To worry about DH's weird breath smell?

[FortunesFave]

He's a fit and healthy 47....he doesn't drink alcohol or do drugs or smoke. He works out and eats an admirable diet.

However...over the past few months I've sometimes noticed a weird smell on his breath. I described it at first as a "Dairy/sweet" smell.

But it's got worse...last night he went to bed before me and when I walked into the bedroom, the whole room smelt of it. It's a sweet sort of smell...not absolutely rank but unpleasant and odd.

He is a health nut and says it must be a yeast imbalance...and has taken some brewers yeast and later some apple cider vinegar.

I just caught a faint whiff of it again though ...(it's evening here in Oz)

He sometimes has a bit of gut pain...and indigestion...that's all I can think of which isn't perfect about his bodily health. He's not a doctor-goer...should I worry?

Breath smells are important.

Diabetic Ketoacidosis was my first thought - and it can be serious.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/diabetic-ketoacidosis/

DKA is an emergency and needs to be treated in hospital immediately.

Without wishing to alarm you, if he develops other symptoms - ie. peeing more frequently, lethargy, confusion, nausea - it could be a medical emergency so worth being checked out sooner rather than later.

Ketosis breath (from low carb intake, ie) smells like arse.

I think he needs to see a doctor, marvellous diet and all that aside.

Get him to adjust his diet to include some carbs. Investigate if it doesn't change., or go back to 'normal'. Sounds like his in ketosis to me though

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

Tell us more about his ‘admirable diet’?

The Op is worried, why even ask that.

Possible diabetes. ‘Pear drop’ breath is a classic sign. He needs to be checked by his GP.

My DH had this. He had a tumour on his kidney the size of a tennis ball. He has no kidneys at all now.

Get your DH checked out.

Sorry Bats and frogs, just seen your update,

*But the unusual and unpleasant breath that my late husband had turned out to be a symptom of his terminal cancer.

(It smelled nothing like you describe, so don't worry on that score - I just want to make the point to others, that unusual breath smell isn't something to be ignored)*

Yeah my DM was similar. I'm not saying it's that OP it can be caused by load of things but worth getting checked out in case.

Sounds like he's not eating enough.

I have two family members who were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes one at 35, the other at 50. A change in the smell of their breath was an early symptom.

A simple test can rule this out. Untreated diabetes can kill, or cause life changing ill health.

Don't mess about waiting op, he needs to get a diabetes check up asap.

Op, don't get offended. Admirable diets can sometimes be dangerous depending on how far someone is taking it or their body needs. E.g the so called clean diets have been found in a number of studies to be unbalanced. Some that do juicing, many thinking it's very healthy have triggered diabetes because of sugar hits. All these are from published, peer reviewed studies. My two sisters were asked to increase salt intake (their baseline would normally be considered medium to high) because they kept getting low salt levels (it appears to be genetic as a number of us I my family and cousins get this).
Good luck with sorting this with your partner. Hope he gets better soon

I’d go to A&E & get them to test his blood sugar. Unless you know anyone with diabetes who will let you use their kit. Or a pharmacist.

he needs to eat regularly op

is it like nail varnish remover?
pear drops?

as said above, ketones

Has he any other symptoms?

Hopefully the OP has taken her DH to A&E

some apple cider vinegar

It’s this. DH said my breath s was awful when I had ACV everyday, despite chewing gum & using breath spray.

Also get him to check for tonsil stones.

As a slight aside to this - have people seen how dogs are used to detect disease because they can recognise characteristic odours. It's fascinating.

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323620

So many diseases give off odours that can be recognised by dogs.

My first thought was diabetes.

My DH has developed diabetes. He is otherwise fit and well, has always eaten a healthy diet and hardly drinks any alcohol. He is slim - never been overweight. In his case it is genetic. He only discovered his raised blood sugar when he had a medical for life insurance.
It would seem that diabetes can affect anyone.

@FortunesFave

Greyish forgive my ignorance but isn't diabetes something you're born with or get through being overweight/eating a lot of sugar?

Not always. My ex was diagnosed at the age of 28 and he's a 'health nut' like your DP. He was told that there was absolutely nothing wrong with his diet, and because there was nothing to try to 'fix' things, he would have to go straight on insulin.

The symptom that he actually went to the doctor with was impotence (which was fixed when he was on his insulin) but in hindsight when speaking to the doctor we both realised that he had the typical sweet smelling breath, too.

Like the previous poster - my older brother developed type 2 despite being slim, fit non smoking and teetotal. Started mid 60's, similar to my father, who was similarly slim etc. In this case it is thought to be genetic. I am tested for it from time to time, but despite being a bit plump with a sweet tooth, have avoided this family 'gift' so far. So its not necessarily down to lifestyle.
I believe kidney problems can also cause strange smelling breath.

ketosis is a really weird smell and some people actually can't smell it, a bit like cyanide!

Its a sharp smell like pear drops, but a unique smell. If your DH has eaten very little, and especially very little carbs, then his body is burning fat tissue to gain energy as the usual carb source of energy isn't there. Its what the Atkins diet does.