I believe some of the regulars coat their stomach to help ease the pain. It may not help much in the mouth, but may ease the pain in the stomach and on the way out. lol. I have seen 2 videos of guys sucking milk or OJ before eating a pepper. I suppose for a professional, it would be sacrilegious, but who is gonna know.

I've never experienced stomach pain like that, but I've never eaten one on an empty stomach. I usually eat raw peppers with a meal. Chocolate will coat your mouth and lessen the burn, so if this is gonna be a regular thing at your office, keep some chocolate kisses in your desk. Eat one before sampling...

I never went straight to a super hot pepper, worked my way up from jalapeño, cayenne, habanero, then ghost chili. Also would not eat on an empty stomach. Eating a pepper raw is so much different than eating as a sauce or powder. Though I diced up ghost raw and ate on a sandwich. I think those that were doubled over in stomach pain was due to empty stomach and their bodies not used to intense capsaicin. There's not really a trick more of a tolerance build up to eating them raw. I've eaten a ghost chili whole one time and I would not do that again but I can handle Ghost hot sauce that I made and would rather stick to that.

As I was walking around holding my stomach and moaning yesterday I told myself never again, but I think hot peppers can cause short term memory loss, because now I'm eying the habaneros growing in my garden, and I'm actually considering eating them raw.

perhaps you should try eating other spicy peppers before jumping into one of the hottest peppers...

A coworker brought in a Carolina Reaper and cut it up into strips for everyone to try. I had maybe 1/10 of the pepper. The burn in my mouth was strong but manageable. It kept building for several minutes, and was actually kind of a thrill. I wasn't prepared for the pain in my stomach that followed. After about 10 minutes, I had severe cramps, like I wanted to vomit but couldn't. It felt like I had been punched in the gut. This continued for another 10 minutes or so before the pain finally subsided.

As I was walking around holding my stomach and moaning yesterday I told myself never again, but I think hot peppers can cause short term memory loss, because now I'm eying the habaneros growing in my garden, and I'm actually considering eating them raw.

Capsaicin does not cause memory loss. YMMV

`

The memory will return in spades when you visit the toilet...;-)

LMAO! That's why I always have fudgecicles in the freezer. Instant cold... ;-)

Capsaicin does not cause memory loss. YMMV

Chileman, I had a rebuttal to this, but I ate a hot pepper this morning, and now I can't remember what that rebuttal was ;-)

Prior to this week, I was a wimp when it came to hot peppers. Maybe I still am. It would take me ~20 minutes to nibble on a fresno pepper, and I'd usually have stop short of the seeded section, or I'd start hiccupping and get nauseous. After my experience earlier this week of eating part of a Reaper, I can now chomp a fresno whole, in one go, without any real discomfort. I think it's interesting how quickly one can become habituated to hot peppers.

rt_peasant I have heard some people getting a 'rush' or a high off of super hots. I think it depends on how often you eat them. I eat a lot of hot peppers. Even when tooling about the garden I will pick a hab and chomp away. I have bhuts and scorpions, too. I do not just pick them to eat out there, though. The bhuts are used for sauces. The chocolate scorpion I love the taste of and use sliced rings in my wraps. I always eat a ring or two when I cut them.

I would think if you have any gastric issues, then peppers may very well set them off. Never heard of memory loss and to the best of my recollection mine is still present, somewhere. Practice makes perfect.