Bad Breath Halitosis Forum

SuddenBB wrote:Well FUp

I never knew they couldn't see into the sinuses, wow.

They might not get through the sinuses but they can do a culture which is good enough.

My ENT discussed the option of sinus surgery with me and said he would do it if I wanted it. I cannot afford to go privately as it's nearly £3000.

I need to see my GP about a referral to him on the NHS and waiting the months out again. Life on hold for another few months I suppose.

In the past I have had sinus infections with visible yellow snot. I just wonder if because I left them untreated that bacteria is just chilling up there and just going down my throat and nasal passages via the PND.

Time will tell.

My advice would be to research and try to find out if anyone has ever managed to cure or discover the source of their sneezing odour. This isn't just a slight odour, if you read through what some people describe, it is room-filling REALLY bad odour that only gets released when sneezing, and which normally doesn't occur, except when sneezing.

My guess is that it might be the lungs or some kind of sac somewhere which the sneeze manages to momentarily aspirate, and then release some of the trapped stench.

Far more likely is that it's something relating to the sinuses.

The reason why this is so important is because there's a good chance that the only difference between people with this sneezing phenomenon and those with constant (or intermittant) nasal odour and related bad breath is an anatomical difference which either allows the stinking sinus to aspirate normally, or it only allows it to aspirate when sneezing. The underlying cause of the stench being the same.

My nasal odor is constant which smells like shit and been described as "not having wiped my ass in 4 days".

This smelly sneezing has been happening since I was 17. I remember sneezing among st friends we used to laugh at them stinking this BB didn't take over until I was 22 nearly 2 years ago.

This doesn't happen with every sneeze, very rarely they smell.

Like I said I sometimes get comments about an odor when I mouth breathe but if I shut my mouth and walk around nasal breathing I over hear the classic "smells like he shit himself" "he's horrible" "will you stop farting" comments.

I gotta be getting close, though I've said this before every op lol.

I remember I was sat in the office with a colleague on my computer this was before I was aware, I was just sat there hand on my mouth breathing through my nose, he's sat to the right of me recoiling in horror hand on his nose turning on the fan. I'm sat there asking what's wrong he's like "you, you're disgusting".

I only get those absolutely disgusted reactions through nasal odor.

And the fact you said they don't see into the sinus via nasal endoscopy has given me a bit more hope.

It's interesting that your sneezes can sometimes smell and sometimes they don't. Why would it do that unless something very specific was happening, directly relating to the dynamics of your sneeze?

I can understand it being a harmless release of odour if it was just a bit of release of crap from the throat, or the lungs or wherever. But reading the descriptions, these releases are worse than farts! that's NOT a normal or typical occurance.

Why only your right side of your nose too? Why not your left side? As clear as black and white, if the odour is coming from one side only, there's got to be something WRONG somewhere in your nasal system.

Please remember I'm only speculating though. We know you are looking for answers when nobody seems to be able to give you any. This phenomemon of the smelly sneezes has to have a reason and a cause - but yet I can't find any info on anyone finding out what causes them (except for a few people who have found a solution through irrigation) - and it just sounds so similar to the mystery of your own odour releases.

I hope your ENT will have something to say about this at your next appointment.

When my tongue coating was extreme, i remember I could be in a room and not open my mouth and still stink up the place.

In the past I have had sinus infections with visible yellow snot. I just wonder if because I left them untreated that bacteria is just chilling up there and just going down my throat and nasal passages via the PND.

Is there any coloured discharge still? Because that kind is definitely an infection.

Doc said on my CT scan there was mucosal thickening in left sinus which "could be related to his teeth". But dentists never said anything.

- That means you have a lead.

Any opacification of the sinuses?

I may be wrong, but I don't think an endoscope can normally see into the sinuses.

They can look into the sinuses but they'll need to make a hole in them otherwise how do you think they remove polyps present in the sinuses. But nasal surgery is very unpredictable and often not successful. Because it often grows back. Be careful of sinus surgeries.

Why only your right side of your nose too? Why not your left side? As clear as black and white, if the odour is coming from one side only, there's got to be something WRONG somewhere in your nasal system.

Our breathing system works in cycles with alternate respiration in one nostril more than the other. But it is weird.

I have a poly in my left nostril but I get this moldy smell from both my nostrils.

I clearly said they can see into the sinuses when there's a need to go into the sinuses.

That's my whole point. How many people went to their ENT and had the ENT look inside their nose, even with an endoscope, to be told nothing's wrong with their sinuses, being made to believe the inside of their sinuses had been checked. The whole point of what I'm trying to say is that NORMALLY when something is wrong in the sinuses relating to odour, it relates to an infection. BUT, fungal balls (for example) can grow in the sinuses and cause a stink, without there being any "infection" or symptoms of infection. Anything could be going on in any of the sinuses.

An ENT is always going to be reluctant to take odour seriously if there's no other major issues occuring. And that may be why there's so much mystery surrounding these sneezing odours, because odours alone are nothing of concern to an ENT, and certainly not going to be a reason for any invasive and potentially dangerous treatments.

Only thing noted was mucosal thickening in left sinus.

which could be related to my teeth to quote the letter but dental x rays came out fine.

I was in my room all night nose breathing last night, this morning went to have a shower and walked back in my room to that rotten eggy fart smell. I'm not going mad if I can re-enter a room i've been breathing freely in and smell what I can often taste.

If i brush teeth and drink a fizzy drink straight after i can sense this taste/or smell.

and I must note, the times when i've had sinus infections other than the yellow snot i've not known i've had an infections. Just makes me wonder how many i've had and not known it.

No pain, no stuffiness, nothing other than PND and yellow snot. even my ENT said sometimes these things do not show on scans all the time.

Isn't the mucus the same stuff that forms into tonsil stones? it's all gotta come together some how. the smell often feels like its from the throat but yet nasal odor is 10x worse. Is it just mucus not draining properly then going into throat and just pooling becoming trapped until cleared or coughed up, i don't know.

I can recall many times when I've been speaking with all this mucus in the throat and people asking me "can you smell shit" now of course I didn't smell a thing.

I remember one day I just forgot about this problem (i don't know how tbh it's always on my mind).

But I was speaking to a colleague close up and he flat out asked "have you shit yourself". Then i realized oh yes I have shit breath, but what struck me again is my mouth/throat was full of mucus.

I've gone through all these procedures and still don't know whats up.

But I know i'm at a point where I know what I don't have. but still frustrating.

I thought upon nasal endoscopies they actually went into the sinuses but from your post I googled it and apparently they don't go into the sinus until they need to in surgery. Anyway sinus surgery is my last option.

tongue odor does not cause extreme nasal odor imo. I mean if you let a mint sit on the back of your tongue and breathed through your nose, that mint smell wouldn't fill a room up and mints are strong.

And another thing, on the way home a drunk homeless man just started talking to me, he didn't smell bad and guess what his breath just smelt of alcohol and I highly doubt he has access to a tooth brush. There is a cause to our breath, I do not believe people are just susceptible to this disorder.

Can you guys smell your breath? I can only smell morning breath from tongue which is gone up scraping and is gone all day. but whatever other source of stink my nose has become well accustomed to is making it hard for me to smell it.

The ironic thing is when we find our cures and all of ours will be different it will have been something so simple all along yet so hard to diagnose and cure.

There's currently no colored discharge, not been any for a while. Anti-biotics i've read often do not reach the sinus. I don't know. maybe i'll see the dentist again to make sure there's no abnormality on the left side. But so far not one anti-biotic has even lessened it even for a day.

And to add

I think my wisdom tooth extraction helped a little also.

When I rubbed my finger in the gum flap behind the erupted one I would get a whiff of bacteria.

And I could detect an odor upon brushing teeth which I haven't been able to detect since the extraction. Since then I've used interdental brushes also.

If i'd brushed and blew air to my nostrils straight after i'd detect a cheesy smell. But all I can smell now is the tooth paste.

If you can smell odour when you return to a room you were in, one test you could do to confirm if your nose alone is the source of the odour is to wear nose-clips like the sort swimmers wear, to block your nose off for however long it normally takes you to fill a room with this odour.

I'm not saying that this proves anything with total certainty, but it's always worth experimenting like this in the hope of learning more.

Also, if you find you always make a room stink with your nasal air, then that means you are always producing an odour, surely? So an ENT should be able to smell something? Especially if you can get one of your wonderful friends who keep asking you if you shit yourself, to help you and go along with you to see an ENT.

Without any visible symptoms of sinus issues, I think you're gonna find it hard to convince an ENT to just carry out any kind of surgery. But if you can show and prove that odour is being produced somewhere inside your nasal system, then your ENT has a duty to try to help you find out why. It's not normal to have odour coming from the nose and you have a RIGHT to treatment and tests etc to find out WHY you do.

Not sure about your wisdom teeth. As you've previously said, your colleagues still implied you have the bad odours. Your wisdom teeth may have been a completely separate issue and not a major factor in your odour production.

I've seen my ENT privately a few times and it's not cheap, I think he can assume I'm serious about this condition.

I've grown used to mouth breathing, like I say that day/night I nasal breathed and came back to a smelly rotten egg smelling room. This same smell I've sometimes smelt at work which is rotten eggs mixed with dirty socks.

I've been at work enough times nasal breathing only to see/hear the reactions and it's definitely dominant (the odor) through my nasal breathing.

I honestly thought my wisdom's were it, when you got an oral surgeon telling you there is bits of food there I got excited, but sigh.

One thing that's stuck with me these past nearly 2 years is the nasal odor and PND. I'm gonna have one last ditch attempt with a dentist and see if any thing has been missed, like you said, odor just doesn't appear for no reason. I know someone who doesn't brush at all and sometimes has BB but it's from his tongue, i can recognize that smell and not hardly as offensive as my nasal odor seems to be.

PND seems to increase upon my dental routine but I cannot bare the thought of going anywhere without brushing. Maybe when I'm cured this will be a good reminder to take care of myself properly. Bacteria is chilling somewhere and I want to weed it out like saddam out of his hole and get rid of it for good.