Posted on 10/30/2007 9:26:39 AM PDT by xzins
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Devil's Revenge. Spontaneous Combustion. Hot sauces have names like that for a reason. Now scientists are testing if the stuff that makes the sauces so savage can tame the pain of surgery.
Doctors are dripping the chemical that gives chili peppers their fire directly into open wounds during knee replacement and a few other highly painful operations.
Don't try this at home: These experiments use an ultra-purified version of capsaicin to avoid infection - and the volunteers are under anesthesia so they don't scream at the initial burn.
How could something searing possibly soothe? Bite a hot pepper, and after the burn your tongue goes numb. The hope is that bathing surgically exposed nerves in a high enough dose will numb them for weeks, so that patients suffer less pain and require fewer narcotic painkillers as they heal.
"We wanted to exploit this numbness," is how Dr. Eske Aasvang, a pain specialist in Denmark who is testing the substance, puts it.
Chili peppers have been part of folk remedy for centuries, and heat-inducing capsaicin creams are a drugstore staple for aching muscles. But today the spice is hot because of research showing capsaicin targets key pain-sensing cells in a unique way.
California-based Anesiva Inc.'s operating-room experiments aren't the only attempt to harness that burn for more focused pain relief. Harvard University researchers are mixing capsaicin with another anesthetic in hopes of developing epidurals that wouldn't confine women to bed during childbirth, or dental injections that don't numb the whole mouth.
And at the National Institutes of Health, scientists hope early next year to begin testing in advanced cancer patients a capsaicin cousin that is 1,000 times more potent, to see if it can zap their intractable pain.
Nerve cells that sense a type of long-term throbbing pain bear a receptor, or gate, called TRPV1. Capsaicin binds to that receptor and opens it to enter only those pain fibers - and not other nerves responsible for other kinds of pain or other functions such as movement.
These so-called C neurons also sense heat; thus capsaicin's burn. But when TRPV1 opens, it lets extra calcium inside the cells until the nerves become overloaded and shut down. That's the numbness.
"It just required a new outlook about ... stimulation of this receptor" to turn those cellular discoveries into a therapy hunt, says NIH's Dr. Michael Iadarola.
Enter Anesiva's specially purified capsaicin, called Adlea. Experiments are under way involving several hundred patients undergoing various surgeries, including knee and hip replacements. Surgeons drip either Adlea or a dummy solution into the cut muscle and tissue and wait five minutes for it to soak in before stitching up the wound.
Among early results: In a test of 41 men undergoing open hernia repair, capsaicin recipients reported significantly less pain in the first three days after surgery, Aasvang reported this month at a meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
In a pilot U.S. study of 50 knee replacements, the half treated with capsaicin used less morphine in the 48 hours after surgery and reported less pain for two weeks. Ongoing studies are testing larger doses in more patients to see if the effect is real.
There's a huge need for better surgical pain relief, says Dr. Eugene Viscusi, director of acute pain management at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, one of the test sites. Morphine and its relatives, so-called opioid painkillers, are surgery's standby. While they're crucial drugs, they have serious side effects that limit their use.
Specialists are watching the capsaicin research because it promises a one-time dose that works inside the wound, not body-wide, and wouldn't tether patients to an IV when they're starting physical therapy.
"It's in and it's done," Viscusi explains. "You can't abuse it. You can't misuse it."
"There's been an enormous effort to try and develop alternatives to opioids with the same strength but not too much success," adds Dr. Clifford Woolf of Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital. "We think we're moving toward it."
His team is trying a different approach: Standard lidocaine injections numb all the surrounding tissue. Woolf and colleagues slipped lidocaine inside just pain-sensing neurons, by opening them with a tiny dose of capsaicin. Rats given the injections ran around normally while not noticing heat applied to their paws, they reported in the journal Nature this month.
That's years away from trying in people, and would have to be done in a way to avoid even a quick capsaicin burn.
In a third approach, Iadarola and NIH colleagues hope to soon test a capsaicin cousin called resiniferatoxin in advanced cancer patients whose pain no longer is relieved by opioids. Injections into the spinal columns of cancer-riddled dogs did more than temporarily numb - it severed some nerve connections.
I’m guessing this stuff wouldn’t be appropriate for eye surgery...
How about a nose spray?
I also eat hot sauce if I feel the flu or cold coming on.
Capsaicin ointments have been on the market for years. Must have been a slow news day.
Ping me when they put it in Preparation H.
I intentionally go hot when I go out for Korean food. That’s about the only time.
My first experience with bibim bap in Seoul made me wish I didn’t have lips.
I got to where I actually enjoyed it. But I think they’re right....you just go numb.
LOL!
Now that’s what I’m talking about!
LOL! Hey, that oughta clear up your sinuses, eh? ;-)
I remember the sinus "rush" I get when I slather Chinese mustard on my egg roll. Whooooo!
“made me wish I didn’t have lips”
And you didn’t even mention the effect that happens hours later...
Ouch. Have an uncle that swears hot sauce has kept him from having high cholesterol.
I love the hot tomatillo sauce (salsa verde) and regular hot salsa at my local Mexican restaurant, but it’s the MARGARITAS that ease the pain. :)
I’ve heard that a small, very small, drop of tabasco on the tongue deters biting in young children as well.
Aaaarh, where's me scotch bonnets?
Won’t confine women to bed during childbirth? Will they now bear children while at work or while standing?
I hear the CIA banned that before they got rid of waterboarding. :>)
I believe this. My wife has experienced great sinus relief with a product called sinusbuster. It’s basically pepper spray that she shoots up her nose. SHe has gotten completely off flonase, a steroidal drug. She uses it for about a week at the beginning of every sinus/allergy season and during the first couple of days of every cold.
My wife uses it and it works great for her. I've had modest success with it. It stings like heck at first.
***
The last stanza of “Hell in Texas”.
Red pepper grows by the banks of the brook.
Mexicans use it in all that they cook.
Just dine with a greaser and you will shout.
I’ve hell on the inside as well as without.
They'll be running in circles screaming at the heat.
Then Rush can talk about drive-by deliveries. :>)
As a preacher, let me tell you that there's a sermon in that line just screaming to get out! :>)
Topical or internal?
I've had shingles and if I ever get it again, I'm willing to try anything. I thought a bullet to the head was the only cure.
In other news, Protologists see an uptick in business after the test by other doctors with hot sauce and pain releif!
bkmrk
I know for a fact it wouldn’t be appropriate for eye surgery.
A few years ago I decided to can my own salsa, and made the mistake of rubbing my eyes afterwards. I thought I was going blind!!!!!
Mandarin Hot and Sour Soup is the complete drug — spicy hot and chicken broth to boot. I can’t get through cold/flu season without it.
Hotchahahahahaha ping...
i had a very sore throat one day. An herbalist friend mixed up ground Thai chillies with honey. Worked like majic!
From earlier thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1916907/posts?q=1&;page=51
Here’s a story I heard about those Tepin peppers:
Back in the 1920’s there was a Baptist Mexican Evangelist that traveled throughout The South, preaching revivals at various Baptist churches. As was the custom of the times, he stayed at church members’ homes during the revival week. Invariably, the meal served was fried chicken. He got a little tired of the same old stuff all the time, so he carried with him an small bag of the peppers that he would nibble at during the meal, just to spice up the bland Southern fare. One day, after a service, he was at a church member’s home having dinner, and he brought out a couple of these peppers to have with his meal. The man of the house, a deacon, was curious and asked what they were. The preacher explained the situation and the deacon asked if he could try one. The preacher said yes, but before he could warn the man of the hot little pepper’s power, the deacon had popped it into his mouth and started chewing. He screamed in pain, jumped up and ran out to the well and was found furiously pumping the handle while flooding his mouth. After he had calmed the fire in his mouth he said,”Preacher, I have seen many Baptists preach hellfire and damnation in my time, but you are the first I have ever met that carried around samples!”....................
Duh! I, and magic!
“Will they now bear children while at work or while standing?”
No, they’ll be able to give birth while cooking my dinner, fetching me a beer, or cleaning the bathroom!
That’s an awesome story, Red. Thanks.
It’s going to the file.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1916907/posts?q=1&;page=51
HELL IN TEXAS Anon circa 1835
The devil, we’re told, in hell was chained,
And a thousand years he there remained,
And he never complained, nor did he groan,
But determined to start a hell of his own
Where he could torment the souls of men
Without being chained to a prison pen.
So he asked the Lord if He had on hand
Anything left when He made the land.
The Lord said, “Yes, I had plenty on hand,
But I left it down on the Rio Grande.
The fact is old boy, the stuff is so poor,
I don’t think you could use it in hell any more.”
But the devil went down to look at the truck,
And said if it came as a gift, he was stuck;
For after examining it careful and well
He concluded the place was too dry for hell.
So in order to get it off His hands
God promised the devil to water the lands.
For he had some water, or rather some dregs,
A regular cathartic that smelt like bad eggs.
Hence the deal was closed and the deed was given,
And the Lord went back to His place in Heaven.
and the devil said, “I have all that is needed
To make a good hell,” and thus he succeeded.
He began to put thorns on all the trees,
And he mixed the sand with millions of fleas,
He scattered tarantulas along all the roads,
Put thorns on the cacti and horns on the toads;
He lengthened the horns of the Texas steers
And put an addition on jack rabbits’ ears.
He put little devils in the broncho steed
And poisoned the feet of the centipede.
The rattlesnake bites you, the scorpion stings,
The mosquito delights you by buzzing his wings.
The sand burrs prevail, so do the ants,
And those that sit down need half soles on their pants.
The devil then said that throughout the land
He’d manage to keep up the devil’s own brand,
And all would be mavericks unless they bore
The marks of scratches and bites by the score.
The heat in the summer is a hundred and ten,
Too hot for the devil and too hot for men.
The wild boar roams through the black chaparral,
It’s a hell of a place he has for a hell;
The red pepper grows by the bank of the brook,
The Mexicans use it in all that they cook.
Just dine with a Greaser and then you will shout,
“I’ve a hell on the inside as well as without.”
The Tepin pepper is a powerful little beast, but the Indian pepper in the article is a monster!.............
"Tard" refers to the ping list members and not to the subject of the thread.
List of Ping Lists
Soon, hot sauce will be a cure for this and not the cause.
I’m beholden to ya, brother. Thanks.
sw
Nope. Pure truth.
Safetgiver would never lie nor exaggerate!
Dave's Insanity Sauce "Private Reserve" Limited Edition. 
If you have ever tried it you'd know... the debate is really over.
I love Korean food, too! Hotter and even better than Thai food (another favorite), IMO.
You are welcome
I like the use of truck in its old meaning.
I can hear it now: "If they're allowed to use the pepper, then whaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaaaaaa...."
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