Old Timer Cure Story
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2025 3:59 pm
Hey all I'm a user that was active originally in 2008. I haven't posted for a while, although a few years back I did post my cure story. I wanted to post again partially to give a morale boost and partially because I understand my own story more clearly now. Before I start I'll say that I really empathise with the hell you are all going through with this horrible disease and I can relate to how isolating and embarrassing it is. I also want to shout out Jimi for keeping this incredibly resource going for all these years. I'll start by giving my story and then I'll break down how I think people should approach curing this condition.
So the first moment I was ever concerned about BB was when I was about 18, I came running down the stairs and smelt an unpleasant fecal smell and was like "where the hell did that come from?" as I knew I hadn't farted. So then the classic paranoia and self-consciousness that we are all too familiar with started. After a few months, I coughed up a tonsil stone, which smelt just like that smell I had detected earlier. At this point I realised that this had started when I had got tonsillitis a few months before. For those unfamiliar with this particular area, tonsillitis can permanently damage the tonsils leaving crypts, in which food debris gets trapped, rots and calcifies to make foul smelling little white lumps that can cause very unpleasant BB. At first I used a water pik, which is basically a water jet designed for oral hygiene. An important note here is that as they are designed for use between the teeth and gums, the nozzles are very narrow and produce a very narrow and powerful jet which can actually punch holes in the tonsils, so I cut the tip to make the jet more of a strong trickle. This filled my tonsils and flushed out the stones, as well as cleaning out the debris before stones could form. I also used hot salty water and sometimes diluted Hydrogen Peroxide to kill the bacteria. This method seemed to work well, but it is inconvenient to have to do this daily, especially if on holiday etc as they are large, unwieldy and look quite strange.
Eventually I decided to get my tonsils out and convinced an ENT to perform the operation. I think most ENTs will do this if you have tonsil stones, as they are aware of them and that they can cause BB. I had my tonsils out and was obviously like "oh this is amazing I'm totally cured" but as you can probably guess, I still seemed to have BB after the OP. Now I had definitely cured one cause of it, and never smelt that odour again, but something else was giving me BB, at least some of the time. So now I went into the darkest time where I was feeling helpless, but I eventually decided it was my sinuses that were the secondary cause. I believed this because I knew they were a potential cause and because they always hurt a bit, but in a subtle way that I'd got used to - an ache basically. I eventually worked out that caffeine was the major cause of this for me. Caffeine, like all stimulants, can dry out the sinuses. So I went caffeine free and still am, which cured the perpetual ache. I was also a smoker at the time but gave that up a few years later which helped too. I basically never have caffeine, except a little bit of chocolate every now and then and a can of coke in an emergency, but I can feel it on my sinuses for a day or so after if I do.
Anyways, with the combination of those two, I was pretty confident I was cured. To be honest I'm not sure if my sinuses were ever an actual cause of BB, but something was. This leads me to the final phase of my journey, wherein I was mentally scarred with paranoia from years of having BB. I went through a phase of halitophobia punctuated by episodes of actually having BB. The ironic thing is that I had always been quite neglectful of my oral hygiene, like I never flossed etc. This may seem mad considering I was worried about BB, but it was a classic case of not seeing the wood for the trees. Eventually I realised that some of the times I'd had BB when I thought I was cured (based on obvious reactions) was simply because I had food stuck in my teeth, that was giving off an odour due to being there for a day or so. I know this because on one particular occasion, the next day I flossed and a piece of smelly food came out. So, the final part of the cure for me was to be much better with my oral hygiene by starting to floss and use those plastic things every day. Funnily enough recently I had a day where I had BB based on an obvious reaction and was like "oh ***k" but I went home and flossed and lo and behold a piece of smelly food came out. I think I have to be more careful than most people with my oral hygiene because I had braces and tooth extractions and this has left relatively large gaps between my teeth in which food gets stuck if I don't floss etc.
So in summary, my tonsils definitely caused serious BB, but a combination of maybe my sinuses, paranoia and poor oral hygiene caused the rest. Obviously lecturing about the importance of oral hygiene may patronising to people suffering with this issue, but I really did neglect it and never thought it would be a serious cause, so maybe there are others like me.
Anyways, I will now give my advice on how to treat this condition based on all my experience and research.
Firstly, keep logical. I know this is hard because this is such a fucked up condition that messes with your heard, but you have to take a scientific approach. There are a limited amount of potential causes of your BB, so working through them should uncover the cause.
1. Tonsils
See if you have tonsil stones, or if they smell really bad -slightly unpleasant smells aren't a solid indicator, they should stink if they are the cause.
2. Stomach
I had a weird episode where I was taking this dodgy protein shake that didnt mix properly which caused my stomach to hurt, and gave me BB. The stomach could cause BB, but there will be other symptoms, probably very noticeable ones, so unless you have those I'd say the stomach is an unlikely cause.
3. Sinuses
If you have recurring sinus issues, try cutting caffeine. Neti Pots etc have never worked for me and salt water rinses actually dry them out more. Once again I think if you have sinus issues as the cause, you will have very noticeable sinus symptoms too.
4.Oral Hygiene
This is an easy one because we should all do this anyway. Go hard on it at first: brush, floss and use interdental brushes after every meal. Don't snack to facilitate this. Go to the hygienist and the dentist and make sure they do a good job and aren't just half-arsed.
5. Some kind of congenital issue, like that fish odour disease.
Now this are the rarest, so looks into this last.
General tips:
Hydrogen peroxide is good, alcohol mouthwashes are bad and dry it out.
Halitophobia is real, and a real nuisance. Try and take the leap of faith and ask someone you can trust.
Keep positive, I think a large percentage of you can find a cure but you may be so stressed out that you're not taking a logical approach to the cure. Your cause is most likely not some obscure deficiency in an antibody, but a far simpler thing. Like ultimately if your breath stinks, then the smell is coming from somewhere, and it is coming strongly. So there must be a source of that, usually bacterial. Find it and deal with it.
I will respond to any questions you may have, but keep positive if you can and just work through the steps methodically. I was like you too, feeling like I could never have a relationship etc, but I got cured and have had many now with all the intimacy and closeness that involves.
Love and light
So the first moment I was ever concerned about BB was when I was about 18, I came running down the stairs and smelt an unpleasant fecal smell and was like "where the hell did that come from?" as I knew I hadn't farted. So then the classic paranoia and self-consciousness that we are all too familiar with started. After a few months, I coughed up a tonsil stone, which smelt just like that smell I had detected earlier. At this point I realised that this had started when I had got tonsillitis a few months before. For those unfamiliar with this particular area, tonsillitis can permanently damage the tonsils leaving crypts, in which food debris gets trapped, rots and calcifies to make foul smelling little white lumps that can cause very unpleasant BB. At first I used a water pik, which is basically a water jet designed for oral hygiene. An important note here is that as they are designed for use between the teeth and gums, the nozzles are very narrow and produce a very narrow and powerful jet which can actually punch holes in the tonsils, so I cut the tip to make the jet more of a strong trickle. This filled my tonsils and flushed out the stones, as well as cleaning out the debris before stones could form. I also used hot salty water and sometimes diluted Hydrogen Peroxide to kill the bacteria. This method seemed to work well, but it is inconvenient to have to do this daily, especially if on holiday etc as they are large, unwieldy and look quite strange.
Eventually I decided to get my tonsils out and convinced an ENT to perform the operation. I think most ENTs will do this if you have tonsil stones, as they are aware of them and that they can cause BB. I had my tonsils out and was obviously like "oh this is amazing I'm totally cured" but as you can probably guess, I still seemed to have BB after the OP. Now I had definitely cured one cause of it, and never smelt that odour again, but something else was giving me BB, at least some of the time. So now I went into the darkest time where I was feeling helpless, but I eventually decided it was my sinuses that were the secondary cause. I believed this because I knew they were a potential cause and because they always hurt a bit, but in a subtle way that I'd got used to - an ache basically. I eventually worked out that caffeine was the major cause of this for me. Caffeine, like all stimulants, can dry out the sinuses. So I went caffeine free and still am, which cured the perpetual ache. I was also a smoker at the time but gave that up a few years later which helped too. I basically never have caffeine, except a little bit of chocolate every now and then and a can of coke in an emergency, but I can feel it on my sinuses for a day or so after if I do.
Anyways, with the combination of those two, I was pretty confident I was cured. To be honest I'm not sure if my sinuses were ever an actual cause of BB, but something was. This leads me to the final phase of my journey, wherein I was mentally scarred with paranoia from years of having BB. I went through a phase of halitophobia punctuated by episodes of actually having BB. The ironic thing is that I had always been quite neglectful of my oral hygiene, like I never flossed etc. This may seem mad considering I was worried about BB, but it was a classic case of not seeing the wood for the trees. Eventually I realised that some of the times I'd had BB when I thought I was cured (based on obvious reactions) was simply because I had food stuck in my teeth, that was giving off an odour due to being there for a day or so. I know this because on one particular occasion, the next day I flossed and a piece of smelly food came out. So, the final part of the cure for me was to be much better with my oral hygiene by starting to floss and use those plastic things every day. Funnily enough recently I had a day where I had BB based on an obvious reaction and was like "oh ***k" but I went home and flossed and lo and behold a piece of smelly food came out. I think I have to be more careful than most people with my oral hygiene because I had braces and tooth extractions and this has left relatively large gaps between my teeth in which food gets stuck if I don't floss etc.
So in summary, my tonsils definitely caused serious BB, but a combination of maybe my sinuses, paranoia and poor oral hygiene caused the rest. Obviously lecturing about the importance of oral hygiene may patronising to people suffering with this issue, but I really did neglect it and never thought it would be a serious cause, so maybe there are others like me.
Anyways, I will now give my advice on how to treat this condition based on all my experience and research.
Firstly, keep logical. I know this is hard because this is such a fucked up condition that messes with your heard, but you have to take a scientific approach. There are a limited amount of potential causes of your BB, so working through them should uncover the cause.
1. Tonsils
See if you have tonsil stones, or if they smell really bad -slightly unpleasant smells aren't a solid indicator, they should stink if they are the cause.
2. Stomach
I had a weird episode where I was taking this dodgy protein shake that didnt mix properly which caused my stomach to hurt, and gave me BB. The stomach could cause BB, but there will be other symptoms, probably very noticeable ones, so unless you have those I'd say the stomach is an unlikely cause.
3. Sinuses
If you have recurring sinus issues, try cutting caffeine. Neti Pots etc have never worked for me and salt water rinses actually dry them out more. Once again I think if you have sinus issues as the cause, you will have very noticeable sinus symptoms too.
4.Oral Hygiene
This is an easy one because we should all do this anyway. Go hard on it at first: brush, floss and use interdental brushes after every meal. Don't snack to facilitate this. Go to the hygienist and the dentist and make sure they do a good job and aren't just half-arsed.
5. Some kind of congenital issue, like that fish odour disease.
Now this are the rarest, so looks into this last.
General tips:
Hydrogen peroxide is good, alcohol mouthwashes are bad and dry it out.
Halitophobia is real, and a real nuisance. Try and take the leap of faith and ask someone you can trust.
Keep positive, I think a large percentage of you can find a cure but you may be so stressed out that you're not taking a logical approach to the cure. Your cause is most likely not some obscure deficiency in an antibody, but a far simpler thing. Like ultimately if your breath stinks, then the smell is coming from somewhere, and it is coming strongly. So there must be a source of that, usually bacterial. Find it and deal with it.
I will respond to any questions you may have, but keep positive if you can and just work through the steps methodically. I was like you too, feeling like I could never have a relationship etc, but I got cured and have had many now with all the intimacy and closeness that involves.
Love and light