There is a story on CNN video portion about the death of a 17 yr old athlete from Staten Island who died as a result of Ben Gay overuse/toxicity.

Ben Gay has 30% methyl salicylate in it, and it appears that she did not excrete the product normally and it built up in her system. This is considered quite rare. I also wonder if she was often dehydrated, with her extreme
athletic behaviors.

You can view the video here:
http://www.cnn.com/

Since some posters do use creams on their PN, I thought I'd put this up.
We have had posts in the past on favorite rubs.

The video did not say if she used oral aspirin or NSAIDs and that would be important information to have.

The most useful ingredient in rubs for PN I believe is menthol. I use Biofreeze myself. But I do use Salonpas occasionally for my arthritis pain..and that does have the salicylate in it. So users of products with methyl salicylate should
be careful not to overdo.

I saw that just this morning also. She must have been in some kind of pain for some time to keep using it over and over. I have used Ben-Gay in the past to run on the back of my legs when I have overdone it, but now I just use Biofreese. It comes in a spray, roll-on, and gel. I use the spray on my toes if they are acting up. I can't say this is a great solution, but sure does help for a while. I use the roll-on on the bottom of my feet when they are just sore from being on my feet for too long. These two are nice in that you don't get your hands all messy!

--about which I haven't talked much.

I know the family (I am from Staten Island, remember, and have been heavily involved in the running community there). I also tutored this young woman's older sister for the SAT some years back.

It's a horrible situation to lose a child that young from such a bizarre cause. What was more horrible, though, was the local press coverage--since the "teen scene" on Staten Island is so heavily drug and alcohol involved, and since this young woman had been to a outdoor "party" that night, all sorts of nasty speculations went around--some still are.

If anybody had known this young woman, they would have realized that she was such a fitness obsessive that she would not have been doing the "usual" teen pharmaceuticals. But that obsessiveness may have been her undoing--she wanted very much to rise in the sport and she wanted to get a college scholarship, so she trained beyond the point of soreness and she apparently used enough of the sports cremes to produce some sort of toxic reaction.

Still, knowing the family as I do, I suspect that there is some sort of interactive effect here that the coroners might not have known to look for. I base this on the idea that there is autoimmune disease in the family (I had talked about this with Mom several times during older daughter's tutoring, as I was going through my acute stages of neuropathy). I wonder if any sort of genetic propensity might have played a part.

Mrs. D.

I read that in the New York Daily News. I remember immediately thinking, Oh my god, I've used these rubs for years. I use tiger balm, Freeze it. etc. I think we all do!!!!

What a shame. My heart goes out to the family.

Mel

I don't know if any of you watch the TV show "House", but it's one of my favorites. House plays a doctor who is somewhat personally deranged but brilliant, solving cases that no one else could. A few weeks ago was the case of a man who was a bit confused, and used Ben Gay on his hemorrhoids, and Preparation H on his aching shoulder. He was toxic from absorbing the Ben Gay. Maybe they got the idea from the this real life tragedy.

Love that show just when you think ahhh no way this week,you see that
look he get's on his face. Ah but you have him in real life,nothing
like a crabby sexy Dr. with a cane in pain on drugs,who cures you. Sue

I just bought a salicylate shampoo for my psoriasis in my scalp (just found out that was what it was, and its my first try with the shampoo).It says to shampoo and let stand for a while before rinsing - every 3-4 days.
There was another one, nizoral (much more expensive),
that was not a salicylate compound.
I asked the pharmacist and he couldn't advise me other than
to try it out, if it didn't work - buy the others - one, by one.
I must've stood in that drug store aisle for 20 mins looking at all the different choices....and I went and chose that one.....
(store brand, equal to a name brand- economics 101 !?!)
Hmmm.... ??