Fishy Breath

[Ken Shelmerdine]

My wife sometimes tells me that she can smell fish on my breath when I havn't eaten fish for days. Is this caused by high urea blood levels? Does anyone else have this problem? It's really pissing me off, I've never had bad breath before.

[Romona]

It may be. I work in a dental clinic of a facility for disabled adults. Different medications can cause your breath to have an odor. People with kidney disease sometimes have a garlicy odor to their breath. Diabetics often have a sweet or almost an alcohol smell. Make sure you see a dentist regularly. People with on going health problems sometimes have more oral health issues than the general public. Don't forget to floss! 

[stauffenberg]

At one time in the history of medicine there was a lot written about the possibility of diagnosing disease by smelling the patient, but this art, practised as late as the 19th century, has fallen by the wayside with the rise of biochemical measures to determine the patient's illness.  I mention that, however, to suggest that the smell you report may have little to do with poor oral hygiene and might instead have a lot to do with your being ill.  As a renal patient, all the chemical and hormonal composition of your body is abnormal, so it only stands to reason that you will smell different from most people.  Urine smells, and as a renal patient, you are, metaphorically speaking, conserving urine in your own blood and body fluids. As any dentist will tell you, most of the smells emanating from the mouth have to do with body chemistry, not with poor oral hygiene.

[KT0930]

Before I went on dialysis, my husband complained about my breath smelling like ammonia, and it returned once in awhile when I was getting dialysis. Now that I've had a transplant, he says my breath smells better even first thing in the morning than it did while I was on dialysis. It has to do with the urea being stored in your blood and other body fluids. Also, since you have fluid restrictions, the bacteria does not get washed out of your mouth on a regular basis like it would with a healthy person, and that can cause your breath to smell bad, as well.

[okarol]

The breath may have an ammonia-like odor (also described as urine-like or "fishy") in people with chronic kidney failure. (from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003058.htm)