I was messing around with a lot of horseradish recently. Trying to make beef jerky and learning along the way that cooking / drying completely eliminates the taste of horseradish.
In any case, some hours later my hands had this strange deep ache. It had been days since I battled ninjas and so I concluded it must have been the horseradish. Of course I had washed them (the hands, not the ninjas) several times during the jerky making, but the minute or so of horseradish sitting on hands was enough to get down into the nerves. At the time it did not hurt at all. I wondered - could some good come of this?
Probably not for me, right then. But I am aware that there are pain lotions with capsaicin (hot pepper principle) as the active ingredient. I think this is based on the "you want to cry? I'll give you something to cry about!" school of pain relief. Horseradish is hot in a different way than chili peppers. Maybe the messed up nerve endings responsible for neuropathic pain might quit their fuss if reprimanded with a dollop of horseradish?
Easy enough to try: mine was just grated horseradish in vinegar. Maybe not too tough to market either! A little pragmatic for BUNGCO but the investors keep asking us to focus.-- bungston, Jan 30 2016 http://www.drugs.com/npp/horseradish.html Describes external as well as internal medical use. [pocmloc, Jan 31 2016] However, parsnip sounds much less safe! http://www.webmd.co...redientname=parsnip//PARSNIP Side Effects & Safety There isn't enough information to know if parsnip is safe when taken by mouth. When used on the skin, parsnip can cause the skin to become extra sensitive to the sun...// [pocmloc, Jan 31 2016] The words "more research" spring to mind.
First of all, you need to repeat your horseradish experiment and see if the pain recurs.
If it does, you then need to do a single-blind trial, by having someone else prepare mashed horseradish and mashed something-else (? parsnip?), and apply one to each hand (not giving you any visual or olfactory clues). A double-blind trial would be more rigorous, but harder to organize.
Then you need to try it on a few other people.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 30 2016 // A double-blind trial would be more rigorous, but harder to organize. //
We agree. We do not consider that [bungston] will be at all keen on having both his eyes poked out, even in the cause of advancing scientific knowledge. He is likely to run away, or offer violence. Or both.
It will probably hurt more than the horseradish, too.-- 8th of 7, Jan 30 2016 OR one could assert that horseradish is good, and has been used medicinally for millenia, and suggest that people refrain from use on eyes and/or genitals, and launch the product! Horseradish is somehow generally recognized as safe.
The parsnip thing has potential too.
The whole blinding proposition is too reminiscent of BUNGCO's cellulosic ethanol fiasco.-- bungston, Jan 31 2016 I'd be suprised if this is not already done. It is fsirly common to make home-made balms by melting & mixing beeswax and olive oil with the herb or spice of your choice.-- pocmloc, Jan 31 2016 // The parsnip thing has potential too. //
Now, there's a throwaway comment that you probably don't want to follow up ...-- 8th of 7, Jan 31 2016 I do it with Sichuan pepper but I might try this on myself before I try it on a client and see what happens. Incidentally, according to my probable future son-in-law's research, horseradish works via the cold sensors, not pain, but I'm not sure what implications that has.-- nineteenthly, Feb 04 2016 //the investors keep asking us to focus//
Those are optometrists.-- pertinax, Feb 05 2016 ///the investors keep asking us to focus// Those are optometrists. /
That's our investors! We are all glass-half-full folks here at BUNGCO. The question is "half full of what?".-- bungston, Feb 05 2016 //For neuropathic pain?
I agree, we do need more question marks in the idea blurbs around here.-- the porpoise, Feb 05 2016 random, halfbakery