Product review and giveaway: Pain Relief Cream "Topricin"

Welcome to the first-ever product review/ giveaway on this blog!
The product we're reviewing and giving away (one gift basket only) is Topricin, a homeopathic pain relief cream.

I've been using it myself for the last few days. Conveniently (or not, depending on how you look at it), I've had significant discomfort this week after driving 800 miles in one day (by myself). So I had some legitimate pain to try out this cream on. And I gotta say, it really helped.

One the pain scale of 0-10 (zero being "no pain at all" and 10 being "i'm going to jump off a roof if this pain doesn't stop!"), I'd say for me this cream is completely effective all the way up to an 8-level pain. If something is 9 or 10, I'll try the cream first, then if it doesn't work, resort to taking advil or some other pill out of my cabinet.

Because no pharmaceutical or over-the-counter drugs are without risk (or side effects), I am always in favor of finding a more natural solution to life's little problems (and the big ones, too).

Topricin is all natural. Being homeopathic, it works with your body to heal the source of the pain, rather than only suppressing symptoms. Although it does also relieve symptoms.

The website suggests using it for some very painful conditions, including fibromyalgia, plantar fasciitis, carpal tunnel and neuropathy.

Topricin, from what I can tell, comes in 3 formulas:
1) general pain relief cream
2) "junior" pain relief (for kids)
3) foot pain relief

They are available in tubes, tubs, or "single serving" packets (great for travel/ in your purse or backpack). It's non-greasy and has no smell. I give it 2 thumbs up!

So, I have this big beautiful basket of topricin to give away!

How to enter:

1. Mandatory:  In order to enter to win, just leave a comment on this post. Don't forget to include your email address (ex: SpiffyStuffBlog at gmail dot com --like this to avoid spamming from bots).  You can't win if I can't contact you.  ;)  This counts as one entry.
2. Optional:  
1. visit me on youtube (www.youtube.com ), find a song of mine that made you laugh, and come back here to tell us all about it in a comment. Again, don't forget to include your email address
2.  Instead of limiting this contest to those who follow my blog, I'm going to make following this blog a separate entry.  Make a separate post saying that you follow this blog.  Again, don't forget to include your email address.  This counts as one entry.
3. "Like" (hit the "like" button) Carla's music page on facbeook (http://www.facebook.com/ ) Please post your Facebook username (probably just your full name) so we can verify this entry.  Again, please include your email address.  This counts as one entry.
4. Advertise this contest: A Tweet, a Facebook mention, a blog post about this contest on your own blog, anything like this would count as an additional, separate entry.  Be sure to post links or usernames so that your shout-out can be verified.  And finally--don't forget to include your email address.

This contest will close promptly at 10:00 p.m. EDST on Wednesday, May 18, 2011.

Shortly thereafter I will pick a winner based on their post number which will be picked by the free number generator at Random.org.  I will post the winner here for all the world to see, and notify the winner to see where/how to ship your fabulous gift basket of Topricin.  Once the winner has been confirmed, we'll send the prize your way.   

Meanwhile, you can visit the website of this giveaway's sponsor right here:
http://www.topricin.com/


Carla Ulbrich, The Singing Patient,
is the author of "How Can You *Not* Laugh at a Time Like This?"
Get Carla's Book at Amazon.com
www.thesingingpatient.com

neuroma, my foot!

Something is very wrong with my left foot.
And I think it has to do with wearing cheap crappy tennis shoes with no arch support.
I've either got plantar fasciitis or Morton's neuroma. either way, it means inflammation and constant pain in the bottom of my left foot- the ball of my foot and my toes, including under the nails.
I gotta say, when the feet ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

This usually happens to women who wear high heels. I don't, but I did recently get a pair of sneakers that look extremely cool but don't quite fit my left foot correctly, and don't have any support for my high arches. But they look cool...

I went to the podiatrist, who gave me some stretching exercises and suggested icing it as well. And gave me some vicodin Rx, which barely touched the pain. The ice helped a little, temporarily. But the minute i stepped on my foot, even for a second, i was in pain for the next couple hours, until about a half hour after i got off it and elevated it.

Notice I said that in past tense. I finally got some relief today, after going to the acupuncturist and then on the way home buying some aspirin. I needed something anti-inflammatory and the MD i had gone to before didn't want to give me predisone, since it might disrupt my lab tests and ongoing treatment of my autoimmune stuff. and I'm not supposed to take ibuprofen because of my history of kidney troubles.

Well it's easy to get stuck in problem-oriented thinking. Especially hen all my facebook friends are telling me they had these same problems for weeks, months, even a year. But finally it occurred to me that aspirin was not forbidden for me. So I got some relief tonight from acupuncture and aspirin, after almost 2 solid weeks of constant pain. My hubby also went out and bought me some fancy Superfeet shoe inserts from eastern mountain sports (at the suggestion of a couple facebook friends).

And at least for now (until I'm foolish enough to forget), I resolve that cheap shoes (and shoes that make me look cheap- e.g., high heels) are not worth the price. My inserts, which cost more than my "cool" sneakers, are now in my old "uncool" sneakers. And my cool sneakers still look really cool- in the trash can.