me enchilé*
Lesson learned:
NEVERnever, ever, ever chop habanero peppers with your bare hands. EVER!
My hands Burned for about 8+ hours. BURNED. I tried everything (too late apparently) and the only relief I could get was soaking my hands in cold water. But when the water would warm up, my hands quickly switched to thinking they were in boiling water. But taking them out of the water, felt like they were on fire again. I've never felt anything burn so badly. I was nearly crying. I was so stupid in not wearing gloves, but i really thought any burning would be a quick, transient nuisance, like getting lemon juice in a cut. I also assumed i could wash off the capsaicin and everything would be fine. Well, apparently the peppers' oils absorb into your skin pretty quickly and then mess with your central nervous system and cause your nocireceptors (aka. pain receptors, which i believe are actually part of you peripheral nervous system) to go crazy, and your brain reads this as burning. Even after soaking my hands for hours, if i licked my fingers, they still tasted hot. So i had to use latex gloves to remove my contacts (and put them in this morning). Good thing i had those on hand. Washing my face was painful because my face felt too hot to my hands. Everything i touched felt too hot.
I brought an ice pack to bed, and still couldn't fall asleep. I switched ice packs 3 times when they'd warm up (thank you New England Biolabs for the all those ice packs). When i ran out of icepacks, i used ice in a plastic bag. And eventually was able to fall asleep. This morning, my hands are nearly back to normal --also a relief because i need them to do lab work! There's still just the slightest ghost of a tingle.
So please everyone: If you ever cut up really hot peppers, wear gloves!! Or plastic bags over your hands as gloves. and of course, don't touch your face or any mucous membranes. My mom wears plastic bags, and handles the peppers with a fork to cut them. I always thought she was exaggerating a bit. Now i know better!
On a positive note, Ryan loved the hot sauce i made. All I could think of, was that after all that, it better be good!
*In spanish, the verb *enchilar* refers to the burning sensation caused by hot/spicy foods, either by eating or contact. There's no good english translation.
NEVERnever, ever, ever chop habanero peppers with your bare hands. EVER!
My hands Burned for about 8+ hours. BURNED. I tried everything (too late apparently) and the only relief I could get was soaking my hands in cold water. But when the water would warm up, my hands quickly switched to thinking they were in boiling water. But taking them out of the water, felt like they were on fire again. I've never felt anything burn so badly. I was nearly crying. I was so stupid in not wearing gloves, but i really thought any burning would be a quick, transient nuisance, like getting lemon juice in a cut. I also assumed i could wash off the capsaicin and everything would be fine. Well, apparently the peppers' oils absorb into your skin pretty quickly and then mess with your central nervous system and cause your nocireceptors (aka. pain receptors, which i believe are actually part of you peripheral nervous system) to go crazy, and your brain reads this as burning. Even after soaking my hands for hours, if i licked my fingers, they still tasted hot. So i had to use latex gloves to remove my contacts (and put them in this morning). Good thing i had those on hand. Washing my face was painful because my face felt too hot to my hands. Everything i touched felt too hot.
I brought an ice pack to bed, and still couldn't fall asleep. I switched ice packs 3 times when they'd warm up (thank you New England Biolabs for the all those ice packs). When i ran out of icepacks, i used ice in a plastic bag. And eventually was able to fall asleep. This morning, my hands are nearly back to normal --also a relief because i need them to do lab work! There's still just the slightest ghost of a tingle.
So please everyone: If you ever cut up really hot peppers, wear gloves!! Or plastic bags over your hands as gloves. and of course, don't touch your face or any mucous membranes. My mom wears plastic bags, and handles the peppers with a fork to cut them. I always thought she was exaggerating a bit. Now i know better!
On a positive note, Ryan loved the hot sauce i made. All I could think of, was that after all that, it better be good!
*In spanish, the verb *enchilar* refers to the burning sensation caused by hot/spicy foods, either by eating or contact. There's no good english translation.