That is exactly how my hands felt for 3 hours.
Last week, we made a trip to Miller Farms. We always have an awesome time, no matter the weather conditions! I brought home bags of sweet corn on the cob, popcorn, peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, green beans, a few beets, onions and potatoes- all for 12 dollars! I spent 4 days cleaning, peeling, chucking, chopping and blanching to put them in the freezer. We had corn on the cob days in a row, carrot cake and just yummy fresh meals. On Saturday night, I decided to pick one of each color of peppers to mix with some onions. I honestly don't know the differences between any of the peppers I got. I just chopped, seeded and cooked. With in just a few minutes is when I started to feel the burn. Half of my right hand and a few fingertips on the left hand were red, puffy and burning.
We looked on the Internet for different remedies; I washed my hands, put them in baking soda, flour, under cold water, I held frozen vegetables, put my hands in Clorox, rubbing alcohol, covered them with Vaseline and took Advil. Nothing helped the burning sensation disappear. The only thing that helped was cold running water. Two hours later I called my Mom in tears and asked what to do. I took more pain medicine and called poison control. Poison Control lady, Tiffany, said to wash them with soapy water (ya, did that) and then explained to me that the oils from the peppers were in my skin and I needed to extract that oil with a different oil. She suggested vegetable oil or olive oil. And if that didn't work, to buy liquid Maalox. Since I had vegetable oil in my pantry- I decided to 'wash' my hands in it several times. The pain subsided. About 20 minutes later I fell asleep- I'm sure due to exhaustion. Half an hour later I woke up with absolutely no sign that the last 3 hours existed.
Yeah, I know I have heard and read to never cut hot peppers without gloves, but it never bothered me before. I still have the peppers on my kitchen counter- waiting for me to buy gloves from the store. I plan on making pre-made fajita packs with them and the onions. We'll see. Cutting peppers I think will frighten me forever now.
