The People's Pharmacy

Q: Here's a remedy for carpenters and parents. If you smash your finger with a hammer, plunge the finger into turpentine and keep it there a few minutes till the pain goes away. It prevents a blue fingernail.

I keep bottles of "medicinal turpentine," available in drugstores, in every medicine cabinet. My drugstore also sells a product called Apinol. The pharmacist says it has the same active ingredient.

When my son was 2, I slammed the car trunk lid on his finger. By the time I found the key and opened the trunk, he was screaming blue murder. We were in a shopping center, so I carried him into the drugstore, found the medicinal turpentine, sat on the floor, opened the bottle and stuck his finger in it.

When he quit hollering and said his finger had stopped hurting, I paid for the turpentine. He had no more pain and no blue fingernail.

A: A pharmacist assures us that there is "medicinal turpentine," which contains turpentine oil. It is used as an external analgesic and is also found in Vicks VapoRub.

Apinol has been around for more than a century. It is promoted for treating insect bites, stings, scrapes and bruises. If the local pharmacy doesn't carry it, Apinol can be found on the Internet (www.apinol.com).

Q: I have a problem with depression, and, believe it or not, St. John's wort has been the only thing to offer any effective mood elevation at all. Unfortunately, it seems to also cause an outbreak of hives. Have you seen or heard of this?

A: An ingredient in St. John's wort sensitizes the skin to the sun. This can lead to rash or severe sunburn, or you may be allergic to this herb.

Q: I know that aspirin reduces the risk of heart attacks, strokes and cancer, but I am confused about the best dose. Some experts recommend a baby aspirin, while others suggest a regular aspirin daily.

I am prone to stomach irritation from chronic NSAID use. How can I get the benefits of aspirin and minimize the risks? Is buffered aspirin better?

A: Even low-dose aspirin (81 mg) can cause digestive-tract irritation for some people. That's why no one should undertake a lifelong aspirin program without medical supervision.

There is still a lot of confusion about the ideal dose. The cardiovascular benefits of aspirin are detectable at surprisingly low levels (40 mg), but some people are resistant and may need higher amounts.

Neither buffered aspirin nor enteric-coated aspirin provides complete protection against digestive-tract damage. Adding acid-suppressing drug like Prilosec OTC might help. Doctors sometimes prescribe Cytotec (misoprostol) to prevent stomach ulcers.

Q: I've been taking Lanoxin (digoxin) and verapamil for irregular heartbeats. When I renewed my prescription, the pharmacist warned me that these drugs can interact.

I spoke to my doctor about this, but he seemed put out by the question. He said the dose was too low to be a problem. Should I worry?

A: The pharmacist was right to warn you about this potentially dangerous interaction. Verapamil may gradually increase digoxin levels and lead to toxicity.

Your doctor must monitor your digoxin level carefully. He should also review this interaction so he can re-evaluate if this combination is the best way to treat your arrhythmia.

Q: I have read with interest in your columns reporting keys as a solution for nosebleeds. I've been reading "A Princess Remembers: The Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur," an autobiography by Gayatri Devi.

In talking about palace guests whom she particularly admired as a child of 11 (in the early 1930s), she describes: "the especially thrilling Douglas Fairbanks Sr., the great swashbuckling film star. Later he came to Cooch Behar on a shoot and I had an even more unexpected bit of luck. My nose began to bleed and (he) looked after me and put a key down my back to stop the bleeding."

I've never had nosebleeds but can't help being intrigued by this lore.

A: Thank you for sharing this fascinating anecdote. We have heard from dozens of readers that putting cold keys down the back of the neck can stop a nosebleed quickly. Who knows where Douglas Fairbanks learned this folk remedy, but it has obviously been around for a very long time.

Q: My husband was having severe leg cramps at night. Without telling him, I placed a bar of soap under his sheets for two nights before he noticed. It worked! He's had no more cramps.

A: We have heard from many readers who have had success with the bar of soap stopping leg cramps. The instructions are to put it under the bottom sheet, near where the legs will be. We don't know why it works, but the risks are low.

In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them c/o King Features Syndicate, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019, or e-mail them at pharmacy@mindspring.com or via their Web site: www.peoplespharmacy.org