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Bad breath after surgery?



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I had gastric sleeve done on March 2019... and down 63 lbs as of today. I had a TPN and Upper GI procedures done to see why Im still not keeping down solid foods. However, since the surgery no matter what I do and went to dentist and all, my breath smells awful now!! I client face and have to work with the public all day.. this is embarrassing!! Has anyone else experience this? If so.. please help me with a solution! 😔 The weight coming off is a success, however the hair falling out, bad breath and not being able to eat anything hasn’t been a good experience. Does it get better?

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I suffered from bad breath for a while. I seriously think that it's ketosis. It really helped when I got a tongue scraper. It seems that with protien shakes and things like that - they really coat your tongue.

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The tongue scapper is a great idea, but the stomach acids are causing the bad breath. Just keep on the dental hygeine and try the Threa Breath 12 hour stuff

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I've heard it was due to ketosis, too

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Can you suck on a sugar free breath mint?

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If you didn't have this problem before surgery it's probably ketosis. If you did have it before surgery and still have your tonsils it might be tonsil stones.

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Yep congratulations you’re in ketosis!

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Yes, it is likely ketosis, which fundamentally means that you aren't eating your fruits and veggies (not unusual early on.) Some intentionally drive themselves into it (to the extent of adding excess fat into their diets) under the belief that it helps them lose weight, but that's just fad diet marketing. As your diet improves, it should go away; in the long term, you shouldn't be skipping your fruits and veg anyway, so by this time you should be trying to add some back into your diet, within your caloric limits.

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2 hours ago, Fazzini Bee said:

I suffered from bad breath for a while. I seriously think that it's ketosis. It really helped when I got a tongue scraper. It seems that with protien shakes and things like that - they really coat your tongue.

Thank you for the reply.. yes I went to see an upper GI doctor and he said my stomach was free from acid reflux... when I up chuck its big globs of mucus... I have no idea whats going on..

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Ok good advice everyone and yes I don’t really eat too much fruits because I was just tired of vomiting up everything and Im allergic to berries... just about everything. As of the veggiI try, Im always at the point of vomiting up everything so I barely eat much. I am trying though.. but I figured if I didn’t eat much it would keep down the smell of my breath because maybe something wasnt going down much. Hint the reason why I saw a GI doctor. I eat gum all day.. mints and brush until my dentist told me to stop because I was brushing away my gum lines.. too hard on the toothbrush. I thank everyone for the advice. Will let you know if it gets better. 😔

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7 hours ago, RickM said:

Yes, it is likely ketosis, which fundamentally means that you aren't eating your fruits and veggies (not unusual early on.) Some intentionally drive themselves into it (to the extent of adding excess fat into their diets) under the belief that it helps them lose weight, but that's just fad diet marketing. As your diet improves, it should go away; in the long term, you shouldn't be skipping your fruits and veg anyway, so by this time you should be trying to add some back into your diet, within your caloric limits.

RickM that isn't actually how ketogenic diets work per se. One reduces carbohydrates, to use existing body fat as fuel rather than carbohydrates. The only macronutrient the body does not NEED to function healthily is the carbohydrate. If One reduces fat or Protein too low in their diet, they WILL become deficient, as we can see by how many of us on here are carb-loaded, fat and dying slowly from heart disease and diabetes, just to name 2 of the most common diseases we all have, let alone metabolic disease etc.

Yes, ketosis can give you bad breath, but it goes after a while even if you remain on a ketogenic diet.

Bad breath post-WLS is often from changes in the gut flora, acid and food being eaten and processed differently.

Yes, I do have nutritional qualifications, yes I do have a degree and YES I am still here on the WLS journey too, because nothing in this life is black and white :)

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Awesome... thanks RickM for your insight. Appreciated 😏

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Thanks all.. I appreciate everyone’s feedback! I am working on this today.. and definitely hydrating. 😏

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      1. LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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