Bad taste in my mouth?!

Bad taste in my mouth?

I had a bad sore throat nearly a year ago. The doctors put me on omoxicilyn and everything cleared up after a week, except for this bad taste in my mouth. I find myself spitting up flem early in the morning and late at night, like I'm sick or something. I went back to the doctor and he put me back on the omoxicilyn thinking I needed to clear up the rest of the infection. Two months later the bad taste is still there, along with the flem, and now my breath stinks and I have to chew gum all day.
Now the doc says I have enlarged tonsils and it may benefit me to have them removed. The ear/nose/throat specialist, however, says I should just gargle more. He says I have cracks in my vocal cords and tonsils that catch food and make the smell, but he doesn't reccomend removing the tonsils.
But the taste/smell/flem is still there.
What the hell is going on?

TooMuch - after your bad sore throat you now may have a sinus infection. I have always had sinus problems. The bad smell is caused by post nasal drip (blocked sinuses) impacting your tonsils.

There are two things you can do to stop the bad taste and smell.

1) Use hydrogen peroxide as your mouthwash. Bad breath is often caused by anaerobic bacteria that live in the mouth. Every morning and before bed, after brushing and flossing and scraping use Hydrogen Peroxide as your mouth wash. You can buy hydrogen peroxide (3% in the brown bottle) at your local drugstore for about $1 for a 16 ounce bottle. Mix ½ ounce hydrogen peroxide with ½ ounce hot water and swirl in your mouth for about 1 minute. Spit out (DO NOT SWALLOW) and then rinse your mouth out several times with cool water

In addition to chewing gum, suck on zinc tablets (like Cold Eeze - use the sugar free) or get the sugar-free generic zinc tablets at your local health food store. The zinc kills the anaerobic bacteria that causes bad breath.

Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day...not drinking enough water causes dry mouth which causes more bacteria to grow.

2) Use a neti pot to clean your sinuses daily. Symptoms of sinus and nasal disease include nasal congestion, nasal drainage, post-nasal drip, headache, cough, halitosis (bad breath) and irritability. Millions of adults and children around the world suffer from these symptoms every year; up to 15% of adults in the United States report sinus symptoms.

Alternative medicine offers us an option for relief of many sinonasal symptoms through the use of the nasal wash. The nasal wash has been used for centuries as one of the cleansing practices in yoga. The nasal irrigation solution moves through the nasal passages, removing mucus and other inhaled debris.

The sinuses are lined with cells that produce mucus and transports it out of the sinuses into the nose, and then propel it backwards down the throat to be swallowed. The average adult produces 1 quart of mucus in his or her sinuses daily, which serves to keep the nose and sinuses moist, and trap inhaled irritants. As long as the mucus remains thin and watery, it will flow easily along its course. However, mucus that becomes thick can pool in the sinuses or in the nose, leading to the familiar congestion, drainage, headache, cough and post-nasal drip. Mucus that remains stagnant provides fertile ground for infection with bacteria.

Nasal washes are the only way that thick mucus can be washed out of the nose. Rather than treating the symptoms of sinus disease, therefore, nasal wash actually treats the root problem - thickened mucus.

A special "Neti Pot" is filled with warm, slightly salted water and the spout of the pot is inserted into one nostril. The position of the head and pot are adjusted to allow the water to flow out of the other nostril. (shown by Dr. Oz on the Oprah show)

Neti pots can be purchased at health food stores and on-line for about $5-20.