Bad Breath Halitosis Forum

Hello all,

Found these forums after googling yet again after being in an embarrassing social situation couple of days ago. I am a 22yo male.

The thing is I haven't even gone to an ENT or a doctor with this issue. I've done alot of reading on the internet. But because I still live at home with my parents alot of things are hard to test out cause I'm afraid to tell anyone of my problem.

I am 100% sure I have a BB. I'm just not sure if I have it every day. Sometimes I hardly get any remarks and I feel like it's gone, but other days I'm absolutely positive my breath smells.
I've caught people talking behind my back about it. I regularly have friends tell me about it in my face. Or some people I hardly know make really rude comments in my face.
Just the other day I was sitting between some girls having some small talk, flirting a bit when suddenly I could tell they were making gestures to each other of how my breath smells. Pinching their noses and stuff. Your confidence drops immidiately and I felt like dieing....
I remember that I didn't always have BB. When I was a kid I didn't have it for sure. I think it started in puberty. When I was around the age of 14-15 when I first started getting remarks occasionally.
I remember my brother telling me: "Dude, you smell like ****" after I had been brushing my teeth and tongue for literally 30-45mins before going out. And the minute I came out of the bathroom and he walked past me he told me that...
The frustration is unreal. I have alot of friends who barely brush their teeth and call me "Stinky". They have no idea I am brushing my teeth and tongue like 5 times a day.

Enough with the rant. I have BB.

I always seem to have to clear my throat and have alot of muccus. My nose is stuffed alot. When I clear my throat I sometimes taste or smell the stench myself. So I'm sure it's coming from the back of my throat somehow. Just a couple of hours ago I managed to pick a tonsil stone from my tonsils. And when I smelled it, it's no surprise I have BB. The stench is awful...
But then I heard of people who removed their tonsils (which is supposedly a big deal when you're an adult) and still had BB. So then I lose hope again.

I also read about Candida and how you have to follow a complete diet for weeks, even months, to maybe get rid of it. It could be Candida, cause my two big toenails have fungus which is apparantly a symptom of Candida.

I thought about following such a diet but it just seems like an impossible thing to do. Like eating no more diary products seems impossible. Everything I eat daily has some sort of milk in it. I wake up, I eat cereal with milk, in the evening I eat bread with nutella. I still live at home, I can't ask my mom to cook differently for me... I'm too ashamed to talk about it.

I could keep typing about my life and how BB has made me miserable.
I've never had a serious relationship for example. Girls tell me I'm attractive, I am in good physical shape. I get quite alot of attention from the other gender, but when things start getting serious, and girls try to get close to me, which happens regularly, I chicken out, cause I'm afraid of making out and having them smell my breath...

It's just such a burden...

I noticed my dad also has BB, so to begin with I think it's genetic. The shape of my tongue makes it so I am vulnerable to bad breath.

The runny nose and muccus, probably means I have post nasal drip as well. I think I'm probably allergic to something but I'm too ashamed to go to the doctor with my problem. And I've read alot of stories where the doctor just ignores the problem and tells people it's all in their head.

I constantly chew gum, scrape my tongue with a spoon (even too embarrassed to get a real scraper), drink lots of water, try to avoid sugar and stuff like that but to no avail.

I read about this compound in toothpaste that makes it foam but also dries your mouth so I stopped using such toothpastes and switched to Parodontax, but apparantly it has alcohol in it which is bad as well...

I am currently thinking of getting my tonsils removed, if that's even possible for just thinking it might have something to do with bad breath.

I am getting my last two wisdom teeth removed in a couple of months and I hope that might help a bit, although I doubt it.

So summarized I think it's a combination of factors but I'm not sure which ones to treat first...
All I can say is reading these forums and other stories made me a tiny bit less miserable about myself...

Thanks for reading.

Hello there V.
Well, while reading all this trust me u can relieve since we r in similar pozitions, i may say it's a bit harder for me since i always seem to be cold or untouchable for mans since i dont want to talk to them when they aproach to me haha now its sound so funny but it's not really. Anyway, u seem to have a similar problem as i do. I was sure with removing my tonsils my problem will be gone, but naaah, it didn't work. But!! It definitely helped a lot an reduced it a lot, since i had pnd (post nazal drip) all that sh** was all over my tonsils and it was horrible, now it's better. So, abt ENT i know its embarrassing to talk abt bb trust me i still feel that, but just think of all other embarrassing situations u've been through so i think this one it's not that big of a deal if it could help u!! I'm waiting right now for my app. with ent and i'm constantly thinking how im going to tell him abt my problem and it makes me like want to throw up but when i get over with that it will be easier i hope . Anyway, try to clean ur throat as much as posible, gargle with warm water mixed with salt, but still i recomed to go and visit ENT. Btw. I have chronic rhinitis (thats why i have pnd and mucus in throat) so i think that is my problem since it wasnt treated when i was younger and now im paying it very well, and my first therapy didnt helped very much, but still, no giving up, i'm changing my ent and we'll see
Oh and tell me do u have white tongue and/or dry mouth?
(btw. Sry for my lame english)

Hi, thanks for replying to me.

Yeah my mouth is rather dry and my tongue gets white very fast.
Like If I brush it entirely to go out, it's rather pink but by the time I get back home 3-4 hours later it's very white again.

And even when I brush it, the white coating seems to go away, but my tongue at the back of my throat is just a different color, no matter how much I brush it, It's just the tissue of my tongue, that has a white tint compared to my tongue in the front of my mouth. It's like my tongue is full of bacteria INSIDE it, not on top of it and no matter how much or hard I brush I can't reach IN my tongue...

My tonsils are full of holes and seem to be slimy all the time. So I think they also contribute to my problem alot. I don't often have a sore throat though so I can't use that as a reason to get them removed.

I just hate it how some people don't even brush their tongue and hardly brush their teeth and can talk to people normally, while I have to do all this and still have BB...

I currently gargle alot with salt water and try to clean my nose with it as well by sniffing it out of a glass in my nose. Sometimes I think it works cause I don't have a bad taste anymore and don't smell those wiffs of my own breath anymore and I think my BB is gone, but then I get another remark by someone and I'm totally depressed again... :p

same pr0blem i have but these nasal sprays and allergy pills arent st0pping my pnd

Hy there.
Yap same problems with tongue as mine (and more than half of ppl here). Dunno what to say cause i'm still fighting the same fight as u ://.
Oh yeah me2. Hate those ppl even more cause we were same as them once upon a time, that beautiful time hh.
And tell me whats ur way of testing your breath?

@exume those med. didnt help me also. Soon im starting with nazal irrigation and new spray so we'll see. But i have no hopes that will work out as well naah.

That's the thing, I can't really test my breath.
I don't have a girlfriend. I'm too ashamed to ask my parents.

The only source I have is the occasional remarks. (Did someone fart in here?)
People telling me straight up (occurs rarely though) or noticing people talking about it behind your back. You can argue that sometimes by being paranoia you get wrong signs, but I doubt it.

I also have a bad taste alot. Like when I drink water and move it in my mouth and touch the back of my tongue with the front of my tongue (eh?). I get this whiff of bad taste / odor.

I must say I've been trying to drink lots of water and gargling with warm salt water the last couple of days and today I didn't have the foul taste when drinking water today... It's hard to say wether I had bad breath or not, I didn't get any clear signs of people backing away or something but then again It might be normal cause I try to do everything I can to have people not smell my breath...

The really sad thing is I think I'm falling in love with this girl I met. And we've been talking on facebook and texting each other and hanging around in bars ALOT. It's been ages since I last felt this comfortable with a girl and could hang out and be myself and have her laugh with my jokes. I think she's really into me and I feel happy whenever I think about her. But I'm so scared of getting close to her and getting phsyical...

I am almost sure this one time I was in a pub sitting next to her friends, they suddenly mentioned my bad breath against each other by giving signs or idk... Or either I was super paranoia but I'm like 99% positive I had bad breath at that time...

Also, some people say they test their own breath my rubbing their gum / tongue / whatever and smelling their finger. That's the thing, my finger doesn't smell... But I'm absolutely positive I have bad breath, trust me. Maybe it means it's coming from my stomach or throat? If my tongue doesn't smell... idk.

Well i dont know but i'm alway doing that thing with lower lip and like pushing the air from mouth in the nose and thats how i smell it every fu*king time, yea and that saliva things also. Yes, paranoia dont tell me, last few weeks i think ppl think im crazy or something cause of this sick state of mind all the time, sick and tired indeed:)
O and im soooo glad for u just relaxe and please zry to aviod paranoid toughts trust me!! Fongers crossed for u2 to work out!
And tey not to think that much of bb when ur out cause u already have enough stress, and that only can make things worse.
And tell me did u try ony of those product that ppl over here r talking abt, maybe that could help u.

i do a taste test i lick the roof part of my mouth and my teeth taste gross two more products im going to try act mouthwash and smartmouth

Whoa.
Just came back from going out. The girl I was talking about in my previous posts asked me to walk her home. After talking for 30mins infront of her house and giving 3 kisses on the cheek. She started making out with me... I was baffled!
I couldn't stop thinking of how my breath was probably smelling like pure shit after drinking and smoking all night. Apparantly she didn't care cause she kept trying to make out while I was backing off. It felt soooooo strange.

Wow. I'm going to bed now and post more tomorrow.
Just wow....

Vicious, it seems that some ppl are less suspectible or more tolerable of bb than others maybe due to sinus issues themselves. But also could be due to alchol consumption on their part as well. Me personally I couldn't possibly imagine kissing someone who breath smelt like a landfill but I still get those leaned in kissing and I'm usually the one backing away just out of straight disgust not only on my part but on someones part who would even want to kiss a landfill mouth. That's just my qurky way I've always been selective and a germophob even before bb. For that reason I can't even imagine being with someone at this stage. It would just make me more crazy and more self conscious than I already am.

FYI : Has anyone ever heard or tried th "GAPS Diet ", sounds like it may be the answer for some. They have a web site, and even an APP ! Check it out. Dr. Mercola supports it, he also has interesting info on his site.

Also did the Lufernuron product, got a small die off, and made things worse ! Afraid to do a second round. Has anybody done a second round ???

hey vicious,

I had a similar experience. My last girlfriend either didn't smell my bb or didn't care about it. Especially on the first few dates I was totally paranoid, I observed her very closely every time I opened my mouth, but she absolutely didn't show any signs. After a few weeks I stopped worrying. However, while I was still dating that girl my friend who sometimes game me a ride needed to open the window for a few seconds after I said something (in winter). So I thought some people are sensitive to smell and some aren't.

I don't know what's going on...
Btw, I'm brushing with this brand called "Parodontax" atm which contains sodium bicarbonate and no SLS and all sorts of healthy stuff for your gum apparantly. BUT it also contains alcohol. :s Should I keep brushing with it or search for a different brand with no alcohol and no SLS?
Cause I feel my mouth is a bit dryer cause of it. The moment I brush it feels super refreshing but to me I feel like I get white coating even faster.