[NOTE: this post, describing an accident involving jalapeno peppers, has attracted a huge number of comments. See below. And please add your own thoughts as we seek a cure for this strange affliction!]
I received the following email from a good friend who I’ll call CD. He lives in the Washington, DC area. He sends along this cautionary tale about a cooking experience gone horribly wrong. His story is by turns frightening and hilarious. Enjoy.
Dude, I got a great story for you that I’ll try to relay in this message. Friday night S and I went over to J and C’s. I was going to help C prepare for a catering gig he had on Saturday. So we get there and start boozing and hanging out. We eat dinner and then begin the process of prepping for the catering gig.
Well, one step in the catering cooking process was to roast a 5-pound bag of jalapeno peppers on the grill and then remove the skins and de-seed them. Like what you’d do with a roasted red pepper. Well, at about 10:30pm I belly up to the table outside with all the peppers and start going to town. An hour later, I had peeled all 5 pounds worth….the catch is that I did it with no gloves.
At about mid-night S and I leave and I start complaining that my hands are burning. Not terribly, but a bit of fire. An hour later, we are back at S’s and it really sets in. Pain like I have never felt. Unbelievable, extreme, terrible, super harsh burning pain in both hands and even a little ways up both arms. It was like I had burnt both hands in a fire.
Now, I have to set the time frame so you can get the full affect of how long this pain lasted….it was at about 1am Saturday morning when I really began to realize i was in some trouble. At about 2:30am I woke S up and said I needed help (she had been asleep for about an hour). She got on the Internet and looked up how to stop jalapeno burn. She called two emergency rooms and even a number of “ask the nurse” hotlines. Nothing. At about 3:30am I was in so much pain i was rolling around on the floor almost yelling. By that time I had dipped both hands in milk, olive oil, vegetable oil, yogurt, oatmeal, water with baking soda, a bleach water mix, aloe and even mineral oil. Nothing helped.
At one point, I had both hands covered in aloe, a wet wash cloth on each and my hands in two huge bags that were filled with ice and water. That did not even help. at about 5am S calls my doctor at his emergency number. He says to get in the car and go to the emergency rooms at GW. So, we get in the car and I ride with my hands out the window to let the wind somewhat cool them down.
I check in with the front desk and am taken back to some ER room at about 6am. Now, realize that I am SO embarrassed at this point. Everyone in there is looking at me like I am a freak. They even wrote on the ER board where they identify what is ailing a patient “CD, jalapeno hands.” It was funny as hell.
Once I am in my little holding room they give me a shot a morphine, which by the way does nothing to ease the pain. Damn good high, but nothing for the pain. After the morphine they give me a shot of something stronger which also does nothing for the pain. I even got a shot of straight benedryl because they thought I might be having an allergic reaction. Needless to say, nothing works for the pain. They debated admitting me at one point. They also talked about putting me on some IV of pain killers.
Finally, after being there for about 3 hours, they tell me to go home and basically just wait out the pain. They did give me a prescription for some really strong pain killers.
Well, to get to the end….the pain finally lessoned to where I could take it on Saturday night at about 6pm. I was basically in a living hell for like 18 hours. Even today (Monday morning) I still feel a burning in both hands. If I scratch any part of my body, it immediately starts to burn. I can just bump into something and even that little bit of contact sets off a slight burn. And get this, my feet have this low grade burn from walking on them. That’s how much of the jalapeno oil got into my body.
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I don’t know if it’s the fact that is has been 24 hours since i chopped up serrano peppers or if this really did work, but i rubbed a cut piece of tomato all over my finger tips it seems to have worked. By the way I think serranos are worse than jalapenos. Who knows but either way that burns like true hell!!!
So, this isn’t a “jalapeno hands” story, but is pepper related. Late Saturday night the boy and I got tacos from from a taqueria down the street. Half way through my taco, I could no longer taste it because of the extreme burning in my mouth. I tried to scrape off the salsa and a large piece of jalapeno, a little over 2 inches in diameter, plopped on my plate. I assumed I must have eaten another large junk of pepper, drank some soy milk to dull the burn, and then thought nothing of it. The next morning I woke up with the worst allergy attack I have had in years. I had sore spots in my throat, my nose was running uncontrollably, and raw feeling allergy bumps had cropped up all around my cheeks and mouth. I was also unbelievably lethargic and weak. I’m usually pretty spry, getting up early, running up stairs, etc., but I was exhausted! I was winded walking up 2 short flights of stairs, I tried to run errands but felt like I was going to pass out after walking a few blocks. I ended up sleeping for the majority of the day and still feel tired today. Has anyone heard of an allergy attack caused by jalapeno peppers?
Nothing is working for me!! Feel like, I have tried it all. Have been making salsa for 20 years, a little burn a few tims. Not like what I am experiencing right now! The burn has lasted for over 24 hours!! I have gotten a kick out or reading everyones stories!!
I cut my 1st jalapeno today! And I knew not to touch my face blah blah and wash my hands afterwards….but didnt realize how fast the oils can get into your skin and pores. So about an hr later…my hands catch fire. Of course I search the net for helpful pain relieving tips…and try them ALL. None of it worked, but about 3+ hrs later the pain and burning subsided. I was constantly putting something on my hands every time the sensation would come back and finally …I was free! But the most helpful I believe was putting sunburn releif liguid on my hands repeatedly. Gloves for me from now on!
Early today I was cutting and de-seeding jalapenos to make salsa, with my bare hands.. And at first my hand also did not hurt.. but after while the pain was excuricating! I tried ice cold water, milk, vegetable oil, alcohol, vaseline, antibotic ointment and non of it worked! I’ve been having the pain for 5 hours!! My mom told me to use the antibotic ointment and it did no justice. I finally convinced my self to wash my hands and put it back into ice cold water, while washing my hands with DAWN dishwashing soap, the pain INSTANTLY went away. I believe the soap relieves the oil from our skin. But DAWN soap works!! TRY IT!
Tomatoe seems to be working!
i had no idea this could happen!! I’ve made poppers 2 times before and NO problem…. today I cut and cleaned 50 jalapenos and OMG my hands are on fire!! I’ve tried lemon juice…..o.k. for awhile….maybe just wishful thinking… getting scared…. big day tomorrow with daughters grad party.. i’m going to try some of suggestions on the board
ok – I tried everything to get the oils off my skin…but like many, I was too stupid to try anything until about 5 hours in, so I was stuck. Ice water to keep my hand numbed did provide some relief. But – I found the magic at about 2am…Penaten – zinc ointment that is used for diaper rash! It says right on the tin that it’s also good for scalds, sunburn, etc…and as you all know, you will try anything whne your hands are on fire…so I gave it a try. Well, it took a good 15 mins, but suddenly – IT WORKED!!! Complete relief – ahhhhhhh.
I say give it a try if you have it around – it totally worked for me. But I would caution not to try it until you’ve done everything humanly possible to wash the oils out of your skin first – then if you’re like me and it’s just too late, try the zinc cream. worked for me!!
I also read that calamine lotion works well too.
good luck everyone
Omg! I just made 65 stuffed jalapenos for my sis”s wedding reception. I have the burning in my hands, it started at 11am and still going strong. I cant even stand outside, the heat seems to set off the burning worse. This really sucks.
This is HELL!
Cut up only 2 jalapenos for sis’s birthday dinner. They made my eyes smart (which has never happened before)…1.5 hrs later, ,burning hands, under the nails, top lip too.
Have done milk, baking soda, honey, babypowder, ,stainless steel, antiseptic wash , astringent…
Evil.. Evil Evil…
Am holding a frozen watter bottle, pathetically typing. Hoping I have to pee soon…
2.5 hr. car ride ahead, ,oh joy
Haha I thought it would be a great idea to make salsa for my family for burritos. Now my hands are burning but before they started I scratched my eyes lets just say worse pain imaginable. I made my salsa 7 hours ago this is awful. I was trying to find something to make them stop I am off to buy Milk and Lemon juice hopefully that does the trick. Lets just say no matter how good that salsa is I will never be making it I will buy it already made
I put tons of windex on a paper towel and it seems to have relieved the burning, although when I stick my thumb in my mouth, my tongue still feels the burn.
Craig! You are awesome! I tried the hot water with soap and it worked! I am a total chile head and got all excited about this cool Jalapeno popper deal I picked up in Santa Fe. 18 stuffed J’s cooked on the grill. Uber! Anyhoo, in all my excitement to try my cool little dealy, I didn’t think and didn’t wear gloves. A few hours later, the left hand is on fire! I cut the tops off, cored the little beasties and used my left hand to get all the seeds out…tap tap tap. Seeds…the worse part of the chile as far as oil concentration! I tried the rubbing alcohol…worked for a few minutes. Then I moved on to lemon juice…again, only a few minutes of relief. I made a baking soad paste and that worked pretty good until I washed it off. Then came the toothpaste, newp. I came across Craig’s post on the hot water and soap. The water seemed way hotter than it was and it was a few seconds of agony…but, it paid off. My hand feels so much better! Next time I WILL NOT forget the gloves. I am very happy that I didn’t grab the Habs instead…just thinking about that is making me cringe.
Best of luck to all y’all sufferin from Jalapeno hands. Always remember your gloves!
~amanda
anyone else had similar i adjusted my underwear i had cameltoe it burns sooo bad help my privates and my hands burn
My boyfriend has Ja-hands too! He used this stuff called SSD it’s used for burns. It’s 1% silver sulfadiazine cream….whatever that is? He said it helped….
First take the maximum dose of ibuprofin or tylenol. I took ibuprofin in between trying butter, milk, dishsoap, olive oil, hand sanitizer, cortizone cream and anything else I could think of. At first I thought the cortizone cream had done the trick, but when the pain got worse again after for hours and cortizone cream didn’t seem to help as much as before (it did still help some), I realized the refleif had been the ibuprofin kicking in. Definitely try the other stuff (except bleach, which I saw recommended somewhere but which will burn your hands for real) but wash your hands and take an ibuprofin first. It’s quick, it won’t interfere with your other remedies, and it worked best for me.
I cleaned and sliced my hubby’s harvest of jalapenos tonight. Fortunately, it was only about 2 pounds worth. I was even a big sissy and wore rubber gloves. I knew that some had leaked into my gloves, because my hands felt nice and warm
It didn’t concern me because I never had a bad reaction from jalapenos before. Well, tonight was different! Shortly after taking off my gloves, my hands went from warm to blazing fire help me make it stop!! I tried a few of the cures here – milk seemed to help a bit, vinegar – maybe, and then I saw the one about peeing on your hands ROFL – and before anyone gets all grossed out – the #1 hormone therapy for women – premarin is made from HORSE PISS . . . ok so now think about it – you’re EATING the pee of another species, and yet you’re too prissy to get your own urine on your hands. Besides, you can always go back to the hand sanitizer afterward LOL. So, I tried it, and it really did help – within a few minutes, the burn was back down to a warm glow, and now, 3 hours later, my hands are completely normal. I really just wanted to point out that premarin is horse urine so people could get things into perspective LOL. Thanks for all who gave ideas, help and encouragement. If nothing else works, pee!!
in so much pain,will give anything a go-just wished i needed to pee right now!!!!!
wow that semmed to help a little. just wish i had a bit more urine to go around. will start drinking water now ready for the second applitcation
Cut 5 peppers by hand at 7 pm to grill. Once dinner was ready, my hands uncomfortable around cuticle and nail bed. I washed hands (again) and no improvement. If anything, pain got worse and in both hands. Have tried everything – running hands in cool water, ice pack, lemon juice, vinegar, milk soak, and hot water and soap. The milk felt the best but only with hand in it. I went to ER and guy at desk laughed at me so I bailed. Now it is almost 5 am and no sleep at all and I like to sleep. So now I am just throwing back some beers. I am not typically a beer drinker, but hell, throw it back and maybe take the edge off.
I was brilliant today cutting jalapenos and serrano peppers to put in the freezer. I have only ever had very mild burn from peppers, but I usually used the canned ones from the store. Needless to say I GOT BURNED today. It kind of felt like it was getting better so I gave the dogs baths…wrong thing to do, I thought I could light a candle with my finger tips and fry and egg in my palms. After trying several of the remedies the hand sanitizer is giving me some relief. As long as I leave my hands open and not curl them up its a lot more tolerable. I work in health care and guess who’s bringing gloves home from work before anymore peppers are handled. Thanks for all the suggestions.
Hi,
)
I made poppers tonight, fresh from the garden.
They turned out great , but my hands are on fire!
I tried honey, aveno paste, lemon juice, peroxide soak, alcohol, scubbing in hot and cold water with soap, aloe vera, stainless steel ect…
The only thing that helped was ice water but it burns as soon as I remove my hands again.
I hope you all find something that brings you relief.
I’ll make the poppers again, but with gloves on
I didn’t have time to read all these comments, so excuse me if I repeat someone’s remedy. Same story — 75 Ja’s and no gloves. Fortunately I had not put in my contacts yet, so I didn’t have to worry about getting them out later. Husband was out of town and I was in charge of his garden. Picked the Ja’s and decided to “be a nice wifey” and get them cleaned, cut and frozen. That was early in the morning — hands on fire for the better part of the day. Tried some of the stuff I read about in GOOGLE but some things just sounded worse — rubbing alcohol, degreaser and paint thinner????? What were they thinking?? Anyway, quite by accident late that night I was cutting up a watermelon and by the time I was done my hands were 90% better. Next day, my fingers are just a but sensitive at the tips. Attempted to put in my contacts — not a good idea yet!! Ate the watermelon for lunch — THE JA OIL IS IN THE WATERMELON!!! Hey, better than on my roasted fingers.
never replied to a blog before but after spending last night feeling as if my hands were stuck in an oven, I feel compelled to add on here. I too did the no gloves thing but with habenero peppers , the meaner older brother of Jalapeno. Went through all the same food remedies all night long ftom 12 -4am—no relief. Here’s the only one I stumbled after ransacking my medicine cabinet that did alleviate the pain…I coated my hands in benedryl cream and left in on till it started to dry out. I began rubbing my hands until the cream started flaking/rolling off…as it did, it seemed to almost “lift” the painful pepper oil off my hands. It was still by no means gone but I actually feel asleep for a few hours after that. Still feels like a bad sunburn but I too was debating emergency room last night….
I had this happen last night. I only cut one, and it got on part of two of my fingers. I sucked on my fingers. My lips tingled awhile, but my saliva must have broken down the oil, because it got much much better quickly. Good luck!
well, i hate to admit that my wife was right. It’s gloves for me next time. Mine had been burning for about 5 hours with little relief. I tried hand sanitizer and it worked temporarily but the burning returned quickly. I think the relief was more from the cooling sensation you get when you put alchohol on your skin. The best remedy for me so far has been to soak my hands in EXTREMELY HOT soapy water. It hurts like a son of a gun but it seems to help cut some of the oil. I had to do it 4 or 5 times, dry my hands between each one then dip them again for 10-15 seconds. The pain is still there but it is managable now. Probably just have to wait it out!
I tried many of the suggestions, some brought very temporary relief, others had no effect. I believe two things account for success/failure rate of all of these suggested remedies for the dreaded “pepper hand”:
Individual body chemistry and abosorbtion level of an individual’s skin.
My hands are rather dry and a little caloused, so the oils from the jalapeno were drawn deep into the surface of the skin.
Of all the remedies listed above that I tried, (baking soda, hand sanitizer, alcohol, lemon juice, calamine, etc.) FOR ME, Dawn diswashing detergent followed by body powder first loosened the oils, then absorbed them. Until that combination, only soaking in cool water brought any relief, and only lasted as long as my hands remained in the water.
I had no baby powder, so I used Gold Bond Medicated Powder, but I think probably any form of talcum or body powder would probably work. I recommend trying this first. Butt I imagine, like me, you will try the first suggestion you see to stop the intense burn.
Peeled and chopped 13 jalapenos ‘coz I was canning salsa today from my great tomato harvest. Didn’t even think about using gloves. About 1 hour later the burn started and about 3 hours into it I thought I was going to go insane. Thank goodness I don’t wear contacts and knew better than to rub eyes etc.. so it was just my hands. WOW! That really hurts! Tried Dawn dishwashing detergent, rubbing alcohol, bleach, 1% hydrocortisone cream, heavy whipping cream on a wash cloth. More hand washing. Hand sanitizer. The pain started about 1pm and by 4pm I decided to head on down to the store (we own a marina & RV park so we have a convenience store) and get me a 6 pack of Coors Light. After the liberal application of 3 Coors and the whipping cream – things started getting better. Found this site and added 3 more Coors and some Gold Bond Foot Powder and by golly, it’s about 7 hours after I chopped those little SOB’s and I’m feeling pretty darn good!! My 12 1/2 pints of Salsa are looking pretty darn good too! I know for sure I’ll never cut jalapenos without gloves again. I’m thinking about 3 more Coors Lights will completely ease the pain and I’ll save the Advil for tomorrow morning!!
I got jalapeno hands after making a few batches of hot pepper vinegar. My Fiance laughed at me, but I was in soo much pain! After searching online, I came across a website about protesting, and how protesters get rid of pepper spray burns is to flush with a liquid antacid and water mixture (known by street medics as L.A.W.) So I soaked my hands in straight Mylanta and it gave me immediate relief! Types like Maalox and Mylanta work the best. Anyways, I’m glad I’m not the only one. I learned my lesson!
BUTTER!! mine were burning!!!! i oculdn’t take it..i tried several tips i heard and looked up none worked….I grabbed a handful of butter let it set all over DO NOT RINSE just wipe with towel…burning stoped within 1-2 minutes!!! amazing!!
USE HAND SANITIZER YOU HAVE TO KEEP APPLYING IT BUT IT REDUCES THE BURN GO OUT AND GET SOME IT WORKS.
I only cut one small jalapeno pepper! the heat didn’t it me till several hours after and the it was brutal…tried alcohol, baking soda, and aloe..the hand sanitizer works the best! what a nightmare, next time no peppers!
I had the bright idea to make pepper jelly from my neighbors home grown jalapeno peppers. As we were picking the peppers, my neihbor explained exactly how
to make the jelly using 5-1/2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of deseeded and devained jalapeno peppers, apple cider vinegar,etc. basically just look on the surjel box if you want the recipe. Anyway, back to the delima, the one thing my neihbor did not tell me was to use gloves. i guess he assumed he did not have to tell me that, oh well i am a moron!!! Well obviously since I am sitting here typing on a jalapeno hands website you know where my story goes as well as the tremendous pain that my finger are currenlty experiencing. I have tried the milk thing, the ice water, the washing and washing and washing and washing, with no results. It almost seems that everything i try makes it worse and worse.
I am glad i found this site because i am about to try butter and hand sanitizer. if that doesn’t work, at least i have drawn some comfort from some of the other unfortuate experiences that other people have had to endure.
Following up on prior blog.
I tried the butter thing, you know where you take a stick of butter and coat your hands down good with it and rub it in, let it sit for approx 5 min and then wipe it off with a paper towel. after if first tried it, it did not give me immediate relief, but in about thirty minutes all the pain had stopped.
Yaeh!!! Anyway for the next unfortunate fellow citizen that has one of those not-so-great moments
in pepper preparing. I recommend the butter!!!
Ben
So glad I am not the only one!! Was making poppers around 6pm in the evening, just like my husband did a few weeks ago. He is unfortunately injured with a broke foot, so I did the “unfortunate” duties of making poppers this time. Cleaned out about 30 homegrown peppers, and was okay until about an hour or so after I was done. Then it hit. Gradually but with a vengeance. I had no idea what the heck was going on. Had never heard of this before, and he had not either. I tried it ALL. NOTHING helped but ice in a baggy gave instant relief. Thank goodness my mother was there, being that my husband can’t walk, and my hands were useless. I had to refill my baggy every time the ice melted (went through about 1/2 bag of ice) all through the night while sleeping on my back with my hands touching the ice baggy laid on my stomach. The last refill of ice I remember was around 2:30am. I awoke to my alarm at 5:30am with my pj’s soaked as well as my bed from the melted ice that had escaped from the baggy. There was finally relief, but I was a tired puppy. Thank GOD! Just threw a towel on the bed, and fell back in for a few more minutes of sleep. The pain slightly came back as I was getting the kids off to school. Not terrible, but it was still there. My hands just feel a little numb at this point and it is 12pm. That has to be one of the worse pains I have ever felt. I have no remedy to add, but I do have MUCH sympathy for the poor soul who has to endure this pain. This has now been deemed the husband’s job from now on!! LOL
JALAPENO PEPPER NOSE (don’t itch or rub the nose)
) and she imagined that it could have been from the jalapeños that she cut up. So I got on the net and found this site and realized that she was suffering from the migratory part of burning Jalapeño hands. The burning went to her nose. Her hands never burnt. Well she stuck her entire nose in the cold bowl of water for about 10 min and then finally took it out. She says it still burn a bit but it is at least tolerable. Then in the recipe book that she was using we found the following warning under the “cook tips” section: “Wear plastic gloves when working with fresh jalapeno peppers. Their seed and membranes contain oils that will irritate your skin…” Lessons #2 don’t neglect the “cook tips”. FUNNY FUNNY 
So I got from work today with my wife waving her hands in front of her nose as if she were watching a chick flick and could help but cry. She wasn’t quite crying but since she wasn’t watching a chick flick and seemed a little distressed (or a lot) I realized that something wasn’t quite right. She was on the lap-top seeking for a remedy while franticly asking me to get her a bowl full of cold water so she could dip her entire nose in it. Her hands weren’t burning but her nose was and she said that she felt as though it was going to burn off. She looked as though she was in agony. She said that as she was cooking she was cutting jalapeño’s for dinner and she remembers itching her nose (oh what the chef does when no one is looking
I just tried most of those things and it still was hurting. So i went into the bathroom looking for the calamine lotion. I had some band aid aniseptic with lanacaine in it. One hand is much better the other is still tingling, but they are not as bad, will go and try it again since it seems to have taken some of the bite out seems like the lanacaine might help. Do you guys know that drs recommend rubs with this stuff in for OA, yeah, and it hurts just like this! I got some one time and never used it but the one time..so guess we are helping our hands uh? Hope all are better, i am still working on it stopping,its back up to hurting again one hand worse than the other.
holy hell…i made a dank dinner with stupid jalapenos and my hand is on fire. i knew i should of wore gloves or something but i’m an ass. i had this feeling it was going to happen since it’s happen to me before when i helped make a huge dinner for american cancer society. i seriously cleaned out hundreds of seeds in peppers. after that my hands burnt to the ground. after going pee i wiped, of course, and my hand must of brushed against my junk because my vagina was on fire for a long time. i had to serve food and clean up the rest of the night. i have no cure except to just wait it out and stop being a pussy.
We garden and have a bunch of tomatoes right now. I thought I would help out my husband and peel a bunch of them for canning, along with chopped onion, chopped green peppers, and some jalapenoes. It never occured to me to wear gloves. I was using a food processor and thought that I had minimal contact. WRONG! In the process of washing off the counter, using a dish cloth, I totally covered my hands with the dreaded oil. By the time that he got home I was really suffering! I tried plain yogurt. It helped while it was cool but that didn’t last long. I dipped them in sugar and water…actually I had him pour a bunch of sugar in my hands and rubbed vigorously! Then he poured vinigar over them!! It was awful. Meanwhile,,,while we were trying to cool the burn…he kept reminding me that he was wanting to get all huggy snuggly with me! It wasn’t going to happen! Finally, I got despirate and went to Google to see what I could find. Wow! The “cure” I decided to try was the hot water and dish soap. I was relieved that, while it was TERRIBLE, it did break up the oil and relieved the pain. I soaped up with Dawn and then used a soft bottle brush to scrub the pepper oil out of my skin. I rinsed off the soap in water as hot as I could stand. It hurt…but it eased the pain. I vote for the soap and water..after the gloves of course.
Try soaking your hands in a full bowl of vegetable oil (I used Olive Oil) for “at least “1 hour (put a good movie on). If you have the luck of only your palms stinging, it’s late at night, and need rest, my suggestion is to take Motrin, get an ice bag from a 12 hour CVS or Walgreens. Lay bed with a thick towel on your tummy with the ice bag on top of the towel which will help to saturate the perspiration from the bottle and your palms on the ice bag; this will numb the pain and allow you to sleep. Good luck!
I should have known better. We all should have known better, but how great is it that this is here? 4 years of jalapeno hand support! I seeded and cored 1 pound of jalapenos – no gloves and actively used my thumbs. Back of hands hurts the worst and the spots between the fingers. So far milk only helped while hands were submerged. Rubbing avacado into the skin brought temporary relief which has been extended by a liberal application of tequila both on the hands and down the gullet. The tequila technique has outlasted all other attempts including flour, dish soap, butter, etc. But then again I might be drunk.
I made dinner for my boyfriend for the first time a few weeks ago and used raw jalapeno’s on the tostados and in the guacamole. Same problem burning up and down both arms and hands and anywhere i touched burned. After trying next to everything my mum told me to try Vitamin E oil. I initially luckily had some for scars and used a lot of the capsules for my hands and arms and the burning went away almost immediately. Hope this helps!!
I managed to turn last night into a fiery hell of misery. I am only typing this today as I could not last night for fear I would melt my computer keys. About 5 pm last night I thought, wouldn’t jalapeno poppers taste great for a snack? Hmm, just think, beautiful home grown peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon YUM!
Now, I considered myself a fairly intelligent person (notice the past tense), but when I decided to forge ahead and make these poppers when I had NO RUBBER GLOVES to put on, seriously, what was I thinking? I slit the little beauties and proceeded to scoop out the seeds and membranes with my bare fingers, stuff and wrap them. Perhaps I should add that we had been noticing that the peppers we grew this year seemed to be extra hot when we were putting them in other dishes, so why wouldn’t I have thought to be extra careful playing around with the seeds?
So, the little beauties are baking away and the cream cheese is starting to ooze as the bacon turns a golden crisp. I think I’ll wash up a few dishes while we wait to eat these. Hmm, this lukewarm dish water doesn’t feel so great on my hands, in fact, it feels awful. I ask my husband sweetly, “honey, can you please do the dishes, my hands are burning a bit and it is worse in the dish water”. Things went sharply down hill after that.
Within an hour, I was in complete misery. Relief only came when I had my hands submerged in cold water. About 8:00 I thought I’d just go to bed and not deal with the pain as I was tired and knew I’d fall asleep immediately. OH NO, NO, I got into bed and as I warmed up and settled in, the pain only intensified. I think at one point before I got out of bed again, I may have scorched the sheets with my hands. Ok. I’ll get up and go out on the internet, someone who is much smarter than I am will know a way to ease this pain and burning.
Oh good, I found a blog right away, let’s see what is recommended. Wow, this blog is popular. I started reading stories of other people in distress. Hmm, this is not looking good. So far, the things people have tried are not working. Some people even went to the emergency room and couldn’t be helped. It has been several hours now and I have been through several remedies people suggested, soaking in milk, rubbing in baking soda, rubbing on stainless steel, hand sanitizer, etc… Let me mention as I am doing this it is getting later and later. Dear husband is tucked away in bed with a belly full of poppers, snoring away. At this point I hate him. With each snore I feel like smothering him with a pillow if only I didn’t fear the pillow would combust when I picked it up. And of course the cats want attention. Shoo, go away, or I’ll singe your hair with a stroke of my burning hands. I go back to the bowl of cold water, it seems to be the only relief for my now shriveled hands.
To try to end this saga, it’s just about midnight and I’m afraid I’m going to fall asleep in the bowl of cold water that my hands are submerged in. I have to go to bed. Finally, I got an icepack out of the freezer, wrapped it in a dishtowel and took that to bed. Clutching it in a grip of death, I finally fall asleep only to be awaken at 2:30 when our dear dog starts barking at an owl hooting in the tree by the house. Lovely…………… Thankfully the icepack is still somewhat cool and I can return to my much needed sleep.
Dear Santa, if you are reading this, I want a full HazMat suit for Christmas. I fear I will never touch any kind of pepper again without one. I just won’t take the chance.
Oh, so how did they taste? AWESOME! They gave my husband a case of uncontrollable hiccups and I enjoyed them immensely even though I had to stick my tongue in a glass of water between bites.
Lesson learned. ALWAYS wear rubber gloves. And, keeping your hands in a bowl of cold water or using and icepack is the only way to get relief.
Have been searching the web for help!!! Found one post that suggested face wash for oily faces, I’ve scrubbed once with it and it seems to be helping, I’m going to give it one more good scrub in a few minutes. You have to use really hot water and lather your hands with the face wash, I feel some relief. All I know is my husband better thank me and buy me flowers for making him this chili!!!
Thank you Google for bringing me to this site quickly!Needless to say, I sliced and deseeded about 20 peppers without gloves, because really, who has gloves in their kitchen anyway?
The pain came on slowly. The burning seemed dull while I was doing dishes then all of the sudden INTENSE BURNING!
Cold water didn’t work. Next step, GOOGLE. So far I just tried the hand sanitizer since it seemed like the biggest help in these posts. And so far so good!!! It’s been about 2 hours since I chopped and 20 mins since I applied the sanitizer and the pain has subsided, not 100% but I would say 75%. I applied a good amount, about 5 applications really rubbing it in the skin and under my nails.
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I think I’ll put on some more and try that tequila trick a few posts above
I also blame Rachael Ray for my disfortune. I cut and seeded 16 jalapenos for mac and cheese stuffed jalapenos. Then the burning started. I found this blog and tried a handful of things. My husband didn’t believe that I could be in so much pain and this made it even worse. I am not sitting here with the pain and my mouth tastes like hand sanitizer because I took the suggestion of sucking on my fingers (after I applied several applications of the sanitizer). I just wonder how long it will really last. One poster said 27 hours. Only 20 hours to go…
Gloves will now be in my kitchen drawer. I still don’t know if I will ever touch a jalapeno with my hands again.
Oil will not work because oil holds the heat in. Salt works if you rub it between your hands to absorb the chile oil. That is why people use baking soda, baking soda is also a neutralizer of acid.
OMG I just did the same thing………I used KETCHUP and it WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Had worked with jalapeno’s for years. Grew them in my garden, made jalapeno jelly, no problems. Then last night I tryed to cut up a gallon size bag of them. I thought to god, I must of put my hands in a open fire. I washed them with soap and water, tryed noxezema (didn’t work), slept with my hands in ice-water all night. Still burning come morning. Went to work- they had me try- solacaine. It worked. I will never try that trick again without using gloves. I have never felt suck pain in all my life. This remedy worked for me – hope it works for you.
I only did one J and my hands are STILL burning after 2 days!!!!! I have tried everything and more, I have had the contact trauma, I have had the bathroom trauma, its all bad. I didn’t feel any burning for hours afterwards. I have never had any kind of reaction like this before. Not only will I use gloves next time but I will wear 2 pairs of gloves.
As the reference keeps heading back to the poison oak sort of issue and as it is the oil in the pepper that kills us, the best suggestion I have is Dawn dish washing soap. I get bad reactions to poison oak and it is the recommendation for body, hair, clothes, shoes, bike, whatever you had with you or on you if you go through it. It works, it is the best grease cutting soap out there.
Sadly I didn’t have it in the house this time but I will have it for next time. For all the times I have cut up J for salsa and more, I have never experienced this burn before. I am NOT going to have it again. So, gloves (2 pair) and Dawn Dish Soap!!!
Good eating all!
I am rolling on the floor. I have jalapeno pepper hands, too. Sanitizer seems to help.
Ok, whoever said Urine. Thank you!! I cannot believe I just did this, but my hands feel so much better.
The toothpaste made it feel a little better, but it still hurt. Hand sanitizer did nothing for me.
yep the peeing helped me too,then constant washing with soap,soaking in ice water,mouth wash- but it fianlly diapeared totally after i had my hot shower and put on talc powder!!
try a bit of everything i say but ice water is instant releif till you get a plan
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