My bizarre story...

Tom Dunne · 05-02-2009 3:26pm #1

I'm writing this in the hope that it might help somebody at some stage, if they are suffering from an unexplained feeling/illness/whatever.

For the past 2-3 months, I have not been me. The fun-loving, sh!te-talking, messer with a pretend bar on the internet was not there. There was a cloud of negativity over me and I found myself snapping at people, both in the Real World, and here on Boards.ie. I eat well, don't drink too much and, generally speaking, get some exercise. I was suffering extreme nightmares that no amount of whiskey or beer could suppress. As I wasn't sleeping, I found myself extremely irritable during the day, liable to spark off somebody for the slightest thing.

Like all men, I put off going to the doctor, convincing myself it would get better soon, knowing full well it wouldn't. Eventually, it came to a head one sleepless weekend, and at 4:30am on a Monday morning I gave in and deciced to go to the doctor.

Initial suspicion was an overactive thyroid - the sympoms fitted. After blood tests came back all clear (well, apart from choloestorol, but that's a different story

), suspicion turned to stress. Anyone who knows me knows that I am fairly laid back and don't take life too seriously, so I was very surprised to think that it might all be in my head.

And stress fitted - over the Christmas, I began to get back to my old self again, only to be cut short when I went back to work.

I started thinking about it, searching for answers, thinking of anything that might have changed. The only thing I could think of was that I had switched brand of deodourant around November. I always had a bit of a Niagra Falls thing going under both arms, and this new deodourant did the job - seal those puppies up, no more BO.

So, in desperation, about a week or so ago, I stopped using this deodourant. Without question, I am back to my old self since I stopped using it. And it's not some industrial strength sealant, used to patch holes in aircraft carriers, it's a well known brand, made by a well known company. And I didn't have any kind of reaction to the deodourant - no skin rash, no obvious reaction, nothing, hence why I didn't suspect it at first.

To finish, all I can say is that if you have some strange problem that doctors can't put their finger on through traditional blood tests, think about personal hygene products such as this.

You never know, they might just be at fault.

Cainer · 05-02-2009 3:46pm

Glad your feeling a bit better now and that you've come to some sort of conclusion before having to go through any more tests.

I've had concerns about the links between deodorants and breast cancer for quite a while now. http://www.news-medical.net/?id=29478

As a parent of kids that are coming to an age where they'll need to start using deorerants/anti-persperants I think I'll have a look at some natural alternatives because we really don't know what the long term effects are of these products.

Tom Dunne · 05-02-2009 4:02pm

As a long-time user of such products, and as somebody who is generally fairly healthy, the thought never crossed my mind that it could have such an effect on a person.

Scary stuff.

r3nu4l · 05-02-2009 4:03pm

Thanks for that Tom Dunne! Shocking but interesting!

Interestingly the EU is conducting safety tests on over 10,000 chemicals that we use daily but were developed before stringent health and safety tests were required in EU countries.

Aluminium is well studied and has been linked to a number of illnesses in humans so if it can have effects on humans imagine the potential effects of the many thousands of products that are, as yet, not fully investigated!!

Did you inform your doctor about this? What did s/he say?

Tom Dunne · 05-02-2009 4:07pm

r3nu4l wrote: »

Did you inform your doctor about this? What did s/he say?

I did. The doctor is a bit, how can I put this delicately, dozey. She agreed it could explain my problems, but was more concerned with getting my cholesterol sorted.

LegacyUser · 05-02-2009 4:07pm

Is anyone else really curious which deodorant it was? Without naming explicitly, can you give us a hint?

r3nu4l · 05-02-2009 4:30pm

Unregistered wrote: »

Is anyone else really curious which deodorant it was? Without naming explicitly, can you give us a hint?

Well I'm curious too but to be honest, there are a few anti-perspirant deodorants out there that are specifically designed to combat extra-heavy perspiration, they do this by having very high aluminium content, even more than a regular anti-perspirant that also contains alu. However, as Tom knows, better off not naming

Tom Dunne · 05-02-2009 4:44pm

It was known as "the best a man can get".

And it's a gel.

Ahem.

kayos · 05-02-2009 6:07pm

Tom Dunne wrote: »

It was known as "the best a man can get".

jennette the best a man can get....Sorry couldnt resist.

Thats a bloody strange one alright. I would have chalked it to stress tbh as the effects of stress happen even when you dont think your stressed.

Tom Dunne · 05-02-2009 6:21pm

kayos wrote: »

I would have chalked it to stress tbh as the effects of stress happen even when you dont think your stressed.

Especially over the Christmas period when I was getting back to myself. In hindsight, I now know what happened - I lived the life of a BGRH brother and let personal hygiene slip somewhat. Ahem

. Basically, I wasn't using the deodourant over Christmas, hence why I was beginning to feel better. Back to work, back to deodourant, back to narky bastard.

Stress fitted the bill perfectly, even though I knew myself I wasn't stressed.

ChewChew · 05-02-2009 9:43pm

So Grumpy McSh!te is gone??

Glad to have ya back Tom!

DenMan · 05-02-2009 9:50pm

Welcome back Tom.

Pint and a Wild Turkey waiting for you over in the bar.

brianthebard · 06-02-2009 12:31am

Glad you are feeling better, its a scary thing to realise the chemicals we take for granted every day could be doing us harm. We'd always think of smoking or drinking as being the first cause of harm, but there are plenty of things in our diet, in our shampoo and deodorants that should be looked at just as much or even more. Thanks for sharing.

Star Lord · 06-02-2009 10:58am

Thanks for sharing that Tom, and glad that you're feeling back to yourself again!

Will ya be returning as mod of BGRH then?

Tom Dunne · 06-02-2009 12:57pm

ChewChew wrote: »

Glad to have ya back Tom!

Glad to be back.

DenMan wrote: »

Welcome back Tom.

Pint and a Wild Turkey waiting for you over in the bar.

Lovely stuff.

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Will ya be returning as mod of BGRH then?

Probably not. It's good to have new blood in there.

Even if it is smashey.

Mr Magnolia · 06-02-2009 1:21pm

Glad you got sorted Tom and thanks for the heads-up. A lot of the heavy hitting products use alluminum as an effective anti-perspirant, I haven't heard of a reaction like this before but it's certainly worth noting. You were very lucky you copped onto which product (or even that it was a product) which was causing the problem.

anotherlostie · 07-02-2009 10:46pm

Would you consider writing to the manufacturer to let them know your story? Without customer complaints, nothing can or will be done. What if they have heard this story before - it might lead to an investigation of the product. Or there might have been a specific problem with that batch (if you still have the container) when it was being made.

Of course it is also possible that you had an idiosyncratic reaction to the product, but I would get on to them about it.

Tom Dunne · 08-02-2009 3:56pm

anotherlostie wrote: »

Would you consider writing to the manufacturer to let them know your story? Without customer complaints, nothing can or will be done. What if they have heard this story before - it might lead to an investigation of the product. Or there might have been a specific problem with that batch (if you still have the container) when it was being made.

Of course it is also possible that you had an idiosyncratic reaction to the product, but I would get on to them about it.

It is not with a specific batch, I have been using it since around November (and therefore gone through 3-4 units).

As for complaining to them, what do I say apart from what I said in my original post? No medical evidence to back it up as my blood tests were all clear. And I certainly won't put myself through it again to "prove" my point.

I fear I would come across as a crank looking for some sort of compensation.

anotherlostie · 09-02-2009 9:52pm

Tom Dunne wrote: »

It is not with a specific batch, I have been using it since around November (and therefore gone through 3-4 units).

As for complaining to them, what do I say apart from what I said in my original post? No medical evidence to back it up as my blood tests were all clear. And I certainly won't put myself through it again to "prove" my point.

I fear I would come across as a crank looking for some sort of compensation.

As someone who works in a related industry, I can assure you that all complaints would be taken seriously. If they've never heard of this before, then it is unlikely to go anywhere following investigation, but if there were a number of related complaints, then more assessment would result. So upshot is that if they've never had this complaint, your time will have been wasted, but what if there are others who've had the same complaint?

AARRRGH · 10-02-2009 1:39pm

Wow, that's very interesting.

I'm a bit like you, experimenting with things to see how my body reacts to them. For example, I had a weird pain under my heart for years. I got blood tests done and everything. The doctors had no idea what was causing it. By analysing my diet etc. I was able to see it was caffeine. I quit coffee and the problem went away.

But I never imagined deodorant could be causing something like that. Thanks for posting.

10-02-2009 1:52pm

Thanks for posting that Tom. You never do think of the small things.

Kenno90 · 10-02-2009 6:36pm

makes you realise that if deodorant can do that , imagine what other commonly used products can do

Fad · 10-02-2009 7:12pm

Hmmmmm, Ive been using Driclor for a while (no intentions to stop either!) but I'll keep this story in mind.

r3nu4l · 11-02-2009 8:43am

Fad wrote: »

Hmmmmm, Ive been using Driclor for a while (no intentions to stop either!) but I'll keep this story in mind.

Everyone is different, some medicines are effective in 99.99% of people and have no effect or a bad effect on the remaining 0.01%, same goes for cosmetics.

LegacyUser · 11-02-2009 10:19am

you could have something there. it could be the aluminium content.

toggle · 11-02-2009 6:16pm

Hey Tom,
Very interesting story. I know you said that your bloods were negative. Did you consider a test for heavy metals including aluminium, might be worth getting a hair analysis done.

iMax · 11-02-2009 6:26pm

Tom Dunne wrote: »

It was known as "the best a man can get".

And it's a gel.

Ahem.

Been using that for years. Must try coming off it for a while. How long were you off it before you felt better ?

Tom Dunne · 11-02-2009 9:03pm

toggle wrote: »

Did you consider a test for heavy metals including aluminium, might be worth getting a hair analysis done.

I didn't know such a thing even existed.

iMax wrote: »

How long were you off it before you felt better ?

About five days, it certainly wasn't instant.

toggle · 11-02-2009 10:44pm

Not sure how long hair analysis testing has been around, but I know that various health professionals order it for their patients.

Its supposed to be accurate enough. It is a good choice for food sensitivities, vitamin/mineral deficiencies or excess toxins in your body, hair analysis gives a picture of the body over a couple of months compared to blood tests which can change over a much quicker time frame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_analysis

Fad · 13-02-2009 12:06am

r3nu4l wrote: »

Everyone is different, some medicines are effective in 99.99% of people and have no effect or a bad effect on the remaining 0.01%, same goes for cosmetics.

No no, I'm not worried, but if anything remotely similar to the story happens, I'll keep it in mind.

scully74 · 18-02-2009 11:15pm

is there any alu-free ones on the market, been worried about this one myslef...please name, be good business for them

My bizarre story...

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