Will Toothpaste Banish Underarm Odor?

Q. I am always on the lookout for a new deodorant for my daughter, since the usual products don’t work for her. A friend who works out in the hot sun as a surveyor told me about an unusual product, Regular Dentarome Toothpaste. You apply a blob the size of a pea on clean skin.
My daughter is delighted that it works for her. I guess it is the essential oils with antifungal action that keep odor away. It is not an antiperspirant.
A. Microbes on the skin that feed on perspiration cause odor, so discouraging bacteria and yeast may help. Essential oils like clove, eucaplyptus and rosemary (found in Dentarome) might do that.
We’ve never heard of using toothpaste as a deodorant, but we are fascinated by your experience. Dentarome is available from Young Living at 800-763-9963 or on the Internet.
Q. You dropped the ball when you suggested fish oil for a person who had not responded to Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft. Your reader might end up the healthiest corpse in the morgue.
Depression is unique to each person. It may take lots of experimenting to find the right solution. After his psychiatrist has exhausted more conventional drugs, there are still old-fashioned ones like MAOIs and tricyclics, as well as the much maligned but highly effective electro-convulsive shock therapy.
Depression is a life-threatening illness. It takes persistence, trust and hope to find a treatment to allow a victim to lead a normal life. The alternative may be suicide.
A. Thank you for the reminder that depression must always be taken seriously. Drugs like tricyclics (amitriptyline, nortriptyline, doxepin) and MAOIs (Marplan, Nardil, Parnate) can be helpful. But side effects and interactions with other drugs or foods may limit their usefulness for some patients.
For mild to moderate depression, fish oil, exercise and talking therapy can be beneficial. Treatment requires close collaboration with a sympathetic health professional who can suggest alternatives if depression does not respond to standard approaches.
Q. When I visit the doctor’s office, my blood pressure reads high the first time and somewhat lower after five or ten minutes. But even then, it is higher than when I take it at the drugstore in one of their machines.
My doctor is talking about blood pressure medicines, but I would hate to start taking pills if I don’t really have to. Can you recommend a machine I can use at home to show my doctor what my blood pressure is really like?
A. You may be suffering from “white-coat hypertension.” Some people react to having their blood pressure measured with elevations of 20 or even 50 points. A recent study suggests that 24 hour blood pressure monitoring can better determine who really needs treatment and who does not.
Taking your blood pressure at home can be a good first step. Consumer Reports (June, 2003) recently evaluated such devices and recommended Omron (models HEM-711AC and HEM-712C) as well as ReliOn HEM-741CREL from Walmart.
We are sending you our Guide to Blood Pressure Treatment with tips on measuring blood pressure accurately as well as a discussion of drug and non-drug therapies. Anyone who would like a copy, please send $2 in check or money order with a long (no. 10) stamped, self-addressed envelope: Graedons’ People’s Pharmacy, No. B-67 P. O. Box 52027, Durham, NC 27717-2027.