Bad Breath

[slimbunny 23]

I am experiencing terrible breath (I brush my teeth and have great oral hygiene) but my breath is absolutely rancid. I am 13 days post-op!

Any advice on this?

[Sunnyway 345]

Yeah, bad breathe and horrid farts go with the territory, at least in the beginning. The bad breathe is probably due to ketosis. The bad farts are due to malabsorption.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Sunnyway

[slimbunny 23]

2 minutes ago, Sunnyway said:

Yeah, bad breathe and horrid farts go with the territory, at least in the beginning. The bad breathe is probably due to ketosis. The bad farts are do to malabsorption.

Does it get any better?

[Sunnyway 345]

22 minutes ago, slimbunny said:

Does it get any better?

Yes, in time. Be sure to have regular checkups with your dentist in case it's something more than ketosis.

[RickM 1,752]

The bad breath (and possible BO as well) from ketosis is a result of minimal carbohydrate in your diet - not uncommon early on - and improves as your diet improves and varies. Some intentionally go "low carb" in the belief that it will improve their weight loss, which exacerbates the effect. Some programs intentionally call for some carbohydrate early on via foods like oatmeal, cream of wheat, diluted fruit juice as a means of preventing this along with the low energy and lethargy that many experience in the initial weeks.

[Sunnyway 345]

7 hours ago, RickM said:

Some programs intentionally call for some carbohydrate early on via foods like oatmeal, cream of wheat, diluted fruit juice as a means of preventing this along with the low energy and lethargy that many experience in the initial weeks.

I wouldn't use even diluted fruit juice except Diet 5 Cranberry. fruit just is pure liquid sugar. My plan strictly forbids fruit juice as do many of the WLS books I've read.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Sunnyway

[RickM 1,752]

2 hours ago, Sunnyway said:

I wouldn't use even diluted fruit juice except Diet 5 Cranberry. fruit just is pure liquid sugar. My plan strictly forbids fruit juice as do many of the WLS books I've read.

I wouldn't either necessarily, particularly with a bypass that can be more prone to dumping, but some plans do permit it, usually in dilute form. I had a juice box in the hospital (but our diet was somewhat more "advanced" than most, being on soft and puree foods as well at that time.)

There are many foods that may not be the greatest thing for weight loss intermediate to longer term that can be useful in small amounts in the shorter term transitional period - mashed potatoes are another common soft food item that has value at this time that we may rather stay away from later on (or maybe not - lots of potassium in there...)

It's a big YMMV thing, and there is no definitive right or wrong answer, and sometimes specific problems, such as the OP's can have solutions that seem counterintuitive to some.

[slimbunny 23]

19 minutes ago, RickM said:

I wouldn't either necessarily, particularly with a bypass that can be more prone to dumping, but some plans do permit it, usually in dilute form. I had a juice box in the hospital (but our diet was somewhat more "advanced" than most, being on soft and puree foods as well at that time.)

There are many foods that may not be the greatest thing for weight loss intermediate to longer term that can be useful in small amounts in the shorter term transitional period - mashed potatoes are another common soft food item that has value at this time that we may rather stay away from later on (or maybe not - lots of potassium in there...)

It's a big YMMV thing, and there is no definitive right or wrong answer, and sometimes specific problems, such as the OP's can have solutions that seem counterintuitive to some.

I am a pretty low carb/low sugar eater anyway (years of paleo). I tend to dislike sugary drinks and always Water them down. However - I've never been into juice :(. I tried making a smoothie with half a banana yesterday and my breath does seem to smell less so I think you're right about ketosis!

[RickM 1,752]

On 10/20/2021 at 8:13 AM, slimbunny said:

I am a pretty low carb/low sugar eater anyway (years of paleo). I tend to dislike sugary drinks and always Water them down. However - I've never been into juice :(. I tried making a smoothie with half a banana yesterday and my breath does seem to smell less so I think you're right about ketosis!

You're just fine, better even, without the sugary drinks - at least you don't have that addiction to get over! You have gotten a good clue with the banana, and it doesn't have to be fruit or juice, any kind of complex carb will do, and it doesn't have to be much. As with everything, a bit of moderation is often the key. From what I have seen, those who are the most adamantly low carb, counting them out, not exceeding some magic number, etc. are the most affected.

Sometimes we hear responses to your problem such as "isn't it wonderful -that's the smell of burning fat!" More accurately it is the smell of not eating your vegetables. We will drop ketones as long as we are burning our fat stores, irrespective what kind of diet is being used, but we don't need to take things to extremes. When I had labs pulled, I was dropping ketones as expected, so I guess one could say that I was "in ketosis", but I never had those type of symptoms as I never kept my carbs all that low - it wasn't sugary stuff, just vegetables, legumes, some berries in the yogurt, etc., yet my weight loss was still very rapid as my caloric deficit was fairly high. So, there is a balance one can achieve in this. It sounds like you have decent habits to begin with, but adapting things to work with the radically reduced intake that we have for a while can be tricky.

Good luck with it....

[slimbunny 23]

12 hours ago, RickM said:

You're just fine, better even, without the sugary drinks - at least you don't have that addiction to get over! You have gotten a good clue with the banana, and it doesn't have to be fruit or juice, any kind of complex carb will do, and it doesn't have to be much. As with everything, a bit of moderation is often the key. From what I have seen, those who are the most adamantly low carb, counting them out, not exceeding some magic number, etc. are the most affected.

Sometimes we hear responses to your problem such as "isn't it wonderful -that's the smell of burning fat!" More accurately it is the smell of not eating your vegetables. We will drop ketones as long as we are burning our fat stores, irrespective what kind of diet is being used, but we don't need to take things to extremes. When I had labs pulled, I was dropping ketones as expected, so I guess one could say that I was "in ketosis", but I never had those type of symptoms as I never kept my carbs all that low - it wasn't sugary stuff, just vegetables, legumes, some berries in the yogurt, etc., yet my weight loss was still very rapid as my caloric deficit was fairly high. So, there is a balance one can achieve in this. It sounds like you have decent habits to begin with, but adapting things to work with the radically reduced intake that we have for a while can be tricky.

Good luck with it....

Thank you - this response was very helpful!