jj284

Hi all,

I'm a 25 year old male, and I've had bad breath of some type for my whole life. I grew up not having very good oral hygiene, and I decided to fix that six or seven years ago. But that didn't fix my breath issues; according to my wife, doing a full brush/floss/scrape/rinse turns the worst of it from "poop" to "mint-flavored poop." I'm desperately searching for something to pursue, because all of my attempts thus far have turned up empty (with one semi-exception, an antibiotic, see below). To that end, I'll write out as much as I can think of, and I hope it rings a bell for someone.

I've done some stuff medically for about the past year in an attempt to find the cause. Nothing conclusive, but here are the steps I've taken.

- Just to rule it out, I went for full dental cleanings every few months for a year, and asked three different dentists about my issue. Didn't help.

- Went to a GI specialist. I was tested for a variety of allergies & diseases (celiac, gluten sensitivity, lactose intolerance, pollen/dander/food allergies, to name a few). I also had an abdominal sonogram and a chest x-ray, both of which turned up nothing except for a slightly enlarged liver (within tolerances). When the next line of inquiry involved an endoscopy, I decided to try a different route.

- Went to a nutritionist next. I did the deal with the halimeter (measures hydrogen gas levels in breath) and tested for fructose and sucrose sensitivity. The baseline for a "problem" is 5 ppm hydrogen in a released deep breath. With nothing in my stomach, I was getting readings in the 3-5 range.

The fructose test (1 can of soda after 12 hours of fasting, test 3 hours later) gave a reading of 1. The sucrose test (2 teaspoons of sugar in 8 oz. of water after 12 hours of fasting, test 3 hours later) turned up a much higher reading, a 10. From this, the nutritionist concluded that it was a sucrose intolerance, either joined with or caused by a case of bacterial overgrowth in my intestines, and put me on a 40 billion per dose probiotic, along with cutting out any major sources of sucrose. As a result, I've cut my sucrose intake to just about nothing, substituting Splenda and fruit flavoring when I need to.

Frankly, I'm not sure how well calibrated the test is, as the readings seem very arbitrary, and in return visits I've gotten wildly different readings (2 to 8) on an empty stomach). It could be that my bowels backing up during 2-3 days without a bowel movement could be causing the issue, but that's pretty much just conjecture. Even though I understand that the sugar test could have been completely wrong, I've forged ahead anyway.

During six months of living sugar-free, eating better (more greens, complex fats, etc.) my breath hasn't changed a bit. I've tried eating smaller meals many times a day, I've tried adding a lot of fruits and vegetables, cutting out saturated fats. I've been taking probiotics, 40 billion a day, for that entire period. I've tried fiber for periods of time, on and off.

- Finally, I just had a bad sinus infection for which I needed 10 days of antibiotics (biaxin/clarithromycin). During those 10 days, and for a couple of days after, the breath problem was gone, so I do strongly suspect it's bacterial in nature. For the record, this was the first time in 10 years that I'd taken antibiotics. What sucks to me is that after I finished the antibiotics, I started taking the potent probiotic supplements again in hopes that the good bacteria would replace the bad, but the breath has started coming back already after only a few days. So it makes me wonder exactly where the problem lies; it could be anywhere in my body, not just my intestines.

Medically, that's where I stand. Physically, here's some stuff about the applicable systems:

- I've always had a long period of time between bowel movements, usually 2-3 days, but on that third day I tend to go a couple of times. I was hoping the fiber would help this, but I haven't noticed much change.

- I never really noticed it until my recent sinus infection, but one of my nostrils tends to be clogged at any given time. It'll fix itself when I stand up, typically, but when I'm sitting there's a noticeable lack of air passing through one nostril compared to the other. The right nostril tends to get the short end of the stick. A few years back, for a span of probably two or three years, I had chronic nosebleeds out of the right nostril. Not sure if any of this relates to the breath, but I figure I may as well mention it.

I may try the ear/nose/throat approach next. As it stands, by cutting out sugar my weight has dropped from 195 to 165 in a matter of six months. A metabolism test clocked me at around 3000 calories per day from normal daily activities. Bottom line, it now takes serious effort for me to keep my weight constant, because if I were to eat only when I'm hungry I'd only eat one or two times per day.


I don't even know which path to pursue at this point, much less what to look at specifically. Any random thoughts that anyone may have would be greatly appreciated, and I'll be happy to provide more specific info upon request.

Thanks