Flashed across the medical horizon dimethyl sulfoxide it was touted as a pain reliever which would also work miracles on burns on acne even on spinal cord injuries a kind of Jack of all trades among drugs. The medical literature was full of stories about it, some of it pro-DMSO but much of it skeptical, even derisive. The Journal of the American Medical Association editorialized against it, and the FDA refused to okay it for general use, saying it had never been proved effective. Nonetheless, two states, Oregon and Florida, have legalized it for prescription, and the black market in DMSO has become nationwide. That’s how many Americans get it.
Meantime, the puzzling story of DMSO continues. It is largely fueled by the efforts of one man, Dr. Stanley Jacob, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Oregon. For 15 years, this man, some would say this zealot, has been pushing DMSO because he believes so deeply despite the doubters in what DMSO can do. Dr. Jacob isn’t a drug that has so many alleged uses, from arthritis to tennis elbow, from burns to spinal cord injuries, from mental retardation to baldness. Isn’t a drug like that automatically suspect? No question. And I think that that’s one of the reasons it’s having problems. And if I had to do it all over again, maybe the major mistake that I made, Mike, in the beginning was to tell it the way it was. I think if I would have said it was good for a sprained ankle but only if the ankle sprain were on the left side, DMSO might be approved today. Because it is legal in Oregon, patients make the journey to Dr. Jacob’s office there almost as if it were a domestic Lourdes.
Dr. Jacob treats some of his patients topically for their bruises, their aches, and pains. But some others of his, some of the most desperate, are young people left paralyzed from auto and motorcycle accidents. These he gives DMSO intravenously to relieve the pressure on their damaged brains, to reduce the swelling in the brain or spinal cord. And sometimes, apparently, he gets dramatic results. “I took the swelling out of the spine, and they told my husband on the phone that I would probably be in a chair, paralyzed for the rest of my life. And so we’re really excited,” says another Oregonian transplanted to Georgia.
June Jones, second-string quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, swears by DMSO. He says he could hardly raise his arm to throw a football. He says he’d be out of the game without DMSO. Several of his teammates use it too, but they wouldn’t talk about it in public because talk of any drug, especially an illegal drug, is verboten in the NFL. “In our business, availability is the most important thing. In other words, if a guy gets hurt, he could lose his job. So when someone comes to me and asks me for it, I give it to him. And whether I’m legally okay to do that or not, I really don’t care about the repercussions because I know I’m going to help somebody,” Jones says.
Perhaps more typical of the legions who depend on DMSO are those who suffer chronic pain. Emily Rudik suffered searing, unrelenting pain from arthritis for years, and she could find no relief until DMSO. “I have some fingers very badly gnarled from arthritis, and the DMSO eases the arthritis right away. It’s not a miracle drug. It doesn’t really cure it, but it eases it,” she says.
DMSO does other things for her too. “I had a fever blister on my lip. I used DMSO three times, and the fever blister went away immediately. I’ve cut myself in the kitchen, and sometimes quite badly, and have used DMSO on it, and the cuts begin to heal right away,” Rudik explains. How does DMSO work? What does it do inside your body that kills pain and helps healing? Dr. Jacob gives a capsule understanding: “One is that it blocks certain types of nerve conduction, these fibers which produce pain. Second, it reduces inflammation or swelling. Third, it actually improves blood supply to an area of injury. Fourth, and this could be the key, in the test tube, in certain types of injury, it literally stimulates healing.”
But is it safe to use? Dr. Richard Kraut, head of the Bureau of Drugs of the Food and Drug Administration, says, “Nobody’s died from using DMSO. It’s a relatively safe drug, as drugs go. It causes skin rash where it’s put on, or at least redness of the skin. It’s caused hives in a few people. It may cause headache, nausea in some people who use it. And rather routinely, it imparts a garlic odor to the breath. So it’s got side effects that are not entirely pleasant, but it’s not being a toxic drug. It’s a safe drug, comparatively safe drug, you will say.”
However, the controversy surrounding DMSO remains. Despite testimonials, neither Dr. Jacob nor any other scientist has ever really proved that DMSO is effective. Controlled trials with DMSO are difficult because that would involve double-blind tests where neither patient nor investigator knows who is getting a drug and who is getting a placebo.
The National Academy of Sciences committee said that only a few DMSO studies were scientifically sound, and most were inadequately set up and carried out. Dr. Jacob disagrees with this conclusion, citing his personal involvement with numerous articles and symposia on DMSO.
A young mother, Sandy Sherik of Riverside, California, suffered severe whiplash and nerve damage in an automobile accident two years ago. She found no relief until DMSO. Her testimonial, along with others, raises questions about the scientific evidence required for acceptance by the medical establishment.
DMSO is now available for treatment of assorted ailments in Western Europe, the Soviet Union, Japan, and Latin America. In Washington, the House Committee on Aging begins an inquiry into why DMSO is not available to all Americans for any appropriate ailment, including pain.