Questions regarding possible causes

[sije]

My BB started around 12 years ago, when I was 18 years old. I have always suffered heavily from grass allergy and I was around that time treated with an injection of corticosteroids. Around that time I also started to use an asthma inhaler because of asthma-like symptoms in cold weather. The bad breath started a few months after I began using the inhaler, so I have always thought that the inhaler might have pulled the trigger.

I was in my final year of high school and became deeply depressed because of this and started to limit social activities. I read that the inhaler could cause fungus in the mouth, so that was what I thought initially caused it. In my desperation I went to 3-4 ENT doctors but none of them found any fungus in my mouth or any other possible solution. However I read back then, that wisdom teeths also could cause BB, so I had all of them removed. I also suffered from tonsil stones that smelled awful, so I also had the tonsils removed, which seemed to give a slight improvement, but I was no way cured.

I have had a fantastic girlfriend on and off for the past ten years, but she often said I had BB, and would sometimes ask if I had farted. I was glad that she was honest about it and made me aware of it, but little by little the disease ruined my self-esteem and made me even more depressed, which ultimately ended the relationship. I can’t blame her, as I imagine it must have been tough, being with me.

Therefore, when my girlfriend left me a few months ago, I thought I would devote all my focus to finding out the cause of this disease. This is how I found this site and I have spent hours searching for possible causes and cures. (Thank you all for posting your experiences)

I started to make a list of all the symptoms I have, that somehow might be related to my BB:
• White coating on tongue
• Sour taste from the back of the tongue
• Swollen red buds on the back of my tongue
• Dry mouth with thick saliva
• Smell from nose (The only odour I can smell myself, when I take a deep breath)
• Poor digestion (sometimes there can go 2 days between taking a dump)
• Weird foul smell from behind the ears
• A lot of burping after eating
• Frequent headaches
• Occasional heartburn
• The BB is worst the day after drinking alcohol. It is also worse than normal an hour or so after eating fatty or spicey food or right after I have exercised.

Based on these symptoms I think it might be somehow related to my digestion. I also thought it might be related to Candida overgrowth so I did the spit test, and the result showed I might be right, as the saliva made some very thick strings from the top to the bottom of the glass.

Therefore the first thing I did was to completely change my diet, so I have cut out all sugar, dairy, alcohol, high carps and all meat except chicken. Besides that I started to take different kind of supplements such as oregano oil, Pau D’arco tea, coconut oil, Manuka Honey, chlorophyll, grapefruit seed extract, enzymes to help digestion and probiotic capsules. The probiotic capsules really reduces the white coating when I empty the capsules directly on my tongue, but it doesn’t look like a permanent solution, as it returns if I don’t use it for a day. I’ve been using these things for a month and it has definitely improved my saliva, but I don’t feel it has helped much on my BB.

I had a gastroscopy to check for fungal overgrowth in my oesophageal and stomach, which came back negative. Instead the doctor said I have hiatal hernia, which I also thought was a plausible cause due to some of the symptoms.

Based on this, I have a few questions that I hope you might help me with.
Can I suffer from candida overgrowth even though it didn’t show up in the gastroscopy?
Can hiatal hernia really be the cause? I mean there must be something smelley inside the stomach that can benefit from the hiatal hernia, otherwise I guess everybody with hiatal hernia would suffer from BB?
I was given Omeprazol by the doctor to limit the stomach acid, but if it is my poor digestion that tributes to the BB, will I then possibly be making my BB worse by limiting the acid that helps to breaks down the food? I can easily live with the occasional heartburns and frequent burping, I just don’t want to make the BB worse.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[FedUp]

it is worth getting an endoscopy to test for the H Pylori bacteria, this also causes bad breath.

and the "have you farted" question KILLS ME inside too.

do you have any sinus issues?

i remember I used to go a day or two without taking a dump, but i took probiotics and I shit twice a day now, 3 if im lucky.

[badbreathe88]

First thing let's try to do the easiest step which is to examine your mouth,
1. Go get an xray at a dentist to check for impacted wisdoms
2. Go get your tonsils checked for tonsil stones (ent)
3. Check your gums for gum disease (periodontist)
4. Check for h. pylori (ent)

Do this first and if you still not cured, come back and we'll try to figure it out, it's no good complaining if you don't take action. Good Luck

[HigherThoughts]

Hiatal hernia can cause acid reflux. From the symptoms you listed you may have an acid reflux problem. That can cause bad breath from the bile/stomach acid going into your mouth constantly.

acid reflux can cause the burping after eating, and heartburn. It will also give you a sour taste from the acid going into your mouth. Alcohol, fatty foods, and spicy foods also trigger acid reflux. So avoid that, and also limit eating onions, garlic, tomatoes, and citrus fruits.

I don't recommend omeprazole or any other proton pump inhibitor because it can make your problem worse.

Like the others said you should check for h. pylori because that could be a cause for bad breath and acid reflux as well. If diet changes don't seem to help, and the h. pylori test is negative, then you may need surgery to fix your acid reflux.

I really don't think candida is your problem. I used to think it was my problem too, but no medications and anti-fungal products did anything for me.

Get tested for h. pylori first. If an endoscopy is too costly for you, you can get tested using a blood test, stool test, or urea breath test.

[mostlylogical]

That's a big list, and some of them are unheard by me, like that smelly ear thing.As it's been 12 years, i think it's quite possible that you have more than one root causes.That might explain why you have such wide range of symptoms.

Some of your symptoms seemed interesting to me as i myself experience similar symtoms too.And the fact that you had a slight improvement after getting removed your tonsils, i wanted to direct your attention to this topic;

viewtopic.php?t=3143

I tried the mentioned remedy 2 days ago and had a huge improvement.My saliva does not smell like feces anymore(no matter what i eat-drink), have a slightly less coating on my tongue(especially during the day).

I'm thinking it might be of some help for you just because we have similar symptoms (mine started at 18 too btw), and the slight improvement you had after getting your tonsils out.These are the common ones we both experience

• White coating on tongue
• Sour taste from the back of the tongue
• Swollen red buds on the back of my tongue
• Dry mouth with thick saliva
• Poor digestion (sometimes there can go 2 days between taking a dump)
• A lot of burping after eating
• Occasional heartburn
• The BB is worst the day after drinking alcohol.

I might be wrong though, as i have really limited knowledge, but it does not look like a time consuming/expensive/risky method.

[sije]

Thank you so much all for your answers. Will definately have a test for H.Pylori.

If it's the hiatal hernia that causes the bad breath I definately wouldn't rule out surgery, but I guess my doctor will have to agree to it first and as usual, doctors really don't seem to understand how big a problem it is.

I have read that a chiropractor might be able to fix the hiatal hernia. Have anyone had any luck with that?