"Check this out," my friend wrote. "I've been trying it for about 24 hours now and I think it's helping. Sounds crazy, I know, but if it takes away the pain in my hip and piriformis, I'm in."
Attached was a link to an article on People's Pharmacy that told of the benefits, so to speak, of putting soap under the bed sheets. Bar soap has been used, it says, to treat sciatica, bursitis and leg and arm cramps. As the sciatic nerve goes straight through the piriformis, it only makes sense that the home remedy could be used for alleviating the pain of the tight muscle.
So my friend had taken a bar of soap and used a knife to make flakes. The flakes were put in a knee-high stocking, and she was able to put it under the sheets, on her chair cushion or in her waistband.
And yes, it did sound crazy but the idea was not 100 percent alien to me. We ran a medical column in the paper for years, and the author repeatedly suggested putting a bar of soap to cure, well, anything. His advice was so frequent that it was a running joke in the newsroom.
It's understandable then that I laughed when my friend shared her story. Her results, though? They made me pause. Could I be crazy, too?
The answer: Obviously.
Wednesday night, I took a travel-size bar of soap and wrapped it in a sweat towel that I had accidentally taken from the Y. As I have to sleep on my side, I wasn't sure how a bar of soap under the sheets would help the hip if it was in the air so I decided to try something new with placement. As in, I tucked it in my pajama pants. It stayed there through the night as I rolled from right to left and struggled to get comfortable, a near impossibility at this point.
I was curious but not necessarily hopeful when I woke up Thursday morning. I did the old lady roll out of bed and took a few steps toward the bathroom.
Oochy, ouchy, OH! The soap had not worked. Not. At. All.
"Nothing lost, nothing gained," I thought to my self as I proceeded to finish the jaunt to the toilet to eliminate my pregnant bladder. But in the, oh, 45 seconds that it took, I forgot about the soap in my pants. And it fell out. Into the toilet. So not only did the experiment not work, I was fishing a bar of soap out of toilet water before I had my coffee. It's not only disgusting but tricky, taking far longer than one would expect.
I then washed my hands 7 times and lathered them in rubbing alcohol. And then I had coffee. Lots of it.
The whole experiment made me wonder just what one would be willing to do to get better? Right now, I'd probably do salacious things to get a cortisone shot in my bum ... which is probably the least crazy thing I've found/considered to ease my pain.
Essential oils. I have taken to using these occasionally after reader Sara reached out to me and wrote a GUEST POST about its use. When I strained my hip in 2013, I used the Deep Blue blend from doTERRA to give myself an edge during healing and therapy. I've continued to use it when I've felt niggles and have tried it with my bum. But, it's a little hard to apply oil to the back side and get it in the right spot. Also, the piriformis is so deep that I'm not sure the oil gets to where it needs to go. I have been interested in trying the Deep Blue Rub, especially since my massage therapist used it last week.
Diet. My grandma had a big book of home remedies that she left on the TV stand and often referred to when things went awry. It's from that book where she got the idea to eat cherries when her gout flared up. Tart cherries have anti-inflammatory properties and after a few days of eating them by the bowl, her gout gimp would improve and within a week she was back to normal. There are some other foods, according to my resources {aka Google}, that improve inflammation. Since PS is agitation/muscle inflammation, I'm hoping a cherry smoothie a day will keep the therapist away. Or maybe I should start with cherry pie ...
Salt caves. I found this one thanks to Groupon and a deal about an hour away from me. The owner claims that visitors to the salt cave, filled with salt from the Himalayas in Pakistan, experience relief for chronic pain, respiratory conditions, skin conditions and more. The cost is $30 and from what I can tell, you sit in a room with a bunch of salt. Please note: I am not doing this. It seems even more ridiculous than the soap.
Tell me: Have you had success with a non-traditional therapy? What's the craziest thing you've tried?
