[Kyalesyin]

My wife glutened herself a few weeks back, and about two days after she did it, she developed the most foul case of halitosis. I mean, to the stage of me having to lie with my back to her [we normally sleep holding hands.]

Trying to describe the smell is hard. Part dead roadkill, part super dark chocolate, part really bitter keytones. Kind of stale alcohol smelling. Am I making any sense? It went away after about four days. I didn't think to mention it at the time, until I realised that she had it all the time before she went gluten-free, and it was always worse after a big wheat-based meal. She can't ever smell it, but other people have commented on it before.

Anyone else get this, or is this another one of those random ones?

[elye]

That does sound exactly like the smell of a person's breath when they have ketones present in their blood. I've been a tightly controlled type one diabetic for a long time, so I haven't given off that smell in ages. But fermenting wine, rotten fruit, sour milk...these were the things that I've always heard "ketone breath" described like. Your wife doesn't have blood sugar issues?

[Kyalesyin]

elye, on Apr 17 2007, 01:08 AM, said:

That does sound exactly like the smell of a person's breath when they have ketones present in their blood. I've been a tightly controlled type one diabetic for a long time, so I haven't given off that smell in ages. But fermenting wine, rotten fruit, sour milk...these were the things that I've always heard "ketone breath" described like. Your wife doesn't have blood sugar issues?

Nope, at least, I hope not. Its not quite the diabetic smell. At least, she smells nothing like my sisters and my grandparents did. They always smelled much sweeter. My chemistry proffessor suggested that its the smell of her stomach lining breaking down from the gluten damage, which is a chilling thought...

But we had all the diabetes tests while they were trying to convince us it wasn't celiac, and we eat well enough that she doesn't ever run on empty, so hopefully that isn't the case. It only ever pops up when she glutens herself, normally one to two days after. At least if it is blood sugar we'll have something in common...

[chatycady]

I have had a problem with bad breath for years, and yes, I believe it is associated with "gluten". I hope your wife is feeling better and no longer has this problem.

[New Mama]

I came across this thread doing a search for "breath" because my siser, who I believe has celiac and is currently going gluten-free, has the most awful breath. It smells "infected" -- that's the only word I can think of to describe it. If she's sitting next to me, or even across the table from me, talking, I can barely stand it. I've never mentioned it to her because she is very, very sensitive/defensive about things like this, and I figured if her three teenaged kids haven't told her by now I wasn't about to!

I think she has celiac because she is hypo-thyroid, is prone to D, and has had unexplained infertility, constant migraines and a rash that no doctor has identified but looks exactly like DH. And she's feeling much better after going gluten-free for a few weeks.

I have a cold so I haven't been able to smell much lately, but it will be interesting to see if her breath improves on the diet.

[TrillumHunter]

Chrisbee, on May 3 2007, 10:02 AM, said:

he had the nerve to ask me if I left the polish remover out where they could reach it.

Just had to say--WHAT AN MORON!

[little d]

WOW! I have been told by my sister and mom quite a few time and my husband that my breath stinks and I can brush and you can smell my breath again within a few hours. Never thought that this was an issue of celiac disease but it makes sense, I have always battled with this issue. WoW the more I read on here the more makes sense and all the pieces are all falling into pieces.

Thanks
Donna

[geokozmo]

many times they told me in my famuily I had bad breath. Now I dont hear it that much since I am on this glutenfree diet. I wonder...
Geo

[sickchick]

I was under the impression this had to do with systemic candida, and after you get the candida under control (killing it off) your breath gets sweet and you don't have that odd body odor anymore.

Love Love
sickchick

[Shelly D.]

I came to this site to see if inhaling flour could make me feel bad- I'm new to this celiac thing but feeling better- and this topic jumped out at me. My mother, myself and my son have always had terrible breath. I had my tonsils out and that seemed to help but when my son had his out it didn't help him at all. Even the breath from his nose smells really bad. In the few days since I've been diagnosed I've seen so many symptoms in my son and this is just another confirmation to me that he has celiac disease also. I wish we'd figured this out when he was little instead of now. Do those of you that have noticed this phenomenon also notice a unique, maple-y sort of urine-y smell to body odor also?

[munkee41182]

My fiance notice my breath was pretty horrid a while ago. My primary told me to take pepcid because it was due to stress (from planning a wedding and buying a new home). But now that i've been gluten free again, he did say that it was getting better.

[Oli]

Well now, I find this very interesting. Somehow I got gluten in my diet ( have been gluten free for 10 years)I was visiting my son, and he told me I had cronic bad breath. I went to the store and got a toung scraper and that helped. However when I got home from my visit I really put my diet in check and I havent had a problem since that I know of. I am interested in the candida...If you have read Dr. Crooks book The Yeast Connection you will find that it is very possibly true about the breath. Yeast is a problem that should be looked at. This is an excellant book for those who work with Autism too as Autistics have a hard time throwing off toxins in the body.

Oli

[purple]

My sister deals with bad breath very often. I think she might be allergic to gluten, it doesn't run in the family. She got Candida 17 years ago when she was pregnant. It only bothers her a little every few years. I say all that to say this weird experience she had a few months back.

She was talking to a neighbor and there were flying insects all around her face but not the neighbors. She asked if it could be a symptom...sounds like it. Weird and embarassing!

[CeliacAlli]

My breath has stunk when I was glutened but it was from puking. Not really sure but the it might happen to some people and the diabetic thing is def. something you guys should look into.