Icy hot patches while pregnant

[Kel Kel1]

Hi everyone, i have been in such pain from my siatic (sciatic) nerve that i haven't been to work in 3 days!  My doc wants me out after this week!  Any who im wondering if anyone knows if its safe to use icy hot patches while pregnant?????

[Peech911]

Make sure that it doesnt contain Aspirin. I know that there are some patches that have aspirin that absorbs into your skin. I cant remember if Icy Hot was one of them or not. One thing you can try to do is soak a wash cloth in SUPER hot water. Then remove it with tongs and try to squeeze as much excess water out of it. Then place the hot wash cloth in a ziplock bag. This works so great as a heating pad and helps amazingly with the nerve pain. I had all those pains with my last pregnancy. I hope I dont go through it with my current one.
Good luck and I hope the pain eases soon.

[duehring]

I was told not to use the icy hot because it contains aspirin. There is some stuff called Biofreeze that they used on me during my physical therapy massage. It did the same thing as icy hot.

[Jah02e]

I have had the same problem with the sciatic nerve.  I had it really bad for a while there, but my little one has seemed to no be on it so much now and it only hurts every now and then.  When it does I wrap my knee with an ace bandage.  This really helps relieve the pain and pressure.  My doctor told me not to use the icy hot or biofreeze.  Cold is better than hot, b/c hot seems to irritate it more.  I don't know if it is that way with you, but it was with me.  I just bought a cold pack and use the bandage with a small hand towel to wrap it around my knee.  I have also used the icy hot brand of the cold stuff...with the knee brace and that seemed to help a little bit..but it didn't stay cold but for like 30 minutes.  Hope this helps.

[anothergirl]

I don't know if anyone will read this because it's kind of old but just in case:

Tiger Balm

It's an all natural form of "Icy Hot" that is safe for use during pregnancy. Beware though that the instructions warn not to use too much or rub it in too hard because it can cause burns on the skin. It works really well and is available at grocery and health food stores.

[Babypapa]

Main ingredient in Tiger Balm is Camphor which is poisonous and has been shown to get into the fetus.
In large quantities (i.e. 30grams taken orally) it can result in fetal death and abortion.

You can google up "camphor pregancy" if you want to read it for yourself. For these reasons I would be careful when using Tiger Balm, and not use it during pregnancy.