Dmso ?

Anyone have any experience with this? I first recall reading about this years ago when I was racing. Friends recommended it as a treatment for running injuries.
Chiropractor has suggested this for some inflammation but before moving ahead I thought I'd ask the panel here if folks have had experience with the substance.

Software won't allow the proper representation of the name in the title section of the thread. Should be DMSO as blacklab2020 references below.

Are you referring to the solvent?

DMSO is used as a solvent in high throughput screening for drug development. It is somewhere in between water and oil in terms of polarity. I'd be interested to learn if it had medical applications.

http://www.dmso.org/articles/information/muir.htm

DMSO is a a great solvent, whatever is on your skin ends up inside your body. There are industrial uses for the product and the industrial versions may not be pure enough and the contaminants in it may not be something you want inside your body. I am not sure how well the kidneys or liver would appreciate it over the long term although it reportedly has a low toxicity.

It used to be hyped a lot as a home cure but it seems to have fallen out of favor.

I remember that being all the rage as well back in my racing days.
From Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmso

I think I'll pass. Again.

Very clearn hands and rubber gloves recommended as it's a transdermal.
I just emailed my internist for his advice but wondering of folks here have used it. Used to be thought of as 'miracle drug' for relieving inflammation from running and hiking related injuries.

Aside from DMSO, I have been dealing with distance running lately and unfortunately quite a bit has been on pavement.

My rules for running are:
1) Listen to my body, if something starts to hurt, I back off
2) Stretch, stretch, stretch, to the point where it is inconvenient
3) Strengthen your quads. This cannot be emphasized enough, whether it is running or climbing. This can be hard to do if the knee injury limits your ability to lift. Stronger quads allow you to run with more spring in your stride for longer. Cross train, do other lower body exercises to balance out strength which will improve stability.
4) Try to hike/run striking with the ball of your foot (small distances at first, this requires a transition)
5) daily glucosamine chondroitin regimen, dont expect to notice results. Changes are slow.

I remember it coming into vogue in the '80s, and I used it a couple times, until I was warned off of it as it was unclear what side-effects and other dangers there may be. As I recall, it became viewed as dangerous to use medicinally and was shunned. Haven't heard of it since, but wouldn't touch it now.

From an 'official' standpoint, the FDA has only approved its useage in a very narrow set of circumstances.

I remember the stuff from Orgo lab. Doesn't seem to have lethal toxicity by itself, but as a strong solvent it can introduce substances through the skin, as previously mentioned. I have heard about it being used in livestock.

I would never touch it.

blacklab2020 said:

My rules for running are:

2) Stretch, stretch, stretch, to the point where it is inconvenient

Click to expand...

I just wanted to follow-up on the point about stretching and suggest that "dynamic stretching" might be helpful for most people before hiking or running, while static stretching may be used best after the activity. The NY Times Magazine created a nice little video on dynamic stretching, which was called Stretching: The Truth.

In the past it was not approved for use on humans. I'm not sure if that has changed. Its available because it 's used on horses

In addition to being a solvent and vehicle for drug testing as mentioned before, the lab I work in uses DMSO as a cryoprotectant for freezing cell lines. I don't know what it does to organisms, but on a cellular level it kills at high concentrations, so I personally wouldn't want to take it.

We used to use it on injured horses -- I think for inflammation--the one thing I remember was NOT to apply it with bare hands as its not safe for humans (not sure how safe it is for horses ?!)

It's a free radical scavenger with anti-inflammatory properties, among other things. For animals, it's labeled for use in dogs and horses and relatively safe if applied properly and given at appropriate doses topically. It can be given intravenously at lower concentrations for certain conditions in horses as well ... in case anyone was interested!

I believe they had issues testing this on people because it also gives garlic breath, making blind trials impossible. The other risks make garlic breath pale in comparison though.

Hikes with Hannah said:

It's a free radical scavenger with anti-inflammatory properties, among other things. For animals, it's labeled for use in dogs and horses and relatively safe if applied properly and given at appropriate doses topically. It can be given intravenously at lower concentrations for certain conditions in horses as well ... in case anyone was interested!

Click to expand...

Interested! Thanks for the explanation, Doc!

I direct a research lab and use DMSO as a solvent for certain chemicals that do not dissolve in water. As far as safety goes below is what we would follow:

http://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/07770.htm

Another one here who's used it on inflammed spots on horses. You were never to put it on your bare skin, you always used gloves.