The other day I was listening to NPR, and head about this new product and the process that brought it to fruition:

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-s...oil-you-decide

They've since run out, but I pre-ordered a tube from their site:

Ted's Pain Cream – Ted's Brain Science


I think it's worth a try. It looks like it could do some good, so I thought I'd share it.

The principal ingredient is Methyl Salicylate, which has been around forever/

Active Ingredients:
Methyl Salicylate 10%

Inactive Ingredients:
Aqua (deionized water), arnica montana (arnica) extract, boswellia serrata extract, cetearyl olivate, cetyl alcohol, dimethyl sulfone (MSM), ethylhexylglycerin, glycerin, glyceryl stearate, PEG-100 stearate, phenoxyethanol, polysorbate-20, resveratrol, sodium laurylglucosides hydroxypropylsulfonate, sorbitan olivate, stearic acid


Methyl salicylate - Wikipedia

I think if it works for you, fine, but I don't think it's worth the steep price.

These are the ingredients in BenGay which is really much cheaper.

Ultra Strength BENGAY Pain Relieving Cream
Active ingredients Purpose
Camphor 4% Topical analgesic
Menthol 10% Topical analgesic
Methyl salicylate 30% Topical analgesic

Regards, ElaineD

I wonder why they classify arnica montana , MSM as inactive ingredients... unless the amount is so small ..it does nothing...

I can’t say how it works for PN , but Penetrex really helps for my sore muscles & strains.
Penetrex Ingredients | Penetrex

Yes, indeed. And they say as much on their site. But note this from their FAQs:

"The label only lists methyl salicylate as the active ingredient, not resveratrol. Why?
We are required to follow the labeling guidelines of the FDA, which only recognizes resveratrol as a natural dietary supplement. While our research suggests it may in fact be the chief active ingredient in Ted’s™ pain cream, we can’t officially make that claim."

The published research paper, available in full on their site, is quite interesting and focuses on the resveratrol, not the salicylate.

Interesting. Perhaps you're right. Maybe they note the reason in their more detailed published research paper? I'll take a look.

Hi all, I got shingles almost exactly a year ago in my back and chest and have dealt with PHN since (I won't got into all the details, if you're here you're familiar with it). I'm controlling it with Gab (finally down to 1500 mg/day) 4% Lidocaine Aspercreme 3X/day, extra-strength Tylenol 3X/day and a previous prescription NSAID, Nabumetone. I'm slowly having some improvement, so I'm luckier than others.

I too found the article about Ted's and despite being very skeptical, I thought, well it does seem to make sense and it's not invasive or oral. I'll give it a try. However, I waited too long, and they were back-ordered. BUT a friend (smartly) ordered hers immediately. It didn't work for her--her pain is "mechanical" i.e. she's dealing with pain from sciatica and other causes, not chronic nerve pain. I've used it 3 times a day now for the last 3 days after discontinuing the Aspercreme and I believe there is an improvement. The pain has "muted" a bit. As you know, it can vary from day to day, but activities that normally elevate me from a 2 to a 5, went from a 2 to 3 and the pain didn't last.

I also got an update today that the back order (two weeks ago) went from 12 weeks to 6-8 weeks. BTW, if anyone goes to "Patient" and PHN or Shingles, I'm active there too. As NPR says, "Breakthrough pain treatment or snake oil", for me, I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll see at least a definite improvement.

Now I'll continue to explore your forums. I hadn't found this one before, so I'm glad to be here.

I'm still being moderated so I'm not sure when you'll see this. I found this thread on a Google search, wrote about my experience with Ted's and had hoped I had a PHN forum, then realized it's a PN forum (blame it on my Gabapentin Brain).

Is there a section somewhere for PHN? I did a search and didn't find anything. Ironically, some research shows changes in the brain when PHN is present (sorry, nerve damage after shingles which may or may not improve--Post Herpetic Neuralgia). I actually spoke to David Hitt, the CFO of "Ted's", and asked if they've had success with treating PHN or neuropathies such as after chemo or for diabetics. He said as he wasn't a researcher, just the money guy he didn't know. But then he remembered his grandfather had shingles and yes, the cream did help.

I was impressed with him and really enjoying speaking to him. I'm hoping it does work, as I said in my other post, I've used it for 3 days 3X/day and feel there is some relief. I am HIGHLY skeptical of any claims to help PHN, as most docs admit there's not much they can do, but give Gab or other similar drugs, tell you to avoid aggravating and try and be positive.

Good luck to all of you.

Hi Babsy WI

Welcome to NeuroTalk .

I don't think that there is a specific thread for PHN but if you use the "Search" command (top of all NT pages) with "herpetic" as the keyword you will pull out quite a few posts in which PHN seems to have been discussed.

Best wishes.

I had done a few searches and hadn't come up with anything, but I hadn't tried that.

Hi BabsyWI and welcome to NeuroTalk
I did a quick search for "herpetic" and found a number of posts

Hope that helps a bit.