Lakota

Someone mentioned using the Lakota products in a thread and I meant to comment but life happened and i never got there.

Lakota is a natural product and does not contain "drugs" per se.. that is true. However one the main ingredients in it is willow bark. Willow bark is the substance that lead to the creation of aspirin. Aspirin of course being the grandmother of all NSAIDS.

So if you are using lakota and think you are not using an NSAID I would caution you could be ingesting or putting on your skin a non drug product that has the same risks as an NSAID. I'd strongly suggest you run using it by your doctor rather than going on the basis that is natural product and therefore safe.

Speak to your doc, but also to a pharmacist - she would have superior drug and supplement knowledge and could go over the ingredients and advise you whether it is truly safe.

There are several different Lakota products on the market, all with different ingredients.  The formula that I use, Lakota for muscle pain, doesn't contain willow bark.  Its medicinal ingredients are Canada balsam, birch oil, juniper berry, yarrow, and capsaicin (a type of pepper that creates the sensation of heat).  I checked it out and it has no NSAID properties.  It's not as effective as NSAIDs but it does help things like localized muscle pain (I have fibromyalgia) and tendonitis (which I have in my ankle, although it's been improving as I continue to lose weight).