Mousy Breath

[mab]

Has anyone had any experience with mousy breath due to liver disease?

[imkindly]

Hi mab
I have seen "mousy breath" mentioned before (in a list of symptoms).....but to be honest with you, I don't really understand the word "mousy". (I'm not sure what "mousy" smells like).
Another subject (but it's kind of related)---our hepatologist told us that we should avoid any mouthwash that contains ALCOHOL. He said that even though you don't swallow mouthwash...it is still absorbed through the tissues in your mouth. Have you ever heard that?

My husband had a "root canal" done (at the dentist), and the dentist prescribed a mouthwash called "chlorhexidine gluconate" ("oral rinse"). I was very paranoid about my husband using it, because I saw on the bottle that it contained 11.4% alcohol. (It also had a warning that nursing mothers couldn't use it---so I thought it must be absorbed into the system).
I called our hepatologist and asked him if it was ok to use this prescription from the dentist. He said to go ahead, but to call him if my husband experienced any side effects.
SO....my husband used it once....and the next day wouldn't get out of bed at all. Then he was complaining about a pain under his ribcage (all day!)...scared me badly! So I called the hepatologist again and told him what was going on----he said to not use anymore of the mouthwash, no matter what the dentist said.
My husband was in bed for 2 days (pain only one day).
The dentist is convinced that it wasn't the mouthwash that caused it.
I think it was though.

[mab]

Is that ever interesting about the mouthwash! I bet your suspicions are right. My husband has remained very sleepy since last week's post to you regarding the hiccups. He's also been having a distinct odour to his breath that he has never had before. He has been using lots of mouthwash. I wonder if there is a relationship! Yesterday's blood tests and examination did not show anything new happening. I'll get my husband to ask about this at his appointment next week and in the meantime, I'll read him your post and see if maybe he would like to try not using mouthwash for a couple of days to see if it makes a difference.

I am surprised that your husband is still seeing his regular dentist. My husband is waiting to have his dental work done at the hospital. Even though the dentist offered to give him antibiotics prior to dental treatment, his doctors would not approve this and said that he is far too sick to have any dental work done at the dental office. Did your husband take special antibiotics prior to the root canal?

Other than this, how are you doing? Do you work outside of the home?

Anyway...Thanks for the interesting info. Please give my best wishes to your husband.
mab

[imkindly]

Hi mab
Here is a list of what my husband takes everyday:

Furosemide (Lasix) 20 mg. every 8 hours

Spironolactone (Aldactone) 50 mg. every 8 hours

Prevacid 30 mg. once per day

Mag tab (Magnesium) 84 mg. twice per day

Noroxin 400 mg. once per day

Enulose (Lactulose) 2 tbs. twice per day

The Noroxin is an antibiotic, and they want to keep him on it, until he gets his transplant. The reason for this is, he has had two episodes of "spontaneous peritonitis" (infection in the ascites fluid in his abdomen). He has two umbilical hernias (from pressure in his abdomen), so they are afraid the infection could re-occur at any time.
So, he takes the above list everyday.

He had a tooth break off, and we went to our local dentist. We told the dentist about my husband's condition, and had him explain what exactly he'd want to do to my husband's tooth (but did NOT allow him to do anything that day---just basically had him look at the tooth). The dentist wanted to do a "root canal", and then install a "crown" (fake tooth).
We gave the dentist our hepatologist's phone number, and told him that he needed to get it all "okayed" before we could get this done.
A few days later, the dentist called us and told us that our hepatologist had recommended that my husband take
Cephalexin 500 mg. twice per day ,
for 5 days
(beginning one day before the root canal----and continuing 4 days after the root canal).

(mab.....I have to admit, I called the hepatologist myself and double-checked on the dentist....to make sure the cephalexin would be okay, and to make sure that he really got the okay from the hepatologist.)

So my husband had the root canal done. They gave him Novacaine (which the dentist told me that he had an okay from the hepatologist for that too)---- but I hadn't asked the hepatologist about the Novacaine. WELL....that's another thing that seemed to have a big effect on my husband. (Hindsight is 20/20, isn't it!) His mouth swelled up huge (the night after the root canal), and he wouldn't get out of bed the next day. (He felt alright (no pain), but he acted like someone on sleeping pills or something.)
I called the hepatologist about that too. He said that if my husband didn't snap out of it by the next day, to call him again. Thankfully, my husband did snap out of it (got out of bed the following day.)

The dentist said there was no way that the Novacine put my husband to sleep for 36 hours.
I think it did though!

We went back to the dentist a week later, to have the "crown" (fake tooth) installed.
(No Novacaine necessary on that visit).
Again, we had to take
Cephalexin 500 mg. twice per day ,
for 5 days
(beginning one day before we went----and continuing 4 days after after we went).
THAT is when he prescribed the "oral rinse" that was full of alcohol.
So my husband uses the "oral rinse" that night, and won't get out of bed for the next two days. (And had pain under his ribcage the following day.)

The dentist doesn't think that any of this is due to anything he does (first the Novacaine.....then the mouthwash).

I see things differently! I see my husband everyday, and I can tell when something "new" is going on.
The dentist has an attitude that "well, he has liver failure...." (like all of this is due to plain old liver failure.)

I'm just glad my husband has his tooth done now, and hopefully we can stay away from the dentist for a while!

I should say that we live in a very small town----a rural area----and the dentist (along with the "local" doctors) scare me to death.
(We travel 130 miles to see our hepatologist.)

I'm just a housewife, mab, that spends alot of time on the computer trying to learn all I can about what to do, and what not to do, with liver failure. (I don't have a career.)
I believe that the local doctors here caused my husband's liver failure.
So in the past 13 months, I have spent ALOT of time educating myself on how to not let anyone harm him any further.
(He's my best friend!)

[mab]

Hi imkindly!
I wish I was able to stay at home like you. I have to leave my husband alone for nine or ten hours every day - Monday to Friday. Sometimes he phones me to hear a friendly voice, and I'm not even able to talk to him for more than a minute or two, even though there's no voice in the world that I'd rather hear than his. I find this very hard. I miss him so much when I'm away from him. My husband is my best friend too.

My husband's meds are similar, except his antibiotic is Cipro 500 mg. He's been taking it almost continuously since the end of February. About a year and a half ago, he had a hernia operation - (umbilical as well.)

I hope your husband does not need any more dental work for a while. I am wondering if he could be allergic to Novacaine or something else that the dentist has used based on the swelling that you were talking about. My husband had an allergic reaction to a different medication about five years ago. His upper lip swelled up three times its size and he had huge hives all over his body. He developed a high fever and was also refusing to get out of bed!

I'm suddenly a wee bit tired, so I guess I'll sign off now. Thanks for your post.

Take care,
mab