybe you belong to that group. in that case, there's really not too much to worry about.

may i ask what made you think that you have bad breath in the first place?