Although the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties are universally accepted and well documented the medicinal use of DMSO has always been controversial.

There have been numerous trials of DMSO in the treatment of serious diseases but it has been difficult to conduct double blind trials due to the fact that administering DMSO causes an almost immediate taste of garlic in the mouth and the breath to smell of garlic in most individuals.

As most of the evidence for the treatment of serious complaints appears to be anecdotal, and there are several books available on the subject we are going to concentrate here on the practical use of DMSO as a topical anti-inflammatory and analgesic.