My sister is into all this alternative medicine/aroma therapy crap and suggested I rub some oil she had on my knee (banged it up pretty good while helping her move a table). She gives me this little bottle of stuff that is supposed to be a pain killer. I pour some on my hands and rub it into my knee and right away I get this uncomfortable burning sensation so bad that I had to quickly wash if off with soap and water. I asked her "what the heck did you give me" and she says oil of wintergreen. I told it hurt and she asked how much I put on. I told her about the width of my hand and she said I was only supposed to use a few drops and that any more is toxic. A tablespoon taken internally can kill an adult. I look at the bottle and there's no warnings on it whatsoever. I asked her where she got it and she says "K-Mart".  

Your Dead!

"A tablespoon taken internally can kill an adult."

Yea, and injecting nutmeg into your body can kill you.. but you ain't that dumb, right?

I would not worry. I highly doubt a tablespoon would kill.

Quoted: "A tablespoon taken internally can kill an adult." Yea, and injecting nutmeg into your body can kill you.. but you ain't that dumb, right?

Well, according to Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine she's correct. The active ingredient is Methyl-Salicylate. I also did a web search and found pretty much the same thing. Look it up.

Quoted: Yea, and injecting nutmeg into your body can kill you.. but you ain't that dumb, right?

Nutmeg spice contains an hallucinogenic drug (myristicin IIRC) that contributes to nutmeg's toxicity.

Ingesting as little as just a few grams can cause heart palpitations, hallucinations and euphoria.

Ever notice the nutmeg shaker at Starbucks is always real low?


BTW, it can also cause convulsions and death, if you can keep that much down and not

In school, kids used to make their own cinnimon toothpics with cinnimon oil from the drug store. On several occasions, kids had severe allegic reactions, ambulances called, the whole deal.

Gotta be careful with the pure stuff, you wouldn't chug 12oz of grain alcohol would you?

There are/were some real good old time medicines out there that worked but the knowlege on using them wasn't getting passed down like it did with your parents & grand-parents so they've pulled it off the market because of dumbasses.

You should be OK, its not THAT toxic especially applied to the skin.  It is in Ben Gay so its not "alternative".

Consuming it is toxic partly because of the methyl group.  It is an ester, that is a carboxylic acid (salicyclic acid, the starting point of asprin, another ester) and an alcohol (methyl or wood alcohol, a toxin that causes blindness).  In the stomach, the stong acid decomposes methyl salicylate to methyl alcohol (bad) and salicyclic acid, not all too toxic except in large quantities.  

On the skin, its quite irritating as you noticed.  But unless you lathered large areas of skin with it, you did no harm other than the pain.

Jeez, you came here for help. I would have called poison control.

Where's a smiling grim reaper anim when you need it?

Quoted: Gotta be careful with the pure stuff, you wouldn't chug 12oz of grain alcohol would you?

Don't temp some of the members on this board.