Strugglng with ITBS—I think. Why do the ice and stretching when an ointment might work?.
So, I’m reading a running book a few weeks ago by Alberto Salazar, and he sort of quickly mentioned, “DMSO,” as taking immediate pain away for some afflicted ITBS runners.
I therefore start researching DMSO. It’s not approved for human use, of course, which immediately sparks my interest, because as we all know, from our college experiences, generally things outlawed by man, for man, just might “WORK!, OR AT LEAST BE FUN!” “And, If it’s good enough for Secretariat, it’s good enough for me!”
I make some inquiries and found that the cheapest DMSO product was sold in one of our local feed stores for $3.95 a roll up—for horses, of course. However, the spectre of a runner waltzing into the local feedstore, with running tights on, buying DMSO, I bet would be a laugher to the clerks. “Got some lame horses, huh?” “How about a bag of our new Oats or some flea dip?” “We sold a bunch of those a minute ago to another runner for his horses, and he limped out of here, too.”
I couldn’t chance this kind of mocking and ridicule.
DMSO is also sold on the internet and other “health stores,” in a variety of mixtures. Although I don’t work with rat poison, or insecticides, I fear some kind of gradual brain cancer developing from DMSO. And, what if I’m using Windex or Ajax around the house, and that’s left inadvertantly on my hands, and then I put on the DMSO, do I turn into “Mr. Clean?” Do I lock up, and my veins turn blue?
I decided instead to try some of this capascin cream. I’m thinking I just almost did something unsafe with DMSO, so I’ll just stick to the approved over the counter stuff. This was a huge mistake. I’ve tried the icy hots, and even “red hot” and all that, but this capascin ointment I have never tried. Its use of hot pepper chemicals intrigued me. Hmmm, they must be onto something.
So, before reading the warnings, I’m spreading the capascin cream all over my left hip, all the way down to my left knee. For about five minutes, I’m thinking, this isn’t doing anything. And the good thing is, it doesn’t smell like a football locker room.
Then I began to feel a gradual burning sensation, “gee that feels hot.” Ten minutes later, “damn, that’s getting way too hot, down there.” About 15 minutes, later, I’m thinking emergency room. It’s not stopping. My skin is turning beet red. My whole left leg felt like it was swelling up like “Elvis.” A pack of wasps couldn’t do this much damage.
So, I get a wet towel out, and start washing it away, in the shower, which, in fact, that just made it worse.
Then, I read the instructions, before I went into a coma. It said: DO NOT WASH WITH WATER. DO NOT WRAP THE AFFECTED AREA. YOU MAY FEEL A TRANSIENT BURNING SENSATION. THIS WILL ONLY LAST FOR 48 HOURS. TRY SOAP AND WATER, and, get this, OR COOKING OIL. Ooops. Looks like I’m in this for the long haul.
I don’t know how I made it through the night without just breaking down and crying on the floor. Putting on warm ups or long pants, made the capascin start moving down and working again, hotter than hell. Then, I’d feel hot spots like on my ears or nose, where I had briefly, I mean, briefly touched my face at some point during my goulish application. And, then afterwards, when my other knee touched the other one, the chemical, a “natural substance,” from hot peppers would make the jump over to the other leg.
Safe to say, I was worried one of my kids might brush up against me, or sat where I sat on the couch or bed, and go into a panic, about possibly being bitten by unseen spiders or tarantulas. The pain and heat from that ointment carried on until the next day, the capascin buried and absorbed into the skin, waiting to come back up again. I was worried when I jumped into the pool for my swim, that it would spread like wildfire to everyone in the lanes. Finally, it was gone.
And I’m back to using ice and stretches again.