Anyone used Capzasin? OUCH | Arthritis Information

 

Holy cow! I used that for the first time the other night on my toes. My foot was so bad that I had to use SOMETHING. I couldn't sleep! Anyway, Oh my heavens, after using it, not only did the pain stay, but this intense burning started happening. So my feet were then throbbing AND on fire. Of course THEN I read the label...it says it is derived from chili peppers and that burning can last for up to 48 hours. Yikes, they were still burning the next day. Has anyone else had this happen to them from using this? I threw mine away!schell2008-08-20 07:23:43No schell I haven't used it and never will. Thanks for the heads up!I think a lot of us use it here - it's a natural "icy hot' or whatever.  Did you put a ton on?

I like Biofreeze.  It seeems to work well for me.I remember the doctor telling me to use it after my jaw replacement.  (On my face).  He said it may burn a bit but after a few days the burning stops.  Then it takes a couple weeks for you to actually see improvment. I like that its a natural antimicrobial and that its what they're studying to 'cure' diabetes.  To me, I would use it for that reason alone.  But thats me.  Capsaicin is not like Icy Hot - there's no cooling sensation to go with the burning.  You can mix it with Icy Hot if you wish. 

It's some serious stuff!!! When used in high concentrations (much higher than OTC stuff) for severe nerve problems, it's applied in a clinic/hospital by a nurse/technician wearing full protective gear (including face mask/respirator), and they pretreat the area with EMLA cream for 30 minutes or so first.

It works by depleting "substance P" from the area it's applied to.  This peptide is responsible for the pain sensation.  Once it's burned up by the capsaicin, it no longer hurts when it's applied.

Start with a low concentration cream and work your way up.  Be very careful - use gloves.  You don't want it on your hands when you touch your eyes, nose, mouth or hoo-hoo.

In the past, I've sprayed Lanacane on the area to be treated first, and then put the capsaicin on after that for the first few applications.  An icepack can also help dull the burn.

Once you get past the initial burn, it helps quite a bit.
That subabstance P is what they're going after in Type I diabetics.  Seems like when they inject that into the pancreas, it cuts the inflammation - and the pancreas starts producing insulin again - which they had previously thought would never happen again once it was 'under attack' by the immune system. Some of my friends at big pharma have been involved in studying the vanilloid receptors which capsaicin binds to; interesting stuff.

For now, I'll just get my capscaicin in the occasional batch of salsa or fajitas.  Too many bad experiences of getting the cream in areas where you definitely don't want it... When my osteoarthritis in my spine started to get bad about 16 years ago, they told me to put Zostrix cream on my back. The active ingredient in Zostrix is capsaicin. It burned like fire the first week. ..in fact I would move around the bed all night to find a cool part of the sheet.  One thing to remember is that you don't want to try to wash it off with water, even cold water. It just reactivates the heat of the cream. My PCP said to use it for the nerve pain I was having in my thigh due to damage from my two pregnancies.  Well, it works, but I invariable rub my eyes sometime later and YIKES!!!!  Like Jasmine said, even washing your hands won't get it all off.  Now it comes in a roller so you don't have to touch the stuff.  I have to say, it did work but I don't use it anymore because the RA meds, for some reason, have helped with my nerve pain too, even though it was caused by pregnancy damage and not an autoimmune disease.  Very odd.