It's all in my head?

[Word_Is_Bond]

Yesterday when I got home I asked my mum (who's the most brutally honest person in my life, and the only person on this Earth I trust with asking about my bb) how my breath smelled. I spoke directly in her face for a minute or so. I had a gum, but it was about 2 hours old. I didn't think it was working anymore because gum usually stops working after 10 minutes with my bb. She swore she smelled nothing, and actually equaled the smell with what you smell after a cleaning at the dentist, mixed with mint from the gum. How splendid! So now I'm asking myself... how much of my bb is in my mind and how much is genuine bb? I know I'm prone to bb because my dad is, especially when we're nervous, dehydrated, or upon waking. But I've never had anyone in school directly tell me "Woah, you're breath is a little foul. Gum?" And I've come across some rude/brutally honest people. I've just always assumed it stinks because my mum would tell me during concerts or certain outings as I get nervous (slightly agoraphobic) that I needed gum. I've never been much interested in talking directly in people's face or having other people talk in my face even before my bb issues. But now I feel as though I need to differentiate when my bb is really there, and when its me cooking something up my in head out of assumptions. Sort of like the person who's anorexic but swears they're fat. I feel like it's been so long since I had fresh breath (or feel like I had) that I no longer know what it tastes like. My breath could be perfectly normal and I wouldn't know!

[mike987]

You might go crazy thinking it might be in your head half the time... but I suppose if you figure out when it doesn't stink, you might come to understand your condition better..

So you need to figure out WHY it stinks when it does.


If it seems to be active only when you're nervous, maybe, whenever you're feeling really relaxed at home, just spontaneously pop the question to your mom and get an answer immediately. See if it is limited to nervous situations or not.


Supposing it is nervousness that sets it off... is it only dry mouth? Could it be ileocecal valve activated by nervousness, which send turds back into your small intestine for absorption?

[missjj]

Everyone smells me except for my family but I am not crazy!! Everyone else reacts to my breath:'''''(

[stevo96]

It's probably intermittent, mine comes and goes depending on how long it's been since I brushed my tongue...

[missjj]

Maybe. My bb is 99%. 1% of the time my breath is.normal.

[Word_Is_Bond]

See, I am a little worried that it could be my family who doesn't smell me, but my brother reacted to it in a cinema once (before I knew that sugar really sets it off and foolishly had soda upon soda...).

My mum is brutally honest and will tell you if you stink as you are passing by here, if your hair looks bad, if you're dressed like a hoochie! And, her nose is by far the best one I've encountered. She's very sensitive to smells, and once even saved a place from burning down because she smelled the wiring in the walls sparking and catching on fire! I know she would not have me talk to someone with bad breath if I could help it.

I test my breath with her every day after school, even after I ate pretzels with no gum and my mouth tasted a little sour. Again, she said she couldn't smell anything. If you don't have someone you can trust like this, I suggest trying to find one, this way you can differentiate your off and on days. Until I speak to someone and get a direct reaction, I'm going to live like I don't have bb.

I'm still wary of sugars such as fructose, sucrose and lactose though.

[halitosisux]

So has your mum ever told you that your breath actually stinks? Her offer of gum when you were nervous doesn't imply you have BB, she may have noticed your mouth was dry in other ways and thought gum would help get your saliva flowing. But besides that, most people will find that their breath turns stale when they get nervous because saliva flow reduces when we get stressed and it's no longer able to effectively dilute and flush away the buildup of VSCs that bacteria in the mouth are constantly producing. You're as prone to getting BB as anyone else is. Most people get morning breath for precisely the same reason. Once they've brushed their teeth and their saliva is flowing normally again, the odour reduces and disappears.

Remember that right under every nose is a mouth containing roughly 50 billion bacteria which are constantly breaking down dead cells, consistuents of saliva/mucus, and any foods that we eat and any of it's residues.
We have very sensitive taste buds that are able to sense the taste of these bacterial by-products and a nose that is able to detect the gases that evaporate from the back of the tongue when we breathe out, which is where these odours tend to concentrate.
So it doesn't take a lot, once we've been made aware of the possibility that we may have bad breath, and we start making connections between the signs we've picked up over time and how prone we feel we might be to smelling bad, to convince ourselves and spend an entire lifetime mistakenly believing that this really is the case. True halitophobics will be no less convinced their breath smells than anyone else who believes they have bad breath, whether it's true or not.

[Word_Is_Bond]

She does explicitly say in the car or wherever we may be, "Ugh, your breath smells terrible. Like [insert terrible smelling thing]! Get some gum." Of course it's not demeaning, but it is blunt and to the point.

Your post is very enlightening. I did the same test today with her, except this time I didn't drink any water or chew any gum for about an hour and a half before coming home, and I actually ended up eating some honey mustard Pringles chips... horrible! I also had a tuna sandwich with mustard and crackers for lunch. And I didn't brush my tongue/teeth since the morning.

I did the same thing, straight in her face, blew and talked, and she swore she smelled nothing!! I am in shock, and it's very tough to take in and accept. I thought people who have good breath taste nothing in their mouth; probably the effect of always assuming I had bad breath and having an after taste. I guess I falsely assumed all after taste is acquainted with bad breath.

I asked my mum what my bb smelled like those times when I was nervous, and she said it smelled like morning breath does, which means it could have been a product of dehydration/hunger, triggered by my nervousness.

Now I question, when did this all spiral out of control?

[halitosisux]

It just goes to show how unreliable your own self-determination of breath condition can be. If you have a bad taste in your mouth it's usually a bad sign, but the danger is that this is not always the case. The mind can play tricks and senses can be so easily fooled.

You might have had some temporary issue such as a minor sinus infection or tooth decay or small area where your gums weren't 100% and that's all it would take to tip you into BB susceptibility.

Ask your mum to promise to tell you next time she ever notices any BB and get her to help you identify where it's coming from. If she's blunt enough to have mentioned it in the past then she should have no problem doing this again. Try not to seem obsessed about it to her though because she may start to feel inclined to say your breath is ok when it isn't to try to take your mind off it.

[raindrop]

I am the same way too. I constantly ask my mother if my breath smells and she say No, and stop acting crazy. IDk what to do.

[deebo]

She does explicitly say in the car or wherever we may be, "Ugh, your breath smells terrible. Like [insert terrible smelling thing]! Get some gum." Of course it's not demeaning, but it is blunt and to the point.

Hah, my Dad is the same blunt ,trustworthy way "Did you brush yor Teeth !?". Tells it like it is. This is often when we are going somewhere ,creating some anxiety . I've asked my doc who I'm comfortable with everytime i see her ,she says "i'm very honest about these things, i can't smell Any bad odor"
So this is very interesting about the ileocecal valve /nervousness ,being socially anxious myself . . So the other post about serotonin "curing " bb may be in a round-about way somewhat on the money.
I notice the pitch of my voice is lower when im relaxed , its horse and high wen nervous and then i get the most reactions , mostly unquestionable bb.

So its like halitophobia or any kind of stresses can bring about worse BB in many cases.

[Word_Is_Bond]

She does explicitly say in the car or wherever we may be, "Ugh, your breath smells terrible. Like [insert terrible smelling thing]! Get some gum." Of course it's not demeaning, but it is blunt and to the point.

So its like halitophobia or any kind of stresses can bring about worse BB in many cases.

Yes! This is exactly what I mean. As soon as I get into a position where I stress about my breath, like a concert or a car ride or a lunch date, it immediately gets worse, or at least I think it does. At this point I've ruled my bb down to 90% halitophobia/social anxiety, 10% dehydration/hunger/any other normal reason. I know I'm predisposed to have bb, but I doubt it's as bad as I've made it seem to myself. Because I never get reactions from people, it's just a personal fear.

[VICKSTER]

Hey,
Just wanted you to know I tested negative for TMAU. I had the TMAU test because I responded very poorly to Betain. Betain made me smell really bad.. So my researcher said ... lets just be sure. But ihave to tell you when I took the large dose of choline my breath got really good... it was so weird... that lasted for a few days. My researcher said some people respond well to large doses of Choline. Although, Iam doing much better. I still have a problem when I eat acdic food and really bad to smal ldoeses.but people no longer say the room iam in smells bad. I no longer leave my classroom and return to a bad smell. The choncha surgery was freeing. Anyway I wanted to share with you .

[lost1234]

Vicster, I know your researcher lead you toward concha bullosa surgery but how did he know it might help you? Did it show up in a cat scan? I was discussing concha bullosa with my ent and he quickly changed the subject like he didnt know much about it.