As many of you know I’ve been having major back/hip/nerve issues the last week so of course I was icing my back.
And, now I have frostbite? or a chemical burn from the contents of single use ice packs…
which now I will make a habit of actually reading warnings, labels, etc. and heeding the advice that if it says SINGLE USE ONLY, I will use it ONCE.
NOT refreeze multiple times over and over and over…
I might even pay attention to the caution warnings on the box too
Though I did just find the box it came in and noticed it says that if you get the contents on skin you should flush with water AND call a dr…
hmmmmmmmmmmm fail on the latter part of that
At the time (last night) all I saw was the caution on the bag itself
At which point I went running from wrapping gifts to the shower in excruciating pain!
This pic was taken after the flushing with lots of water
And, of course I have to sleep on my back because of back pain so that was fun last night.
Today, my back look likes it has writing on it in places…
and hurts like almighty heck!
After spending Christmas at my daughters brother & sister in law’s I’m home alone and started researching what it could be…chemical burn? dry ice burn? whatever?
After some searching I found other runners and athletes who did pretty much the same thing I did…
ice packs directly on skin and ended up with the same type of burns…frostbite!
OUCH!
Some said it took 2+ weeks to heal, some said chunks of skin came off, some said their skin never returned to its normal color!
YIKES!
How stupid of me?! *sigh*
I do not not not want my skin looking like this forever!
All because I was too cheap to use multiple ice packs and the stiff hard plastic ones are impossible to lay on thus the reason I was reusing these because they conformed to shape of back but they’re expensive if I kept having to buy new ones after one use.
So, now on top of still having back/hip/nerve pain (until Tuesday when I go to the chiropractor), I now have more pain from whatever this is…
if it’s frostbite or….
Now, I’m in twice as much pain and mad at myself because this was my own stupidity, frugality that caused this.
Question of the day
Have you ever used ice packs?
Have you ever done something stupid you regretted?
Did you have a good holiday?
Tara says
I use ice packs all the time, but I use cloth covered ice packs. They work great. So sorry to hear about your frostbite! : (
Sherrie says
That looks awful. I was hoping you found some relief today.
Shelly says
Go out and buy a few bags of frozen peas at grocery store, off-brand cheap ones and use those as ice packs…it’s cheaper and you can refreeze and there are NO chemicals.
joann says
Walgreens has a hot/cold pack for around 19 bucks. The inside is mud. Mike got me one when I had issues with my shoulder. Problem was it was too heavy for my shoulder unless I laid on it. Should be perfect for the back.
Warnings are about the microwave – that’s how you heat it up but never used it for heat.
Tara Burner says
yea my stupidity
I’ll have to go ck it out Joann
hopefully chiropractor will fix back/hip/nerve tues. morning and I wont have to be icing myself anymore or burning myself w/ice! sigh
Kathy Browning says
I need to make you a rice pack. They mold to the body and can be frozen or heated in the microwave. The burn you have is awful! I can’t imagine how painful that must be. I’m sorry you have to go thru this, especially during the holidays.
Alycia says
You poor thing! Hope it is feeling a little better today!
katie tanner says
Rice packs are the best!!! You can always put rice in an old sock, and them freeze it or warm it up, they work wonders, actually using.one right now, hope its all better tomorrow with the chiropractor, good luck