What to Expect - Hydrogen Breath Test

[Sky34]

Hi all,

I'll be having a hydrogen breath test (to see if I have SIBO?) on Tuesday. I have halitosis - which gets worse the longer I go without mints or gum.

I'm feeling anxious about the health care assistants/hospital staff being able to smell it, as I undertake the test.

Someone suggested I could keep rinsing with mouthwash - won't this skew the results? I'd really appreciate any advice. Thank you.

[weegmack]

I don’t think it will affect it. Last time I had one, I’d not long cleaned my teeth and nobody said anything about it affecting the test. X

[Sky34 in reply to weegmack]

Thank you for your reply

[Liz1234ty]

I have had a couple of these tests and both of them I used toothpaste in advance and also ProFresh (which I'd highly recommend for clean smelling breath) and it did not affect results. Just make sure that you swallow nothing but water the day of the test.

[Sky34 in reply to Liz1234ty]

Really good advice, thank you Liz1234ty

[Sheeniejay]

I have had 2 SIBO tests here in NL and they said actually you must NOT brush teeth beforehand. I would not worry about breath smelling. Nurses are used to much worse and they see so many patients, they will not remember you the next day. There is sugar/saccharin in teeth cleaning products so this could skew results, I think. Better to get an accurate reflection of the situation.

[Sky34 in reply to Sheeniejay]

This is reassuring, thank u Sheeniejay.