Hunan Hand

I had a terrible night last night. I made salsa with some chili peppers from my garden and about 30 minutes after that my fingertips started burning. It felt like I was holding all of my fingertips on top of a hot griddle. We tried everything, cold water, ice, vaseline, cortizone cream, some organic cream, aloe vera, etc. David looked it up online and found that what I had is a condition called Hunan Hand. They originally discovered it because of people working with the kung pao peppers in Chinese food. I guess the oil from the peppers soaked into my skin. So then the internet said to wash with abrasive soap and lemon juice to cut the oil. I have never felt so much pain! Needless to say, that didn't work much and it just made me cry and shake. At one point I asked David to take me to the hospital, but there wasn't much visually that they could see, just very RED tips. I laid on the couch with ice on them, took 4 advils and finally went to bed with the ice and fell asleep. It was only then when I was sleeping that the pain got better. I woke up this morning and the pain is all gone I just have some very dry, rough fingertips! I'll be using rubber gloves when I make salsa from now on!! The crazy thing is that this happened before about a month ago. I made salsa in the morning, showered, then I was driving to my parent's and that's when my fingers started burning. That time it went away in about an hour. David read that after the first time it happens, you develop a sensitivity and it gets worse with each successive time!! Crazy!! I'm going to buy a box of disposable gloves today!!