Bad Breath Halitosis Forum

I suffered from BB for 5 years and then I had been cured for 5 months from Dec 2007 to April 2008.
And of course it came back and now I am suffering again and it's been more than 3 months.

The interesting observation that can be made is that I got cured right after exams.
I was so happy exams were over and I stayed at home for a month.
I was generally relaxed and never thought about BB and never researched about BB cure on the internet.
So I think after about a month I started to socialise. I visited my relatives and things like that.
And I suddenly realised that my BB was gone. Can you believe this?
That sudden realisation made my life so much different. I didn't have to cover up my mouth and act like an introvert.
And then I got back to university, I gradually became stressed because of tests and exams.
Sometimes I thought I had a morning breath, and so I started to think about BB.
It was so gradual. The more I thought about BB, it seemed to get worse.
And then something unthinkable had happened. Gradually, I realised that my dream vacation was over. I have BB again. Very depressing.
It seems that mental and emotional factors play a big part.

When a person becomes anxious, his sympathetic activity is stimulated. That means that person's saliva production will decrease and most of the blood will flow away from gastrointestinal system so the proper digestion is impaired.

A lack of saliva and indigestion definitely play a big role in BB.
The more we become anxious, the less saliva there is in our mouth.
We feel that our mouth become very dry especially after seeing people's reactions to our BB.

Also, when a person is anxious and is constantly worried about something, his immune system is weakened. The lymphs which fight against infections cannot flow in our bodies effectively and become static. Bacteria and fungi flourish both in our stomach and mouth and probably nose.

Halitophobia definitely plays a big role.
The thing is that there are many physiological reactions that are directly related to our digestive system, immune system and nervous system. And anxiety and worry make them malfunction.

Then you may ask why don't other people who suffer from depression don't get BB.

Because generally, depressed people when they see others become less depressed and parasympathetic activity increases so their digestive system functions well, saliva flows well, and immune system is also working well.

On the other hand, however, BB sufferers, we become anxious when we are with other people.The three important body systems shut down. Sympathetic activities increase within our body.

My family does not smell by BB. I try my best to make my breath so bad that my family would smell my breath and tell me the truth. But you know my brother does not even flinch when I breath right at his nose. I think this is because I am very relaxed and happy when I am with my family. I feel that my saliva is rich and watery and everything seems ok.
But everything changes when I see someone. I have to try to cover my mouth and nose, etc etc. you name it.

Maybe I just need to forget about BB thing altogether, like totally erasing the memory of BB.
But it is extremely hard when you see other people pinching their nose and turning their heads away.

I'm saying that all of us here are overly sensitive to our own BB when it may not be too bad. And even if it was bad it would probably help our BB by not becoming anxious about it.

I really don't know how I got cured before. I just didn't think about BB.
And it seemed to be the cure. Because after all, I did absolutely nothing about my BB and it was totally, absolutely gone~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A sheer miracle.

Has anyone had the same experience as me?
Any opinions?

I agree with you to a point, that stress and anxiety is a factor to a certain degree. But I know a lot of stressed out people - but the difference is they don't have bad breath. I do think the problem worsens with stress/anxiety.

It’s great you got some relief for a few months though but I wonder if what else could’ve changed for you during that time.

mjump7 I am so happy for you! You got to spend time w/ family bb free! So there is your answer, relaxation, joy, at peace. Why not do a test? Bring your brother with you to a social event or whatever where you might get self conscious and ask your brother to be there with you all the time and he can tell you if your breath changes, it might just be dry mouth for you. I have a friend who suffers from anxiety, cronic insomnia and stress and no bb, so go figure

Mjump7,
Please try and think back to any other lifestyle changes you made during this BB vacation. I definitely believe stress makes it worse if nothing more than decreasing saliva flow. I have a feeling your body was taking in different vitamins/minerals for the time you were cured. What would you generally eat at school versus when you were home?

ok. I had a strict diet plan.

I ate
-no wheat(gluten) (includes all biscuits, chips, cakes, bread etc)
-no dairy
-olive oil / avocado oil only
-no snacks
-3 meals only
-plenty of sunlight exposure
-plenty of fruits and vegetables

However I kept these plans for almost 4 years since I had BB and now I don't follow this plan at all.

mjump7,

The only thing that ever worked for me in the long term was when i was on a raw food diet for 2 months. There was another person on this board who also had the same experience, i think it was Jimi.

My bb wasn't completly gone after 2 months, in stressful situations, it would come back but when i was relaxed, like after waking up, i could have conversations with people and they'd rarely touch their nose. I'm kicking myself for not going longer than 2 months, it's possible i could've been cured or close. It's really hard to eat nothing but raw food, my parents took me out to dinner once and i had cooked food, the next day, i figured since i had cooked food the day before, what's the harm in having another meal with cooked food.. and the next meal, etc, etc. After a few days on cooked good, people would touch their nose again everytime i talked.

Having tried fasting, the master cleanse and raw dieting, i highly recommend a raw diet over the other 2, if people are willing to experiment with more extreme approaches. I'm raw again, been for 3 weeks but this time, i eat raw meat (eggs and fish) and it makes the whole thing MUCH easier. The 1st time it was a vegan diet and it was nearly impossible to stay on, i was sooo craving fat and protein, my only source of fat was avocados!! If you're going to try a raw diet, please eat meat too! I know raw meat sounds disgusting but we all need fat and protein. I'm 90% sure that raw eggs and fish have no effect on bb, i'm now eating 4 to 6 eggs a day in smoothies and i'm doing ok, i feel much better too than i did the 1st time.

I have no explanation as to why it worked, the idea that cooked food can cause bb is ridiculous to me, i really love cooking and eating fast food, i really wish it wasn't the only answer to bb in my case, but having tried just to about everything else with no success, i just don't have the choice.

I'm touching my nose right now, and funnily enough, there's no one around me with bb. Jezuz guys.