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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 1989)
Paged The Battalion Friday, November 10 Ointment made from hot pepper helps soothe skin pain, irritations SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The burning was so painful that Reyes Martinez sometimes couldn’t touch the soles of her feet. “About the only place I went was to the doctor and to church,” she said, explaining that she was desperate for anything that might ease the skin pain caused by her diabetes. She found cool relief in an un likely source. Martinez and other patients at the University of Texas Health Science Center are using the pu rified extract of hot peppers to soothe skin irritations sometimes caused by diabetes and shingles. “I said, ‘Well, I eat a lot of the chili peppers,’ ” said Martinez. “I don’t care how it’s made —I’m just glad it helps.” Researchers say it’s the stuff that makes a pepper sting that can help ease skin pain. The sub stance is called capsaicin, a con centrated derivative of hot pep per resin. Capsaicin is the active ingre dient in a medicated cream called Axsain, being tested at the Texas Health Science Center’s pain clinic and 19 other medical cen ters in the United States and Can- ada. It takes more than 1,000 pounds of peppers to produce one ounce of powdered capsaicin. Axsain isn’t the first medica tion to use capsaicin, but it con tains the most concentrated do sage to date, said Joan Hoff man, a nurse and pain clinic investiga tor who coordinated studies on the cream at the San Antonio cen ter. Three physicians also took part. “I think patients come to stud ies like this because they’re hope ful that it’s going to work,” Hof fman said. “It’s interesting to them because it’s peppers.” The pain clinic is conducting two blind studies using the hot pepper cream. One involves 20 patients suf fering from post-herpetic neural gia, or pain caused by shingles. A medical center in Canada is test ing another 20 patients with that affliction. The other San Antonio study involves 40 patients with di abetes. Though final results are not in, preliminary indications are that the pepper cream helps, Hof fman said. Sixty-nine percent of patients with pain from shingles showed improvement after treat ment, according to the health sci ence center. Capsaicin helps ease burning by blocking pain messages can led to the brain by C-fiber nerves, which are associated with hurning and cold sensations, researchers contend. Though the pepper applica tions seem to relieve pain even tually, the cream does cause a burning sensation when first ap- plied. “(It’s) just like when you touch jalapenos with your hands. Well, you touch this, and then if you touch your eye with that cream on your hand it burns,” Hoffman said. “It won’t damage your eyes. But it is hot.” The side effect prompted some patients to drop out of the study. But researchers say the burning subsides with the frequency of ap plication. “It’s kind of like you’re desensi tized to it. Just like, I guess, eating jalapenos,” Hoffman said. Diabetics usually don’t have as much problem with the side ef fect from Axsain as do shinies patients, because the^pain diabet- ics sometimes experience often i s accompanied by slight numbness Study participant Stella Mut phy, 59, said the burning w as (xithersome, but she stuck with the program in an effort tol soothe her shingles pain. “It really saved me,” Murphy said. "It was a little bit of a hassle . . It does burn pretty much,just I like hot peppers would.” F Murphy and others in the study applied Axsain several times a day for eight weeks. After the initial eight-week pe- i riod, in which patients are some times given the real cream and | sometimes a placebo, study par ticipants enter a one-year test j during which they are given the real cream and monitored. The cream’s manufacturer, ll- linois-based GalenPharma, a company formed last year to pro duce the product, is closely watching the studies. A AM/PM Clinics • Minor Emergencies • General Medical Care • Weight Reduction Program 10% Student Discount with I.D. Card clinics 846-4756 3820 Texas (n«xt to Randy Sima) (Except for Weight Program) 693-0202 2305 Texas Ave S. (next to U Rant M) College Station 779-4756 401 S. Texas (29th & Texas) cut here Defensive Driving Course Nov. 14, 15 & Nov. 28, 29 College Station Hilton For more information or to pre-register phone 693-8178 24 hours a day. ■UBUHUBl cut here ■■UHUHUH S s si TEXAS HALL OF FAME Your #1 Live Country Night Spot! Fri. night - Free Bar Drinks & Draft Beer 8-11 p.m. Sat. night - Any Single Shot Bar Drink, qq Longnecks, margaritas Jp I ■ Nov. 10- HAYWIRE LIVE! College & Faculty I.D.’s - $2 00 OFF Admission 822-2222 2309 FM 2818 South 'Z3ZZZZ2ZZ332Z. % 4 A Contact Lenses Only Quality Name Brands (Bausch & Lomb, Ciba, Barnes-Hinds-Hydrocurve) °0i y 4 4 A $ 4900 $69°° $69°° $£960 pr.*-STD. CLEAR DAILY WEAR SOFT LENSES pr*-STD. EXTENDED WEAR SOFT LENSES pr.*-STD. TINTED SOFT LENSES £ k $ A SAME DAY DELIVERY ON MOST LENSES Sale ends Dec. 20, 1989 Call 696-3754 For Appointment CHARLES C. SCHROEPPEL, O.D., P.C. DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY *Eye exam not included. Free care kit with exam and pair of lenses. 707 South Texas Ave., Suite 101D College Station, Texas 77840 1 block South of Texas & University I % For your VHS copy of 1989-1990 Simply add FEE OPTION #23 During Spring Registration \aggi inema/ Presents on Friday & Saturday, November 10 & 11 ( V! (1989) 1 $tairrilig Michael Keaton lack Nicholson v Kim Basinger 7:30 8 9:45 PM Rudder Auditorium >-■ ■■ ■■■■ ' - . : : v ^ r (1966) Starring Adam West .Burt Ward Midnight Rudder Theatre "N Tickets are on sale now at the MSC Box Office. Admission K *9 nn Aggie Cinema Movie Information HoH^T. ^ tl°° W/TAMU ID ' -Of "NS U’-V, M kACClAVS :iNEMA> Sattirday Matinee November 11 3:00 PM judder Theatre ,0 Ifer ■ate week: rankc Pant! Earlii day a Mich JSM gpat majo SUltc are ti argu; team Ev expei beatt coup SMU and ( iroh JitC strinj last 2 Tl stren squai N( on it: rd J ror quali Mich N. they favo kept :Ogh J?he: See l I I I