# What marks do you give ActivOn?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-marks-do-you-give-activon/388085>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 15, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-marks-do-you-give-activon/388085 "2007-01-15T17:14:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-marks-do-you-give-activon/388085/1 "2007-01-15T17:14:34Z")

</div>

For me, maybe a C-.

I have this dime-sized arthritic pain in my back, just a little above the gluteus. So I succumbed to the advertising and gave ActivOn a try.

There was no instant feeling of relief, no sensation at all except I could feel the stuff rubbing against my skin as I applied it. I.e., no warmth that you get with, say, analgesic balm (aka BenGay).

The product’s active ingredients are:

Camphor 3.15%  
Histamine Dhydrochloride 0.025%  
Menthol 4.127%

You really get your money’s worth of active ingredients, don’t you! 😃😃😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-marks-do-you-give-activon/388085/2 "2007-01-15T17:36:49Z")

</div>

Isn’t this stuff just homeopathic bunk?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-marks-do-you-give-activon/388085/3 "2007-01-15T17:41:34Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=BarnOwl]  
For me, maybe a C-.

I have this dime-sized arthritic pain in my back, just a little above the gluteus. So I succumbed to the advertising and gave ActivOn a try.

There was no instant feeling of relief, no sensation at all except I could feel the stuff rubbing against my skin as I applied it. I.e., no warmth that you get with, say, analgesic balm (aka BenGay).

The product’s active ingredients are:

Camphor 3.15%  
Histamine Dhydrochloride 0.025%  
Menthol 4.127%

You really get your money’s worth of active ingredients, don’t you! 😃😃😃  
[/QUOTE]

If it was all that great, the commercials would look a helluva lot better. I mean come on, how many major pharmaceutical breakthroughs have come from garage chemists that have the marketing team from 1991’s High School Audio Video club?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-marks-do-you-give-activon/388085/4 "2007-01-15T19:24:45Z")

</div>

It’s far too strong to be homeopathic. Too weak to be useful, as well.

Actually, it’s roughly about half as strong as Bengay ointment, which is 8-10% menthol, depending on the particular type and up to 4% camphor.

So, if Bengay works for you, Activon might.

I’m just wondering what the Histamine Dihydrochloride is there for. It’s apparently more commonly used with interleukin as a leukemia treatment, but in stronger amounts.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-marks-do-you-give-activon/388085/5 "2007-01-15T23:11:23Z")

</div>

[Histamine Dihydrochloride](http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/HI/histamine_dihydrochloride.html) is an irritant. It makes WBCs flood the area and increases the local temperature.  
Not the the best treatment, IMO.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-marks-do-you-give-activon/388085/6 "2007-01-16T00:03:43Z")

</div>

Since this is not a General Question, let’s try MPSIMS.

**samclem** GQ moderator