Random Advice Type #16: Don’t Get OC into Your Eyes, Mouth, or Nose

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Most of us know what pepper spray is and another name for it is OC spray or oleoresin capsicum spray. The good thing about this it isn’t man-made but stings and burns if you get it into your eyes, nose, or mouth. The stronger the heat, the more painful it becomes. I have pepper gel although it isn’t very effective because it sits on my counter. I used to carry it around in my bag. I abide by statistics that I am more bound to be attacked by someone I know than a stranger. This gives me more comfort than it should.

I hope no one reading this has had pepper spray used on them without their approval. If you have, then you might want to check yourself and see why the hell you had to get pepper sprayed in the first place. I’ve always wondered what it felt like to be pepper sprayed and now I know. It isn’t something I ever want done again. I still feel the effects of it, which is mainly a headache. The spray woke up the angry beast inside my sinus cavities and my whole head in general.

Pepper spray doesn’t work on everyone, but the majority it affects quickly. All you have to do is look at videos on YouTube to see how people react especially police academies. What does pepper spray feel like? When you get it on your face, hopefully it doesn’t get into your mouth. You’ll have a hard enough time of it inflaming your eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. I closed my eyes while it was sprayed, then opened them, and it burned but I more realized how damn hard it was to keep them open. It was nearly impossible.

I could hardly breathe as I dunked my face and eyes a few times in a tub of soapy water. I did a lot of forcing my eyes open with my fingers and blinking as much as I could after that. I went between keeping my eyes open and putting my hands behind my head while pacing back and forth. I had snot coming out of my nose. After 30 minutes, my eyes felt better but not fully back to normal. The shock of the experience does make you feel as if you can’t breathe.

When I got home, I washed my face in the sink with my eyes closed. Then, I hopped into the shower and washed my whole body and then washed my face again. That reinvigorated the burn on my face as water will do that but not as bad as before and for the first time felt burning of my ears. This is because capsaicin is not water soluble. Not everyone abides by using pepper spray as a method of self-defense and don’t use bear spray. You could permanently damage someone’s eyes with it. People rate the pain level close to 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. I’d give it a 7. It’s a short burst of pain (15 to 30 minutes), followed by mild symptoms the next day. For me, I’m still trying to get rid of my headache and sinus pain so that’s the only annoying thing about having to go through this. If you feel the urge to experience this, have someone there who knows what s/he is doing. Here’s hoping more people have never experienced this than have.

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June 2023
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