Is it healthy if it causes stress?

For the past several years I've been trying to be more healthy in my life. I've made changes in my eating habits and my exercise habits. I try to be cautious about chemical used in my home. I try to maximize nature's tricks and remedies, and minimize my dependence on artificial or synthetic substances. Over all I feel my life has been better for the effort. But I've run into a snag. A serious snag. A problem of proportions as to seem almost insurmountable. and that problem is....B.O.

You see, in my research I have come across discussions of the problems with aluminum ingestion. Although aluminum is not a heavy metal, it is right next to the heavy metals on the periodic chart, and is a very toxic chemical in the body. The AMA warns against cooking in aluminum pans because of the problem of aluminum leaching into foods. Aluminum has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease, a condition I absolutely would love to avoid. So, I'd like to minimize any risk factors I can. Here is the problem. Antiperspirants contain aluminum in the form of aluminum chlorohydrate. That is the active ingredient, the one ingredient that makes them effective. The aluminum chloride causes the pores to contract, which minimizes sweating. Voila! Dry underarms. Can you see where I'm going here? Underarm skin is very thin and delicate, and absorbs very well. It also tends to remain quite warm, which enhances absorption as well. So anything applied underarm is likely to be well absorbed. The aluminum is likely to be well absorbed. This is a problem if you are trying to keep aluminum out of your system. (There are also reports about problems with keeping your sweat in your body instead of letting it out as nature intended, problems with lymph nodes and cancer, etc.) So the logical course of action is to stop using anti-perspirants. Which I did. Now I'm miserable.

I thought it would be easy. My husband (who has Alzheimer's in his family) hasn't ever used anti-perspirants since I've known him. He only uses a deodorant, and he smells fine to me. He smells sweaty when he's been working, but it's not really unpleasant. So I jumped in feet first. I went looking for a simple deodorant. Surprisingly hard to find. There are several brands available for men, but none for women. I did find some Tom's of Maine which was not gender specific. $5.29 a pop, a big jump from my 99-cent Avon antiperspirant I was using. But what's a little money in terms of one's health, right? So I bought it and began using it.

Now I stink. I smell like body odor. I smell like sweat. It's driving me crazy. I don't know how long I can keep it up. I am not an everyday showerer. At least I didn't used to be. Now it looks like I will have to be if I don't want to offend every time I raise an arm. I don't mind smelling like sweat after the gym. I don't mind smelling like sweat after a run. And those are the times I shower. But I hate taking a shower, going to bed, and waking up smelling my armpits. I mean, how much can I possible sweat just lying there? I put on the deodorant and it actually seems to control the odor. For about 20 minutes. After that it's like the boy's locker room in my shirt. The people around me assure me that I'm being too sensitive, and they don't really notice any difference at all. I just don't know whether to believe them or not, because I sure notice a difference. About halfway through Primary on Sunday I was starting to worry about leading the kids songs because I could smell myself and wondered if they could too. I certainly don't want to drive the sweet children away from church because their Primary music leader stinks. How sad would that be? "Please don't make me go, mommy. It smells in there!!"

All right. I may be exaggerating a bit, but not much. It's tough. I have vanity about few things. I don't wear make-up. I spend about 2 minutes a day on my hair. I buy most of my wardrobe at Ross, Target, and Wal-Mart. I'm a pretty basic, what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of gal. But I have found I have vanity about odor. I don't want to smell. The question is, am I willing to risk my health to serve my vanity? I'm still undecided. I will probably stick it out a bit longer, and maybe try to find a deodorant that seems to hide the odor better. I think I will actually wear anti-perspirant on Sundays, not only to keep me comfortable, but also to keep from having to wash my Sunday clothes every time I wear them. And I will probably have to shower more often, even though it is hard on my skin and hair to do so. Mostly though, I'll just try to keep my head up, and my arms down.