Feeling really awful about myself and my son.

[Hope54321]

Hello guys,

Hope you’re all having a wonderful day. I am currently struggling with my self esteem and confidence because I am a sufferer of chronic bad breath since about 8 years old. My eldest son was born with bad breath. Doctors are so confused and just throw the usual “it’s acid reflux”. Dentists say we have lovely teeth and a clean mouth. We still stink so bad. My bad breath is at a point where I can no longer mask it with chewing gum. I floss, brush and use mouthwash before I leave the house and I still get reactions from people.

I feel guilty that I passed this horrible disease onto my son. He is only 4 yeas old, he should be enjoying his life. He also has eczema, severe allergies, asthma and autism. Poor kid has a lot going on.

I just can’t take it anymore. The doctors have no idea and I don’t have tonsil stones. I’m really struggling with the bad breath, especially because now my son is suffering. He is repeating what the kids have said to him. After school he kept repeating “you’re stinky”. It breaks my heart to watch him go through what I went through as a kid. I really worry about his future.

People avoid talking to me at his school because of this disease. I’m not sure how much longer I can go on for like this. Thank you for reading. I can’t speak about this to anyone in real life so thanks for reading.

I havr a thorough cleaning routine which involves scraping my tongue.

I don’t eat dairy foods.

Yes, they say we stink. I floss 2-3 times a day religiously, it makes no difference to our breath. Drinking plenty of water also makes no difference. We both don’t consume any dairy.

Rumbling sinus infection caused by a sinus shape that prevents good drainage? Dry mouth disease?

There is a diet called the Whole30 which is an elimination diet that you can do. It is a way to slowly introduce different foods to see if you react to anything. This could be a way to find out if it is a food that your body can't digest well.

Have you tried anything like this to make sure it isn't food related?

Hi op I’m sorry you are going through this, it sounds very stressful.
you say you are interested in gut health? Have you heard of Shan Jones from Chuckling Goat? They do a microbiome test which you do from home. It came up some interesting results for me and I was able to target the bacteria causing my problems. They have a really great free customer helpline linked to specialists in the field of gut health. It might be worth a look at their website

I have done a microbiome test via healthpath and followed a diet and supplements. It didn’t do much for my breath.

Try yakult

have you been checked for tonsil stones? Or have you ever found any small soft extremely pungent lumps in the back of your throat?

Twice daily sinus rinse?

Are you sure it's acid reflux? Have you seen an ENT? I would want a better answer because it sounds unpleasant, I struggle with tonsil stones (and finally got a referral for a tonsillectomy but then mislaid it for a year and probably have to get it renewed )

I am a bit sceptical of the whole "companies that will test your biome and suggest a list of supplements which they conveniently stock at £££££££ prices" business model TBH but even so - I have come across one which does it for the oral biome which I was considering. They did an AMA on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/sutduc/were_the_founders_of_an_oral_microbiome_testing/

How are your gums? Are they inflamed and prone to infection or are they firm and healthy? I tend to get chronic gum inflammation and my mouth seems to produce a massive amount of plaque at all times, even when I cut down on sugar. My assumption is that there is something out of whack with the biome and this is somehow causing a cyclical effect so the extra bacteria from the plague and the bits of food which get trapped by the inflamed gums feed the tonsil stones and then the tonsil stones hang around and sort of act as a source of further bacteria to irritate the rest of my mouth. I used to be terrible with dental hygiene and I assumed it was due to this for years but then I got into much better habits with it and even when I keep up the good habits I still have the same cycle going on. It's better managed the more I keep up with brushing/flossing but it never fully goes away and I think I get symptoms of Oral Lichen Planus, which I intend to discuss with my dentist on my next visit.

The dentist was interested in my tonsil-gum link theory because she'd never come across a link between the two in literature and technically they are totally different areas of medicine, which could be why apparently. It seems logical that they could affect each other, since they are physically so close together.

This is great advice.

Research food-grade diatomaceous earth - drink with lots of water and swirl it around your mouth too

Use a good probiotic (you will need to do this for several months to see proper results) but it will definitely help. Bad breath usually comes from the gut. Treating acid reflux is not getting to the root cause

and a good digestive enzyme as PP says

Age appropriate probiotics and digestive enzymes will help your son's skin issues too

Best of luck

So you have a good hygiene routine and you mind what you eat so it's obviously something medical. I would keep seeing specialists ; gut, orl etc

Could you have tonsillitis stones, they can be hard to see on yourself and often cause horrific bad breath, my mum had this until she had her tonsils removed and now has nice fresh breath instead of the death breath (it literally smelled like decomp) she had.

I used to post on Natural Mamas forum and someone on there had a baby who started to smell awful- turned out the baby had shoved a pea into its nose and it just stayed there in the sinus cavity, or something. Could there be something in your sinuses or ear canals (as ears, nose, and throat are all linked)? Suggesting as it seems you have tried everything, so maybe it’s time to consider the very very unlikely?

How difficult for you, OP.
No advice other than keep pushing with your doctor. Say how badly it affects your life AND your son's life.
There will be a medical explanation for this so do persist.

Another possibility is systemic candida. This can cause bad breath.

It’s interesting that you said your breath smells like poo. Have you had any scopes (with a camera) to see if there was a connection (or misconnection) from your intestines to your stomach? The GI system can give off all kinds of nasty smells.

Sorry OP, this sounds awful.
I would cast the net wider and post on more international forums like Reddit/ Askdocs and WebMD. These do get medical experts replying and many like trying to find a mystery diagnosis. You will of course have to weed out the unqualified rubbish but maybe worth a try.

I have tried yakult, it gave me bad stomach cramps.

I have tried this, still can’t seem to find anything. Never come across another person being born with bad breath even on the internet.

I did test for candida, nothing abnormal was detected.

Endo like PP mentioned will sort this but obviously not the easiest of tasks

This doesn’t explain my son being born with bad breath. I can see why someone would smell from food being stuck in their nose though.

My gums really good and healthy, no complaints.