WARNING!! BAD BREATH (Halitosis)

Something I never considered before starting my WLS journey was BAD BREATH (Halitosis). The other day my husband leaned over to kiss me and quickly stepped back and said “Whoa sweetie…your breath!” LOL

Recently while at work, I’ve caught whiffs of my own breath and that has made me so paranoid about being around people now because I think if I was able to smell it, I can only imagine everyone else! I brush my teeth consistently and use mouthwash and yet it’s still not solving the problem permanently.

I did some research and found that WLS patients usually go through this problem because of our cutback on carbs. Ketosis merely means that our bodies are using fat for energy. When people eat less carbohydrate, their bodies turn to fat for energy, so it makes sense that more ketones are generated which leads to bad breath and at times smelly urine.

Some temporary things you can do/take to help with this issue are:

• Drink lots of water
• Take probiotics…Costco sells a good one called Florastor
• Make sure to have good zinc levels
• Thera breath mouth wash, gums or mints
• There are, however, several antiseptic mouth-rinse products available that instead of simply masking breath odor, kill the germs that cause bad breath….ask your dentist
• Flagyl
• Chew on Parsley at least 4x’s a day
• Green Tea
• Yogurt
• Apples and Pears

Usually close friends, family, or your kids are good people to ask if you are having bad breath, but if you are not sure you can also purchase some ketosis strips and urine tests at your local pharmacy. The strips have a color range from pink to purple and can be matched with the color grade given along with the kit. Dark purple color indicates high amounts of ketones while pink indicates lesser amounts.

The ketosis and the ready to drink protein shakes that I drink both give me really bad breath.  Especially in the morning, right when I wake up.  My husband let me know that my breath smells like "dragon farts".  So sweet!

My breath has been awful since I started my low carb diet. Luckily the boyfriend doesn't smell very well :) Still paranoid though.

The protein shakes can contribute to it too. You'll also notice smellier sweat. If I do not eat enough carbs when I get back from my workouts I smell like ammonia.

Flagyl? That is used to treat things like thrush and other yeast type infections.

Metronidazole (Flagyl) is also used to treat other issues such as bad breath.

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pag es/Halitosis_or_bad_breath

http://www.allaboutdiabetes.net/bidding-bad-breath-goodbye/