| I was 65 years old in June of 2004. And, as anyone would
expect, I have developed little aches and pains over the years. That's
OK. It comes with the territory. Over a year ago I started have some
annoying pain in my left shoulder and neck. I suspect it is some early
form of bursitis or maybe even arthritis. In any event, it hurts -
almost constantly. About the same time, I started developing very
painful joints in both of my index fingers. Since I use these two
fingers to do most of my typing, I just figured that I had put enough
intermittent tapping pressure on those joints over the years to
stimulate a little old fashioned arthritis. Again, just old age creeping
up on me and not much anyone can actually do about it.
So, for the
past year or so, I have been taking aspirin and/or ibuprofen off and on
again as the pain levels went up or down. In the mean time the first
joints of both of my index fingers have steadily swollen larger with the
typical "signature" of arthritis in those joints.
A few weeks ago I started getting a slight upset stomach as first the
ibuprofen and finally the aspirin started to react with me. Throughout
all of my life I have never had the slightest twitch of upset stomach
from these two, over-the-counter, medicines. So, if it was happening
now, I reasoned, that I was WAY over doing the intake level and should
find another way to deal with the chronic pain. Yes, I was already being
sure to eat something when I took the pills. I was taking about 500mg of
aspirin (yea, I know, that's a lot... but I had a lot of pain) to dull
the pain enough to let me sleep at night. On alternate nights, I was
taking about 600mg of ibuprofen.
NO, it has never occurred to me to seek professional
medical help. I have some issues with what I find to be a somewhat rigid
mind set of that profession. Don't get me started on that just yet.
Anyway, I was certainly in the market for a better alternative to
pain control. I had already tried "Super Blue Stuff" and several similar
products and a host of other over-the-counter things including several
homeopathic compounds. Frankly, I was hoping to come across a good
"witch doctor". I had met one about 30 years ago and deeply regretted
loosing track of him. He was good! But, that's another story.
With the above explanation of what has led me to this point in time,
I was attending a local Christmas craft show (December 2004) with my daughter a few days
ago when I came across a booth that was promoting a rub-on cream being
advertised for the relief of the type of pain that I was having.
Now, I just didn't fall off the turnip truck last week. I know snake
oil when I see it. And, I certainly know a good sales pitch when I hear
it. I was pretty certain that I had just come across both!
The salesman offered to apply some of the "snake oil" free... just
tell him where I was having pain! I first read the label, as though that
was going to tell me anything even if the label was truthful (which we
all know is seldom the case). Having thus tried to at least appear to be
a responsible person, I extended my two index finders, with their
swollen first joints, and told the friendly salesman how much they hurt.
I also knew that nothing much of all the things that I had been trying
had done much to relieve this annoying arthritic pain.
So, the nice man gave me a little dollop of the cream and told me to
rub it in. He explained that there would be a strong camphor smell for a
few minutes. Then the camphor smell would STOP! And, be replaced by...
NOTHING... except just a slight hint of citrus smell if you tried really
hard to smell anything at all. The cream would go into the skin and
leave no greasy after-residue - NOTHING. It just disappears. If the
cream gets on your clothing, it evaporates and leaves NOTHING! NO odor.
No stain. NOTHING!
And, lo....it came to pass..... he was right! Well wasn't that nice.
A warm, penetrating sensation of the camphor... but, no camphor smell
after about 2 minutes. Then, the warmth of the camphor stopped
and I knew that the whole thing was just another "camphor rub" that was
nice for a while, but had no lasting effect... even if this particular
camphor rub didn't actually stink of camphor. Like I said, I know snake
oil when I see it. So, I smiled politely and walked on down the aisle of
the craft show. Daughter was polite and only snickered a little.
I got almost to the end of the aisle before I noticed that my fingers
had stopped hurting.
Now, please understand, I had been "treating" the joints in these
fingers for almost a year with every damn thing I could find and
NOTHING, I mean NOTHING had ever worked that fast and that deeply and
that completely.
The nice man took my $24.95 and thanked me and assured me that I
could order more by just calling the 800 number on the tube.
When I got home that night I decided to try the stuff on my shoulder
and neck. POOF! Instant relief! NO PAIN!! I hadn't gone to bed with no
pain in my neck for over a year. The next morning the pain was STILL
gone!
Alas, by evening the pain was back. Hell, the damn stuff lasted only
a little under 24 hours and then it required another application. The
manufacturer really has to work on that aspect of this product.
It has now been about a week since I started using this stuff. I
apply it every night to both my neck and shoulder as well as to my index
fingers. I'm pain free! Yes, I have to apply the stuff every 24 hours.
(the manufacturer needs to work on that problem) And, yes, I've only
been using it for about a week. But, already I think I am seeing a
slight reduction in the swelling on the first joints of my index
fingers. No, the swelling has not completely gone away... but, it IS
reduced and more important - the pain is gone!
Now, what does all of this mean? What about the placebo effect? Maybe
I could have rubbed chicken fat on my neck and achieved the same result.
I don't know.
What I do know is that I like the stuff. And as long as it makes my
life a little easier, I'll keep using it.
We now act as
a distributor for Pain Wizard! Scroll down and order yours today!
|
Login Status
Pop's Medicine Cabinet
