Death by ICY Hot

[snopes]

Comment: I had heard that a marathon runner rubbed ICY HOT all over his
entire body after a race. It was said that he died due to an overdose of
ICY Hot. Is there any truth to this?

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Really happened, except it was a High School track star, not specifically a marathoner. I don't know that the brand was Icy Hot, either.

Seaboe

[RivkahChaya]

My brother brushed his teeth with bengay (can't get capital "b") when he was four, and had to go to the emergency room. I still think it's funny, though.

[LyndaD]

Ha, When DS1 was about 14, he rubbed Icy Hot on his thighs after a particularly brutal football practice. I guess he rubbed it up a little higher than he intended, because he had a couple uncomfortable hours during which he could not sit normally

[Noctilca]

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

My brother brushed his teeth with bengay (can't get capital "b") when he was four, and had to go to the emergency room. I still think it's funny, though.

I accidentally started brushing my teeth with Thera-Gesic once, and I'll just say that I was much older than four :o For some reason, I didn't go to the hospital, but I'm okay...I think.. (although I maybe I should have had my head examined)

[Not_Done_Living]

Isn't the active ingredient in Icy Hot Menthol?

Can someone explain the death mechanics of this rather innocuous substance?

[erwins]

Originally Posted by Not_Done_Living

Isn't the active ingredient in Icy Hot Menthol?

Can someone explain the death mechanics of this rather innocuous substance?

From the article Seboe linked:

The 17-year-old died from an accidental overdose of methyl salicylate, the wintergreen-scented ingredient found in liniments like BenGay, Icy Hot and Tiger Balm, the New York City medical examiner’s office said last week.

And:

Topical application of methyl salicylate can be hazardous if it is smeared over 40 percent of the body, if someone has a skin condition or if another medication interacts negatively with the products, Kearney said.

This was the scariest part to me though:

“It’s on my one-swallow-to-kill list for kids,” said Dr. Thomas Kearney, who directs a poison control center and is a professor of pharmacy at the University of California at San Francisco.

Salicylate sounds like it would be related to aspirin -- acetylsalicylic acid. I'm not a chemist, though, so I don't know the significance of that.

erwins

[Der Induktionator]

Originally Posted by erwins

Salicylate sounds like it would be related to aspirin -- acetylsalicylic acid. I'm not a chemist, though, so I don't know the significance of that.

Almost.

We made aspirin (Well, the same chemical, anyway. What we made would have ad too many impurities to safely consume) in university chemistry class.
I don't remember the details, but Bengay (Oil of wintergreen?) was one of the intermediate steps. After all the other smells of the chemistry lab, the wintergreen smell was nice, for a while, an then it was painfully strong when all of us got to the same step in the execise at the same time.

A real chemist (American def of the word) can share the details, or we could all look it up on Wikipedia, but I remember it was pretty cool.

[Der Induktionator]

ah, yes. We did this: Esterification

[franjava]

Originally Posted by Noctilca

I accidentally started brushing my teeth with Thera-Gesic once, and I'll just say that I was much older than four :o For some reason, I didn't go to the hospital, but I'm okay...I think.. (although I maybe I should have had my head examined)

I accidentally shaved one of my legs with a noxema-like face cleanser. After getting it on my bikini area, it burned my feminine places.

Since when did Icy Hot not come as a patch? A couple years ago I had a back problem, and I had an Icy Hot patch on my lower back. I felt my back get real hot all of a sudden and when I pulled the patch off I had first degree burns from it... We haven't used IcyHot since.

[firefighter_raven]

http://www.emedicine.com/MED/topic2057.htm
The link above gives you the technical details of what happens in a salicylate overdose. To summarize your body functions in a vary narrow balance of pH (acidosis/alkalosis). Been awhile since paramedic school but if you get out of this range and your body is unable to balance you out it starts to cause all kinds of systems to go wrong. Many of the different systems of the body work under a very tight balance between 2 states so adding to much of one substance can start to throw that balance off which then starts to cause a domino effect throughout the body.
Basically to much of just about anything can throw the body out of whack... salt, sports drinks, tylenol, aspirin, oxygen, water....

[Wet Blanket]

Originally Posted by LyndaD

Ha, When DS1 was about 14, he rubbed Icy Hot on his thighs after a particularly brutal football practice. I guess he rubbed it up a little higher than he intended, because he had a couple uncomfortable hours during which he could not sit normally

A girlfriend of my daughter's once called our house in a panic after accidentally getting some Icy Hot on her lady parts. I know it's a little mean, but her lament has become a bit of a family catchphrase.

"It's so icy! And also hot!"

[Arriah]

Originally Posted by KaylaSparky8

Since when did Icy Hot not come as a patch? A couple years ago I had a back problem, and I had an Icy Hot patch on my lower back. I felt my back get real hot all of a sudden and when I pulled the patch off I had first degree burns from it... We haven't used IcyHot since.

It's available as a gel too. (not sure which came first or when though) The tube is rather cool, it has a brushy thing at the end that you're supposed to use to rub the stuff in. We have a tube in the house for sore muscles but it has to be kept up because DD2 thinks it looks like something to chew on.

[Salamander]

So complete is my corruption by internet memes, upon reading the title I thought these guys had killed someone.

[Johnny Slick]

I tried to cook a chicken once with Icy Hot but I decided not to eat it.

[Xia]

Originally Posted by Arriah

It's available as a gel too. (not sure which came first or when though) The tube is rather cool, it has a brushy thing at the end that you're supposed to use to rub the stuff in. We have a tube in the house for sore muscles but it has to be kept up because DD2 thinks it looks like something to chew on.

I've only seen it available in a tub or patch. Although I never actually buy Icy Hot, I usually buy something similar called Mineral Ice that comes in a blue tub.

Is Menthol the same thing as methyl salicylate?

[Nick Theodorakis]

Originally Posted by Xia

I've only seen it available in a tub or patch. Although I never actually buy Icy Hot, I usually buy something similar called Mineral Ice that comes in a blue tub.

Is Menthol the same thing as methyl salicylate?

No. Oil of wintergreen is methyl salicylate. (IcyHot has both menthol and wintergreen).

Nick

ETA: apparently it depends on which form of IcyHot is used.

I'm not really surprised by this. Any substance is toxic if your body processes it in sufficient quantity, I'm just amazed someone would think that this would feel good. It's bad enough when you make a ring of Icy Hot around your arm, covering a significant portion of your body is something I would be instinctively averse to.

[Dactyl]

It sounds like the stuff we have over here called Deep Heat, which comes in a tube, as a patch and a spray can. Football locker rooms the country over stink of the stuff. And the problem with the spray is that the application area can be a little inexact and it really stings on your balls.