Category:
Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Jalaproctitis

Jalaproctitis is the medical term for the rectal burning sensation often experienced by people when they defecate after having eaten jalapenos. It was given this name by researchers at the University of Texas who conducted an experiment to study the effects of jalapenos (whether it acted as an expectorant, caused painful urination, and burning defecation). From the New England Journal of Medicine (Nov 16, 1978):

To investigate these issues, we prospectively studied participants in a jalapeno-pepper eating contest. Subjects included three women and two men ranging in age from 22 to 42. None had a history of lacrimation, rhinorrhea, dysuria or discomfort on defecation before the contest. One was a smoker, and one had cough and scanty sputum production before the contest.

After giving informed consent, subjects consumed as many large jalapenos as could be tolerated in a three-minute period. The number of peppers consumed ranged from three to 13, with a median of five. Three of the participants noted lacrimation and rhinorrhea immediately after the contest. In none did cough or sputum production develop. One male subject complained of dysuria, and four of five noted a burning discomfort on defecation within 24 hours of the contest.

The limited information obtained from this study does not indicate clinical usefulness of jalapeno as an expectorant. We believe that jalapenos may well be the cause of transient dysuria and, in addition, may result in a syndrome of burning defecation that might appropriately be termed "jalaproctitis."

Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 18, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Food, Experiments, Body Fluids, Excrement, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

The Pain Performances of Gina Pane

French artist Gina Pane conducted "pain performances" that involved (as wikipedia puts it) "extreme self-inflicted injury." Some info from an article by Pawel Leszkowicz:

Gina Pane. Today many pronounce her name Gina Pain, turning the Italian word for bread into the English word for suffering. Pane, the queen of European body art, has been having something of a renaissance in the early 21st century art world, in the era of virtual bodies. Her art actions of the late 1970s featured constant demonstrations of pain. Called "that crazy lady with the razor blade" by some ironists, she cut the skin of her palms, hands, back, belly, mouth, tongue, and cheeks.

Some of her pain performances:

Non-Anaethestized Climb (1971): Barefoot, she climbed up and down a ladder-like structure whose rungs were studded with sharp metallic shards. She did this until she was bleeding profusely.



Food/TV News/Fire (1971): While watching news footage of the Vietnam War, with a bright light shining in her eyes, she ate raw ground beef, and later threw it up.



Sentimental Action (1973): Dressed in white, she entered the gallery with a bouquet of roses, removed the thorns from them, and pierced her arm with the thorns. She then began cutting herself with a razor blade, allowing the blood to drip onto the roses.



Conditioning (1973): She lay on a metal bedframe position over two rows of burning candles. She later confessed that the pain started right away and was difficult to master. The audience could see the pain she was in by the intense wringing of her hands.



More info: art moderne

Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 07, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Performance Art, 1970s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

The Atomic Balm prank

I'm not sure when exactly Atomic Balm was first sold. I believe it was sometime in the 1950s. But it very quickly became widely used by football teams as a pain-relieving ointment.

It also became a favorite of pranksters. The prank involved surreptitiously placing Atomic Balm in a player's jockstrap. Since the ointment contains Capsaicin, the results were painful.

The Atomic Balm prank was a perennial favorite on high school football teams, but the most famous instance of the prank occurred on the Miami Dolphins, recounted below.

Source: Teena Dickerson, The Girlfriend's Guide to Football



Posted By: Alex - Fri Aug 19, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Sports, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Pranks, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Rubber Snow Mitts

There's a good reason these never caught on: I'm sure the wearer's hands were as clammy as dead fish within seconds of wearing them.

Source.

Even the modern version that appears next has some breathable fabric, and is specially for work, not snowball fights.

Source.



Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 12, 2020 - Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Seasonal, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise, Skin and Skin Conditions

Peter Pain Parody

Alex and I never coordinate our posts, but sometimes they achieve thematic synchronicity. Yesterday, for instance, he posted about losing weight and I posted about obesity.

But his post from today, about Corporate Icon Peter Pain, happened magically to dovetail with my leisure-time reading of last evening, when I was enjoying THE THING FROM THE GRAVE, a collection of the work that artist Joe Orlando did for the fabled EC Comics. I read Orlando's Peter Pain Parody, and then this morning found Alex's post!

BTW: the whole line of EC reprints from Fantagraphics is worthy of your attention.



Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 05, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Comics, Homages, Pastiches, Tributes and Borrowings, 1950s, Parody, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

The Hazardous Maxi-coat

It's getting colder outside, here in the Northern Hemisphere--but be careful of how you bundle up!






Source.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 05, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Death, Fashion, 1970s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Dangers of the Charleston



Source.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 24, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: 1920s, Dance, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Hangovers Due to Guilty Conscience

In 1973, Professor Robert Gunn advanced this theory.



Twenty years later, he was still pursuing the idea, as you can see in the scientific paper at the link.

To reappraise a prior study of hangover signs and psychosocial factors among a sample of current drinkers, we excluded a subgroup termed Sobers, who report "never" being "tipsy, high or drunk." The non-sober current drinkers then formed the sample for this report (N = 1104). About 23% of this group reported no hangover signs regardless of their intake level or gender, and the rest showed no sex differences for any of 8 hangover signs reported. Using multiple regression, including ethanol, age and weight, it was found that psychosocial variables contributed independently in predicting to hangover for both men and women in this order: (1) guilt about drinking; (2) neuroticism; (3) angry or (4) depressed when high/drunk and (5) negative life events. For men only, ethanol intake was also significant; for women only, being younger and reporting first being high/drunk at a relatively earlier age were also predictors of the Hangover Sign Index (HSI). These multiple predictors accounted for 5-10 times more of the hangover variance than alcohol use alone: for men, R = 0.43, R2 = 19%; and for women, R = 0.46, R2 = 21%. The findings suggest that hangover signs are a function of age, sex, ethanol level and psychosocial factors.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Feb 10, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Science, Experiments, Psychology, 1970s, 1990s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise, Alcohol

Follies of the Madmen #404



Not entirely sure why any company would emphasize the sufferings of its "antagonist" so dramatically. It would be like saying, "Poor germs! Doctors are killing them all!"

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 02, 2019 - Comments (0)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Advertising, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, 1940s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise, Fictional Monsters

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Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

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