Is this psychological?

[OneDay111]

Double Post sorry.

[halitosisux]

OD are people ever happy to sit near you while you talk in their faces?

Have you sorted that tooth out yet?

[halitosisux]

Meow, I know there might be some unknown phenomenon with the sneezing etc, but why does that necessarily have to have anything to do with actually having BB?

[OneDay111]

OD are people ever happy to sit near you while you talk in their faces?

Have you sorted that tooth out yet?

People are happy sitting next to me if I have chewing gum in my mouth. They can smell they chewing gum and ask for one which is promising. Same goes with while I eat food.

But once you leave my mouth by itself I just get bad taste and feel yuck and just cant talk to anyone therefore I limit my self.

Maybe my bad breath is so minor that chewing gum covers it. Or I have dry mouth, which I think I do.

I havent sorted out that tooth, but something was stuck in it I got it out and it is smelling fine now, but I have yet to sort it out.

[meowkity1]

Meow, I know there might be some unknown phenomenon with the sneezing etc, but why does that necessarily have to have anything to do with actually having BB?

I dont know anymore. Really. It was only a month in a half ago that my sister said she ould help. Shes working third shift now so Im not seeing her that much to ask.
Even my ENT says this cant happen, only if I had a strong pefume on or something. Thats not the case because now Im into very light sweet oils for perfume.
Im gonna just start working my hardest to ignore it all and not think about it. Its hard and I think Im effected psychologically because of that rotten tooth and stones I got out. ALthough, I dont know if its the case. Right after tonsilectomy I did feel normal and went about a normal life. but Im strting to belive I wasnt cured but maybe 80-90% helped becasue I got rid of shity stones which makes a world of deifference.
Right after surgry I could taste bad nomore.
Obviously it wasnt all in my mind back then becasue I had confirmed tonsil stones.

[halitosisux]

Meow, my advice to you is... relax. Leave your chemicals and your scrubbing scraping and grinding for a few days. Just brush your teeth and floss. Keep your mouth hydrated and give your tongue a chance to settle down.

Get your sister, or other close friend/relative round and relax with them. Try not to think about your BB - LET them smell you, whether you smell bad or not. Find something to do that will allow you to breathe close to her, such as reading something together or showing her some photos or something on your computer for example.

IF you have BB at that moment then she will naturally try to avoid having to breathe it and it will be obvious. She may even do this from having developed her own BB fears, so beware. If she seems comfortable and happy to be near you for any significant length of time, then you can be guaranteed that your breath did not smell during this time.

If she starts sneezing or rubbing her nose, give her an antihistamine - be patient and let her settle down, because you are not testing her for allergies, you are testing her for odour reaction.

At the end of your experiment, ask her if she noticed any bad smell from your nose - dont mention your breath because most people will just automatically say no because its the easy thing to do. But if you are specific about your nose, they will be more inclined to accept its not just straighforward bad breath, that its something wrong with your nose and be willing to help you by being honest about that.

Try the same on as many people as you can. I know you have been trying this with your son, but its probably very tiring for him and he may just be agreeing with whatever he thinks you want to hear.

[jc]

Meowkity1, try googling PATM( people are allergic to me ). It`s a medhelp forum for people with our type of condition. Some people there have odorless PATM but I think majority have either bb or bo or in the worst case scenario, both.

[mike987]

OD are people ever happy to sit near you while you talk in their faces?

Have you sorted that tooth out yet?

People are happy sitting next to me if I have chewing gum in my mouth. They can smell they chewing gum and ask for one which is promising. Same goes with while I eat food.

But once you leave my mouth by itself I just get bad taste and feel yuck and just cant talk to anyone therefore I limit my self.

Maybe my bad breath is so minor that chewing gum covers it. Or I have dry mouth, which I think I do.

I havent sorted out that tooth, but something was stuck in it I got it out and it is smelling fine now, but I have yet to sort it out.

Gum doesn't always work for me... It's like the moment I start speaking, even if I have gum in my mouth, people react... I'm jealous you only get reactions once or twice a week.. I get them almost every day, and when I get them, I get them all day long.

This doesn't really mean anything, but doesn't it piss you off when you get offered gum or mints when you are already chewing a wad of gum?

[halitosisux]

Mike, if people can smell your breath despite having gum in your mouth or chewing food, then its got to be coming from either your lungs, your esophagus, somewhere in your nasopharynx, or you have serious gum problems that release a foul discharge when you chew.

That might sound a bit patronisingly obvious, but its just generally speaking.

[OneDay111]

Mike, if people can smell your breath despite having gum in your mouth or chewing food, then its got to be coming from either your lungs, your esophagus, somewhere in your nasopharynx, or you have serious gum problems that release a foul discharge when you chew.

That might sound a bit patronisingly obvious, but its just generally speaking.

So when you had BB, gum would overpower the odour?

[halitosisux]

OD, my BB experience was different to most on here.

First of all, I think my BB was confined to my mouth. As far as I know, no odour came out of my nose and nobody ever complained or seemed to react from my nasal breathing. I have never used reactions to gauge my breath because I simply avoided anyone being able to smell my breath, and mostly I managed to do so. I had no intimate close relationships with anyone, except for a few drunken encounters.

In situations where I had to be near people, like at work in a small office space, I'd simply chew gum, eat or smoke cigarettes when I could. If I couldnt do that then I'd just do everything possible to prevent anyone being able to smell my BB, such as talking very softly, using as little force/air as necessary to be heard and grunting the shortest answers out as possible. If I ever felt trapped I'd just freak out pretending I needed the loo or pretending to suddenly remember something and running for my life.

So, back to your question, yes, without gum I felt naked and exposed. With gum in my mouth, even a tiny bit, it would give me enough confidence to be able to function as normally as one could ever function with gum in their mouth. You sound a bit like me OD. Without anything in my mouth, it rapidly became like sewage in there.

I dont think its a case of gum overpowering the odour, its a case of the washing effect of chewing gum. Now I realise that the action of chewing was constantly washing away the discharge from my gum and preventing it from building up in my mouth.

I can only imagine the torture and the hardship of daily life knowing that your breath smells even with your mouth shut no matter what you do, especially if you can smell it yourself.

[malory]

[quote="bad day1"]I'm really frustrated and baffled by this BB. I just had a checkup with a new GP and she swore she could not smell anything. We were talking inside her room for about half an hour and she never smelled anything. She even turned the aircon off and checked if she'll be able to smell then.
I'm wondering if being self-conscious about the bb causes some mild panic attack that dries up something inside the body (maybe the throat, mouth and sinus cavities?) that triggers the bb. I just notice that when I'm around people whom I'm comfortable with, or whom I don't care if they smell my bb, then I don't actually exhibit the bb.


I was very interested to read your comments.
This is the worst part of this bb thing.
I've actually ruined a 20-year relationship because of it. We had huge arguments over this bb thing. His denial of accepting bb made things worse. It made the taboo even greater than it already was. We would actually be out in public and hear people making jokes/commenting in public on my bb and he would still deny. I would mention people who told me to my face (my mum, a specialist dentist etc.) and he would still deny. It doesn't help 'cause when you go out into the big wide world nobody else is denying and you are even more shocked and confused by their reactions than you would be were you prepared. I see why friends and family do it; they believe (erroneously though) that they are protecting you but what they are doing is making you more vulnerable as you are not getting reliable feedback to help you pinpoint the cause. BB sufferers want to know when the smell is bad and what the smell is like so that they can monitor what they have eaten/done which could have affected it.

Some doctors and alternative practitioners also say they can't smell it. You made a very valid point: bb is not the same at all times. It is much worse when you get stressed about it and think about it so we bb sufferers get caught up in a cycle.

Cognitive behaviour therapists try to get you to imagine that people doing blatantly obvious gestures (covering noses and grimacing) or you overhearing them saying things about you (like "I feel sick now" or "What is that SMELL?") is an example of OUR OWN paranoia and, in a way, self-harm. I don't like being patronised like this but I understand WHY they try to get us to lose the fixation we have with our breath.

I agree with the post from alexanderluther about our fear generating more and more bb. My bb is worse at work. Why? Because I'm scared s...less, because of the surreptitious bullying, because of the depression from being rejected continuously. I once saw a neuro-specialist who tried to teach me another technique (not cognitive behaviour therapy) to help me cope at work especially.

She said we have certain thought patterns which are entrenched in our brain and that these thought patterns produce a physical, chemical reponse in our bodies. Think what our bodies do when we get reactions! She said it takes only 90 seconds to rewire a thought process/pattern in the brain and that if you can rewrite the script then you should be able to bring about a change physiologically as well.

I tried her techniques for a couple of weeks and the results were good initially but then I got a quite strong reaction from someone and I started to lose faith in what I was doing. I told myself that I was deluding myself, pretending that all was well when it wasn't, but I still think her ideas are valuable.

After 13 years, my thought patterns are strongly entrenched but I try to visualise a different me or to relax/clear my mind for at least 90 seconds to give myself a break from this constant torture. I used to keep telling myself "If only I didn't have bb I would..." but now I try to tell myself "Even if I sometimes have bb I will..." and one day I hope to take bb out of the sentence completely and to just say to myself "Wow!"

So, I do think you are right to say that our stressing out can affect how much we smell but I don't think well-meaning family/friends are helpful when they lie to us because we just get confused and feel that we have no one to trust in.

[brightonguy]

Mike, if people can smell your breath despite having gum in your mouth or chewing food, then its got to be coming from either your lungs, your esophagus, somewhere in your nasopharynx, or you have serious gum problems that release a foul discharge when you chew.

That might sound a bit patronisingly obvious, but its just generally speaking.

..... not necessarily. I've been doing an experiment and seeing whether people who have mild BB (i.e. BB that doesn't invoke all this nose scratching bull shit that drives us all crazy) can get rid of it by chewing gum and they can't. I know I can't although it's very tempting to think you can because your mouth tastes all minty and you're salivating more but I think it's just wishful thinking. The exception might be in your gum contans zinc but even then I'm not so sure. Regular sugar free gum aint gonna help at all I don't think and remember (see a post by aydinmur) it can actually enhance halitosis by increasing the production of methyl mercaptan

[brightonguy]

I think it's impossible not to be psychologically affected by BB to the extent that most people with BB do over-estimate at times the extent of their problem i.e. there's a bit of Type 5 in most Type 1-4s. However I'm sure that at times I've under-estimated the extent of my problem too cuz I can't always smell it!

I am still pleased to say that I don't have a chronic problem.... I figure this out for myself the hard way by talking close range to people and seeing how they react. Sometimes it breaks my heart but sometimes it's good because they don't flinch... sometimes they do more than flinch though and nearly trip over themeselves to get away from me.

I have been to see my GP three times in the last 4 weeks and she swears she can't smell anything. I **think** I believe her because I've then gone and talked to other people close range and it's been fine. What I cannot get my head around is how I can go from no BB to the kind of BB that is so bad I can smell it and gets really bad reactions from people within hours.

[OneDay111]

My family say, that I used to have BB, but now I dont. The irony is that I used to think I never had BB, and now I think I do.