I haven't been around for a while now. So I thought I'd give you guys an update on my journey in finding relief from bb.
I finally went to a medical doctor for help. Specifically, I went to an ENT, about 2 month ago. For the first time, I told the doctor about my chronic bb problem. I told him that I'd never been to a doctor of allopathy, but only of alternative medicine, to seek help with this condition. He was not dismissive of my problem, and I was able to present my problem in an objective, unemotional, and assertive way.
He proceeded to give me an en exam and did a CAT scan. The one thing that I did have the courage to ask for, but he wasn't able to help - was that I asked him if he could detect my bb and he said, "sorry, I have a notoriously bad sense of smell." I'd wanted to ask for a nurse to smell my breath, but I never got around to have the courage to do that - even in my follow-up visit. *shrug*
Anyway, upon examining me and looking thru' the scan, the doctor told me that I had ozena. (Noptical, you were right on!) I'd had a sinus surgery when I was about 13, and that doctor took out way too much of my turbinates tissue, creating turbulence of airflow in my nose, and causing it to lose its ability to humidify and purify the air. But it was more than that. The ENT thought that the doctor who operated on me when I was young had made some kind of mistake, which had caused him to somehow take out parts of my septum unnecessarily - and if I've understood him correctly, to have made a hole in my septum even.
When the doctor did an endoscopic exam in me, he didn't even have to take the endoscope out to examine the other nostril. I have a big hole in my septum which allowed the endoscope to go through both sides of my nose.
What's more, and this will be of interest to you guys in particular, with all the discussions about the tonsils causing bb - is that without my knowledge, the doctor who operated on my sinuses had taken out ALL of my tonsils. All this time I had been wondering whether my tonsils were causing the bb, I had no idea I hadn't had any since I was 13. No wonder I never knew what you guys were talking about when it came down to tonsil. (But I'll have to verify further on this - I remember asking the doctor if ALL of my tonsils were out and he said yes. I may have to clarify to see if indeed all the different types of them are indeed out.)
Some of ozena's symptoms are having a very dry nose, very little mucus production, frequent infection, foul smell in nose, halitosis, bad taste, etc.., among others. (You can easily look it up online.) My doctor found that my sinuses were seriously infected, and felt that the infection probably had been there for years. He did a culture and found this bacteria called Hemophilius influenzae (sp?). He prescribed me the antibiotic Augmentin, and instructed me to take it for 3 weeks. He also told me to use this saline rinse Neilmed daily. I was supposed to go back a week after I was done with the Augmentin for a follow-up. His guess was that the antibiotic wouldn't clear the infection up, and that I'd need another surgery.
I continued to take vitamain C (sugarless) although it never provided me the same kind of relief that some others experienced except for the first few days I was on the sugared kind. (perceived relief, at least.) While I was on the antibiotic, my breath did improve. I was good with taking the required dose everyday, but was not good with the daily rinse, especially as I was on vacation out of town.
I'd gone back to see the doctor last week right after my being away. I reported that the bad taste had improved a lot, and my breath had improved as well, but not eliminated. He did another CAT scan and endoscopic exam on me, and told me that I should be sterilized at this point. However, the pus in my sinuses was still not draining. And that I'd need to be operated on - or else the infection will come back any time. I told him how important it was for me to get to the bottom of the bb issue . He point-blank told me that the few possible causes - bacteria from infection, yeast infection, and I think he said fungus as well - have all been eliminated. (As I no longer had the infection at the time of the follow-up appointment.) He apologized and said that he wouldn't be able to help me further regarding that. Disappointed, but I did appreciate his honesty in admitting to not being able to help further.
However, I did ask him if it's possible the remaining odor might be coming from the pus. And he said that it's likely, but couldn't be completely sure, understandably. So now I'm going to consult another ENT for a second opinion to see if a surgery is the only way to go, as I'm wary of going under the knife again seeing how the last one went so horribly wrong.
Going back a week or two - after I'd stopped taking the Augmentin for about 2 days, I had a bad case of acid reflux that was so painful that I was bowled over in my apt not able to move. I went to a doctor (GP) and he did all kinds of test and bloodwork on me, and told me that I had reflux. He also tested me on H. Pylori, which turned out negative. At the time when I was at the doc's, I didn't think of it, but I have a feeling that it's from the Augmentin, as it's a very harsh antibiotic on the stomach.
So I've been on Prevacid for my reflux for the past week or so. (I didn't take the medicine for the first few days because I wanted to see if it'd just go away. I finally succumbed when the pain persisted.) During this time, I also started to greatly increase my water intake. I still don't always drink 8 glasses a day but I think I've come fairly close. I've been also more diligent with the daily saline rinse - increasing to 2x a day only since yesterday. I noticed that my mucus had thinned out a lot ever since I started to drink more water, and my nose even started to run a little. (Which was non-existent before. My nose was always so dry and stuff would just be stuffed inside with no way out.)
The other change that happened was that I started to re-examine the way I floss. I started flossing much more carefully - I realized that I had to run the floss not just along the gumline, but along the whole length of the teeth. For example, I noticed this strong fecal odor between my two front teeth at the top, and I started to floss that space a lot - running the floss in and out horizontally using a lot of floss, even in the middle of the teeth and toward the end of them. I started doing that a few days ago, and I've managed to get rid of that odor.
In the past, no matter how much I flossed, the odor would just come right back after a little while. But I only flossed toward the gum line mostly. I mean I did run the floss through the whole length (vertical) of the teeth, but not with such a large surface of floss. My theory is, now that my sinus health is better, I no longer have such an overwhelming number of bacteria in my mouth. And therefore flossing alone could help so significantly. And perhaps from the flossing, I'd gotten rid of some old gunks that were stuck between teeth NOT along the gumline that had been there for years. (I felt something come unstuck after a few days of flossing like this between different tooth space.)
The increased number of saline rinse may be helping too, but I don't know for sure. All I know is that my breath has been improving even after I finished the Augmentin. That awful bad taste in my mouth is greatly reduced. I am enjoying food so much more. I still taste the saltiness when I'm not eating which becomes bitterness sometimes when mixed with food. But it's minimal. I could drink milk and wouldn't feel that horribly nasty feeling in my mouth afterward. I had a lemonade the other day and kept smacking my mouth afterward because it didn't feel like a huge bacteria battlefield afterward. It was just nice and tart.
I still smell stale breath on myself - sour breath sometimes, but it seems to never smell fecal anymore. (Except for when I floss sometimes - but even that's decreasing as I have improved my flossing technique and frequency - twice a day. And I don't smell it on my breath after I floss at all. I use enough floss surface until I don't smell the odor on the floss itself anymore.) I still smell this slightly weird odor that I can't identify sometimes. Maybe it's in my head, but I feel like it's a mix of certain food or drinks with my mucus.
I started smelling a weird smell in my nose the last two days again - and got kind of panicky. At some point I was talking on the phone and thought I smelled a familiar bad breath smell from my mouth, but then realized that it was a smell from my nose. It was a familiar odor that again I can't quite describe, that I used to identify as my breath odor. However, from my experience these two days -after having been much more odor-free for a while - I have a feeling that it's the smell of the pus in my nose, which may or may not have been emitted from my breath in the past. As far as I can tell, the smell is only in my nose now without coming out of my mouth.
Regarding my sinus symptoms, I'm actually MORE symptomatic ever since I got on the Augmentin. A lot more sinus headaches, stuffiness, etc... I am not quite sure why. I've thought about the possibility that the Prevacid is helping my bb - but don't think that it's likely, as I've been on Nexium before, which is really the same kind of drug before, and it didn't help one bit. Also, by now, I have a very strong feeling that this is all my sinuses wreaking havoc on me. It can't be a coincidence that in dealing with all these sinus problems, my breath has improved THIS much.
Now for those of you who are gung-ho about posters having to have breath checkers before claiming any breath improvement or otherwise - let me just state that I don't have anyone to check my breath at this point. My breath confidant is not around and so this is all based on my own perception. Let me do point out tho', that my odor was sooo strong sometimes that I simply could not avoid smelling my own foul breath even if I wanted to before. Of course there's the possibility that my sense of smell was really screwed up because of the infection (as stuff inside my sinuses smelled really bad), but I don't think that's all of it. (And my bb was definitely confirmed by my confidant.) Big IF - even if I am not perceiving my reality completely accurately now, I FEEL better. A LOT better. My sense of taste is greatly improved. My mouth feels much cleaner. I don't feel like my head lives in a cloud of filthy air... However accurately I gauge my breath odor now and before the Augmentin, I perceive an amazing difference in level and type of odors. I talk more normal, have more confidence. (Well, it being summer now, and being outside a lot definitely helps, for sure. And being on vacation too. But it's not all of it.)
And I do believe that how I feel has everything to do with my reality as well. After all, it does matter how we feel about ourselves, sometimes DESPITE what the outside world thinks.
My general quality of life has gone up soooo much - and this is before I have found a way to completely get rid of my halitosis. Somebody said that bb changes your personality. You know what? it doesn't. I'm still me - I'm just able to be more myself now that I have some relief, that's all. I still have all my other frustrations - some things that I'd blamed on bad breath, thinking that if only I didn't have bb to worry about, I wouldn't have a problem with this particular issue. Well, turns out I was wrong. I still have those frustrations and bb was an excuse. But then, I just feel BETTER in general. I feel fantastically normal, comparatively. I have moments of panic, for sure. Once I catch a whiff of anything, I kind of go into panic mode, "it's back, it's back with a vengeance!" And I've had a lot of those in the last 2 months. But it's not back with a vengeance. It may not be completely gone, but I also have the hope now that I may have found the culprit to this. And that there's still more for me to do.
A few more observations.
1. A friend was flossing in front of me a few weeks ago, and was talking about how he felt good to have flossed afterward. He said something like, "You know how when you haven't flossed in a while, you get all kinds of stinky stuff on the floss and it's disgusting?" So it IS true that people who don't have a chronic bb problem smell bad odors on their floss if not done regularly.
2. For those of you who have trouble drinking water (I remember busted was one of them?), try drinking with a straw. It's remarkable how much easier as you don't get bloated as easily. My body seems to "absorb" water much better now too. I used to just pee it out constantly. Somehow now I'm doing so much better with that.
3. This is kind of disgusting - but right around the time I started coming to this site, when my breath was getting worse and worse - my poop and my breath started to smell more and more alike. That was what made me suspect that my digestion was to blame. But now that my breath is better, so is the smell of matters from my other end.
I think it's because now that my bacteria level is greatly reduced, they are not going into my gut as much. (I read on a sinus website that we produce 4 cups of mucus a day and most of it goes into our stomach. And so it's up to the stomach to fight the bad bacteria in our mucus. Which makes total sense! )4. And for those of you who are afraid to go to a doctor, don't be. I can't believe that I've lived with this condition all these years - whereas now just a couple visits to an ENT has helped so tremendously. I know some of you have had bad experiences with doctors. Not all docs are created equal. Some are better than others. However, I also believe it's important to "take charge" of your body and be assertive in getting the help you need. When I went in for my visit, I deliberately dressed a certain way to look professional and assertive, to help give a confident impression and also to boost my own much-needed courage. Believe me, these little things matter. You need to do everything in your power to make doctors take you SERIOUSLY. By the same token, being overly emotional, or combative would only make them not want to listen to you. This is very important. It's human nature to want to help someone who shows vulnerability. It's natural to feel more encouraged to help someone when they seem to speak rationally and intelligently. Ride that line of assertiveness and vulnerability gracefully.
Be organized in what you're going to say. Write everything down. Be POLITE. Don't let the frustration of having lived with bb come out as anger or bitterness.
Let the doctor know that you are pro-active in doing your own research and that he/she needs to respect your ownership of your body, but don't cross the line to disrespecting his/her expertise in the area. If you find that a particular doctor is neither understanding or too good in what he/she does, go some place else. Always be respectful but assertive.
5. For those of you who think that you have no sinus issues - although I grew up with a lot of symptoms, I was symptom-free for a number of years. Or at least for the weirdest reason, I got so acclimated to them that I no longer knew that there was something wrong. So don't dismiss the possibility of the sinuses being the cause of your bb without investigating. I used to dismiss it also because my dad has bb as well, and he had never had sinus problems. Now that I think about it, he's always cleared his throat a lot (PND, probably) - maybe he does have sinus issues without knowing it. It's just that he was asymptomatic. (Incidentally, what made me go to an ENT is that I became symptomatic for a few months with acute sinus infection after I started oil pulling. Really weird, but it's like the oil "pulled" out all the symptoms. )
Whew, ok, I should stop now. I hope some of this information helps.
...). 
