Complete Loss of Taste

He has a sinus infection, I can almost guarantee you. His nose doesn't have to be stuffy to have a sinus infection there are a ton of pockets and places for that mucus that is left over from his cold or flu to hide. When that yucky mucus sits in your sinus cavity it is PERFECT for bacteria to grow and just like bacteria in your mouth when you don't brush your teeth, it doesn't smell awesome. He is probably prone to sinus infections and if this is a chronic condition, he probably has some pitting where bacteria and mucus settles causing the bad breath over the years.

I highly recommend getting him to try a Neti Pot, it will help flush out the sinuses. I just got a good inexpensive one by Waterpik SinuSense (if you like them on Facebook I think you can get a coupon and it comes with the Saline solution). This WILL help the smell. I have a friend with the exact same problem. It should also help him regain his sense of taste within a week if he does it as frequently as recommended.

I would think an ENT would be who to see.

Does he use a lot of artificial sweeteners, like Splenda, in his tea or does he drink a lot of diet sodas? There were a few huge cases that had big health risks due to a large intake of artificial sweeteners. One led to complete blindness and another to a form of cancer. I am not an advocate for this subject, but it is really bad for overall health to have a lot of it. If he does take in a lot of artificial sweeteners per day, see if he can go a week or more without it and see if it gets better. The blind woman went off it for about a week or so and her vision started coming back.

Weird right?

ok, so this might not be helpful at all, but i watched this episode of house where this guy had really bad breath, and it was caused by an infection is his bone in his jaw where he had surgery before. good luck, i hope you find out what is going on soon. it is no fun not being able to taste

Could be deficient in zinc. I had this a few months ago, out of the blue. It freaked me out. The doctors I work with told me to start taking zinc & within a day or two, my taste came back. I know what you mean about the search online, I was freaking out about that as well. Zinc, 100mg for a couple of weeks. If his taste returns, he can stop or lower his dose. I now just take 50mg.

Good luck!

I believe my BIL had nasal polyps that basically eliminated his sense of smell. He did have some recurring sinus infections and that's when they determined something else had to be causing them. So they went looking and found the polyps in nose and sinuses. He hadn't been able to really smell or taste before that surgery.

I hope that helps.

The bad breath sounds like an infection. I don't really know beyond that. I know there was a claim that Zyrtex (not sure if I spelled that right) could cause you to lose your sense of smell. Maybe it is a side effect of his meds they didn't know about.