Topical analgesic danger

I had a bad wipeout on my bicycle a week ago. I was bicycling into a strong wind with my arms outstretched kind of like a bird. I think there may be a psychological reason for this: I was probably trying to fly away from all my troubles, to escape this Earth and all its turmoils, and just soar above everything.

But, being on an ultra-light, carbon-fiber bicycle, when a very strong gust suddenly hit me it was enough to push me off center and down I went. Hard. Very hard.

I attribute the fact that I love eating organic kale and other healthy things to the fact that I broke no bones and did not require hospitalization, although for a couple minutes after I went down I remained motionless. It was too painful to move but eventually I did get up.

A few days ago I was looking for a topical analgesic similar to Tiger Balm and someone recommended a really amazing, locally-made one created from fresh herbs which is similar to it.

It worked amazingly well. I e-mailed the company to thank them and provide them with positive feedback and a day later one of the creators e-mailed me back and actually warned me that this product is so strong that one has to be careful. It reduces pain so much that one might think everything is healed when in fact it is not.

Unfortunately I got the mail a little late, after doing exactly what he warned me about.

Anyhow, I wanted to post a warning here to anyone who has an injury and is using a topical analgesic similar to Tiger Balm which contains methyl salicylate (a.k.a. wintergreen oil). It is such a powerful pain reliever that one must excercise caution when using it.

Today when I went back to the gym for the first time after the injury, I specifically did not use any analgesic (topical nor internal) because it was very important to be able to feel pain. After the workout however was another story. Oh my gosh it felt so good to put on afterwards!