My Journey begins: a full-on assault on Bad Breath

[Phoenix79]

Okay everyone. April 19th, 2011, Just found the forum and dropping my story in here to add to the mix.

My personal background:
Basically, I'm 31 years old, I started to get feedback about my breath in my early 20's but it really hasn't become a strighforward problem till the last couple years. My girlfriend says I have bad breath, and it seems to be consistent for the last 2 years, but wasn't around during the first year of our relationship. It's not SO bad that it kills people when I walk into a room, but rather when I talk to them face-to-face its hard for some people. My sister also has bad breath but nothing that she notes too much.

My general gealth background:
I have seasonal allergies, and take Zyrtec + D (with pseudoephedrine) for 3-5 months out of the year, am lactose intolerant (take lactaid when I have to, but try to avoid whenever possible, although it is somewhat hard to avoid ice cream, cheese and chocolate, but have a good tolerance for most hard cheeses and small quantities of other stuff), and other than that have a fairly clean bill of health.

Here's what I have done so far to try and attack Halitosis:
- years ago I tried "breath assure" pills (now called "mint assure", available on Amazon.com), which don't work, but make my breath more pleasurable to myself. (no help)
- recently tried gargling olive oil a few times for about 15-20 sec which only temporarily masked or relieved BB for about 10 minutes (no help) I did this because I read somewhere that oral bacteria dont' stick to water but do stick to oil molecules. (no help)
- tried a lot of mouthwashes, flosses, including tea tree oil mouthwash (no help)
- Went to a Periodontist and got a deep dental cleaning. They checked everything in my mouth, cleaned all, and gave me a clean bill of oral health. Said any bad breath problems aren't due to anything they can see (no help)
- 2 months ago: Went to an ENT doctor (ear/nose/throat doctor). He examined me and sent a scope up my nose and down the back of my throat (for those interested, the scope really was pretty easy, actually). Suggested I may have Silent GERD and put me on 20mg of Omeprazole daily (AKA: Prilosec, available over the counter) which I tried for a month and did not help. For the record I do not have any other symptoms of gastric reflux, just bad breath.
- 2 weeks ago: went to a GI doctor (gastroenterologist). He suggested quadrupling the dose of anti-reflux medication and suggested that Nexium was better. I'm two days in to Nexium and will post results in a couple weeks. He also prescribed an endoscope which I will do in a few weeks and I also asked that we do a barium-swallow xray test to check for Zenkers Diverticulum (wikipedia it) because I'm trying to rule out stuff.

Next steps:
- do endoscope to see if this is GERD or not (Endoscope will show scarring in esophagus if it is GERD.
- do barium swallow to rule out Zenkers Diverticulum
- if Nexium doesn't work, I will try an allergy test, also investigating if this is the same as a VEGA test, or if that is a food tolerance test
- I will investigate candida by trying the candida diet
- I will investigate other elimination diets to see if that helps
- I will eventually try going to double doses of Prilosec OTC instead of Nexium, if it is GERD, because Nexium is extraordinarily expensive (30-days of 40mg pills, 2x per day, was like $450, though insurance paid $350 of that)

[mike987]

Good to see you have a plan. Welcome to our world of shit.
Isn't the Candida diet almost impossible? Like what are you even allowed to eat on that diet?? Do you have any bowel problems?



I'm so tired of this... I've been really stressed out about it lately... lots of reactions while working, I guess becomes I've been working more often and longer days....

But I felt so defeated today.. My very first class of the day I was getting reactions. I sat down on the floor at the kid's level (usually I stay as far away as I can).. They didn't seem to know it was me, but they said 'Who pooped?' in their language, which I can understand a bit.. Uuuugggh. This is the first of 6 classes with no breaks in between... And I had just brushed my teeth about 30 minutes before that. It's not ****ing fair. Can't stand this shit anymore..

[jen]

I am also tired, exhausted. My whole life is a struggle because of this chronic bb. My normal state is one of stress. I rarely am able to relax and just be myself i - basically only when I'm alone.

I have tried most of the things mentioned on this board without success. It's been 29 years for me, since the age of 11. Also tried many doctors, they don't have a clue and couldn't care less.

I saw so many drs that I forgot about the one who told me years ago after an gastroscopy that my stomach was buch bigger than normal and also a different shape. That could mean that food stays in there too long. I'll follow this up and let you know.

[dan]

Believe me, I've also tried everything under the sun. Very depressing. However, Sadman's suggestion of using NOW Super Enzymes and gargling with them actually has been working for me. Not sure how, but it dislodges much of the white gunk from my tongue which is what has been causing my bad breath for the last few decades. If you haven't tried it, I would give it a shot.

[mike987]

edit: wrong thread. sorry.

Might as well throw something in here though. I didn't even feel like I had particularly bad BB or anything today, though I still have the sore in my mouth from using Hydrogen Peroxide..

.. Anyway last week my team teacher told the students I had a sore throat, cause they saw me eating a throat candy... This week they said 'why does he always have a sore throat'.. My throat isn't sore.. my breath just smells like ****ing shit. Ugh.

[jen]

*Dan, I come from South Africa and a lot of the things that you have in America isn't available here. We do have digestive enzymes and I took them for a while but seemed to make it worse. Do you crush them and mix with water to gargle or is it liquid?

I also seem to have gotten rid of most of the white coating by using tablets to accelerate peristalsis, but will have to see if it actually works for the bb.

I am glad that something seems to work for you and Mike though.

[clara0]

Hi Phoenix79
Listen, I have also chronic allergies and I have problems with milk,
I have tried many many things and I am telling you, go on a vegeterian diet, it improves your bb up to 60% but no suger, fried food and unheathy stuff.
If you can add more raw, or even go raw vegan you bb may go away. For me this works.
The thing that I am sure about is that when I eat meat, the day after it I get a bb like shit!
Taking probiotics will also help you but personally I dont recommend them for long term since your body should fix it by itself.

[dan]

Jen, with respect to how I take the Now Super Enzymes, I followed Sadman's suggestion that you crush and mix the powder in water, and then gargle for 30 - 60 seconds. What I bought is not in liquid form. Anyway, as to the why's and how's of this cure, would need to hear more from Sadman as he is the one who discovered it.

[jen]

Thanks, Dan. I'll look up his posts.

Anybody else who ever heard something about a bigger and differently shaped stomach? Or who ever used medication to speed up the movement of food through the intestines?

I have been silent about this "disease" (as someone here called it) for so long except for the embarrassing visits to doctors and dentists who looked at me as though the cat had dragged me in, that it feels such a relief to be able to voice things here.

I wanted to go for counselling, because depression and sadness sometimes overwhelmed me and I just needed to talk, but I realized that for me it would be more stressful than helpful.

Reading some of the posts on this board made me cry, because I feel the same pain. I feel like writing a book, being brutally honest about everything, so that doctors for one can just get a clue about the reality of this condition and the devastating effect on human beings - who did NOT brIng this over themselves by refusing to brush their teeth.

[jen]

Thanks, Dan. I'll look up his posts.

Anybody else who ever heard something about a bigger and differently shaped stomach? Or who ever used medication to speed up the movement of food through the intestines?

I have been silent about this "disease" (as someone here called it) for so long except for the embarrassing visits to doctors and dentists who looked at me as though the cat had dragged me in, that it feels such a relief to be able to voice things here.

I wanted to go for counselling, because depression and sadness sometimes overwhelmed me and I just needed to talk, but I realized that for me it would be more stressful than helpful.

Reading some of the posts on this board made me cry, because I feel the same pain. I feel like writing a book, being brutally honest about everything, so that doctors for one can just get a clue about the reality of this condition and the devastating effect on human beings - who did NOT brIng this over themselves by refusing to brush their teeth.

[jen]

Thanks, Dan. I'll look up his posts.

Anybody else who ever heard something about a bigger and differently shaped stomach? Or who ever used medication to speed up the movement of food through the intestines?

I have been silent about this "disease" (as someone here called it) for so long except for the embarrassing visits to doctors and dentists who looked at me as though the cat had dragged me in, that it feels such a relief to be able to voice things here.

I wanted to go for counselling, because depression and sadness sometimes overwhelmed me and I just needed to talk, but I realized that for me it would be more stressful than helpful.

Reading some of the posts on this board made me cry, because I feel the same pain. I feel like writing a book, being brutally honest about everything, so that doctors for one can just get a clue about the reality of this condition and the devastating effect on human beings - who did NOT brIng this over themselves by refusing to brush their teeth.

[deebo]

I have tried many many things and I am telling you, go on a vegeterian diet, it improves your bb up to 60% but no suger, fried food and unheathy stuff.
If you can add more raw, or even go raw vegan you bb may go away. For me this works.
The thing that I am sure about is that when I eat meat, the day after it I get a bb like shit!
Taking probiotics will also help you but personally I dont recommend them for long term since your body should fix it by itself.

Yes. I have to agree for the most part. For me though, I went raw ,High fruit and veg, low fat. I've heard many raw foodist say how when they eat fats (oil,nuts...) they get Body odor. I've hears them also say tat even steaming veggies makes them start producing more phlegm and getting a stuffy nose(?) . It is Very hard to follow a high raw fruit and veg diet. I did for over a month (posted on this site about it) after hearing Jimi talk about raw.
I have a sibling who is vegetarian and has BB as bad as me so I think just being 'veg' isn't enough . cause I've tried that too . When I went high raw, i never had to wear deodorant !! I posted how I was at the library standing next to 3 others within 1 foot of them ,breathing out of my mouth, and humming a bit , and No one Moved an inch. I tried eating potato chips and my tonsil stones came back the Next day .

So I really think its not about sugar. Even with candida , most gurus will say its about the Combination of sugars AND fats or proteins. There are lots of youtubers who vlog about sugar alone Not causing diabetes ,candida or any of the other issues usually blamed on sugar,, including rotting teeth . I am currently weening myself back onto the high raw,fruit & veg diet . I'll post about it again .

[deebo]

Welcome phoenix .

You have done some major footwork . Many of us here are on the same path .
I for one will be watching your posts and hopeful progress . I'd love to know more about your food intake.

Keep us posted .