No Sweat

A month ago a developed a swollen lymph node in my right underarm.  I had recently switched to a new deodorant/antiperspirant so in a move completely unlike me, I figured it was that and not something more serious.

Interestingly enough, the new deodorant/anti-persperiant I was trying was from Tom's of Maine.

It was from a natural company, I figured, so it had to be better then all the chemicals in Secret, Suave, etc.

So I ditched the Tom's since I was obviously reacting to it and went into the cabinet to find something else.  I had on hand two different options.  One was regular strength and the other "conical" strength.  "Hummm" I wondered "What made the one 'clinical' strength?"  It turns out that the difference between the regular and the clinical strength was the percentage on aluminum: regular had 16% and clinical strength had 22%.  "What did the Tom's of Maine have?" I wondered.  turns out the "natural" Tom's on Maine deodorant/anti-persperiant had a whopping 23% aluminum, more than the clinical strength.  I was completely shocked!

I have always been reluctant to ditch the anti-persperiant because I am a person who sweats a lot.  It may be gross, but it is the truth... I sweat a lot.  Or, at least I thought I did.

I decided that I was going to bite the bullet and try just a deodorant.  A friend recommended this:

So I found it at my local CVS and gave it a try.

I LOVE IT!  I am having no reaction (which is great).  I don't smell bad (which is good too) and I am not even sweating that much.  In fact, that even without an anti-persperiant, I am not sweating nearly as much as I used to.  This makes me wonder if the reason I was sweating so much before was that the anti-persperiant was making me sweat more?