Media hype ruined Zicam

For the past 10 years, I’ve had a secret weapon against colds. Zicam was (was being the operative term) a zinc gel that you squirted up into your sinuses through your nose. It was developed in a surprisingly simple, yet effective manner. They simply filled a huge number of Petri dishes with anything they could think of that wouldn’t be detrimental to a human body, then infected all of them with a cold virus and observed which had the slowest growth rate. The winner was zinc, which when introduced into the sinuses, inhibits the growth of the virus long enough for the body’s own defenses to keep the cold symptoms to a minimum. I’ve nipped many a cold in the bud using this wondrous concoction.

The down side to this is that zinc affects your sense of smell. In fact, that is what scientists use to kill the sense of smell in lab rats when required for experimental purposes. Used incorrectly, one’s sense of smell can be permanently destroyed. Fortunately, the scent receptors are placed high up inside the nasal passages, beyond where the gel could go when used per the instructions. Even so, I’ve noticed a diminished sense of smell when using Zicam, some of which may have been attributable to the cold itself. It usually took a few weeks for it to return to normal.

Well, the popular media grabbed a hold of the 100 or so reported cases of smell loss (out of the millions used) and ran with it. Many of those cases resulted from an ill-advised variant, a nasal spray that was more easily sniffed back up into the high nasal passages. This variant was yanked from the market many years ago. That didn’t seem to matter to the media, which began to call for an FDA recall and investigation. To save face, the parent company pulled the gel and replaced it with a throat lozenge. I tried that with my last cold, but it was totally ineffective. It only makes sense; it was developed to inhibit the virus in the sinuses. The lozenge dissolves in your throat and ends up in your stomach – how is it going to help there?

I woke up with a sore throat this morning. Rats.

Don't sweet it. Go to any good health food store and just get a Zinc suppliment, it works just as well. Add Vitamine C in large doses which has also been proved to help in many indipendant studies, but the medical establishment also manages to roll out studies to counteract.

Last December I got a sinus infection, which is what I usually get when I get sick. They wouldn't give me antibiotics until I waited 10 days, because they wouldn't be able to tell if it was viral or not and antibiotics won't help unless it's bacterial. I don't generally take medicine unless it actually is required for getting better, but I needed something to help the symptoms. It was the third time I'd gotten a sinus infection in 2 months. The doc recommended something called a sinus rinse. It's a small squeeze bottle you fill with distilled water (Dasani works fine) and empty a little salt packet (included, table salt don't cut it), shake it up and squirt it up your nose.

It took a little getting used to; no wimping out while figuring out how to to it well. The principles of it make sense; it's flushes out the mucus and washes the infected junk out. It worked unbelievably well. And since it's basically salt water, you can take it whenever without side effects or worrying about overdosing. Whenever I feel like a sinus infection might be coming on, I use it and it seems to fight it off. The effects last for hours, too, since it moisturizes your sinus cavity. If your sore throat could be coming from crap draining into it, give it a try. It'll work better when you can get it down after a few uses.

Neti Pot. end discussion.

just remember to hold your breath.

gimpstang wrote: Nasal douch. end discussion.

Fixxored

gimpstang wrote: Neti Pot. end discussion. just remember to hold your breath.

Great idea

jstein77 wrote: ...Well, the popular media grabbed a hold of the 100 or so reported cases of smell loss (out of the millions used) and ran with it....

And yet, they let this happen:

http://www.nghealthcareeurope.com/media/media-news/infographics/091126-HealthEU-RoadAccidents.png

They haven't taken those off the market.

Nasal douche- Not many pharmacies stock them but most can order one for you. They're much cheaper than netipots.

Vioxx. That stuff was awesome. Apparently it wasn't great for the heart if you used it for 18 months straight. Instead of saying "Don't use this stuff for 18 months straight", the pulled it off the market. berkeleyers. I've not found anything that works as well for internal injuries.

aircooled wrote:

jstein77 wrote: ...Well, the popular media grabbed a hold of the 100 or so reported cases of smell loss (out of the millions used) and ran with it....

And yet, they let this happen: http://www.nghealthcareeurope.com/media/media-news/infographics/091126-HealthEU-RoadAccidents.png They haven't taken those off the market.

"They" should take low and middle income countries off the market.

gimpstang wrote: Neti Pot. end discussion. just remember to hold your breath.

The same company, NeilMed or something, made that thing I use. It's the same, except you don't tilt your head back and pour it in your nose, you keep your head mostly straight and squeeze it up your nose.

I've found that, for a cold, nothing works better than 14 days.

Suck it up.

The Neti Pot things works very well.

Place one lozenge in each nostril.

My nose is big, but not that big!

I love my neti pot. I actually use it every day.

I am going to try a bleach transfusion next time. They say it kills everything.

You can also just use saline nasal spray to rinse your sinuses. The bottle is made with a "two way" nozzle (held vertically it mists, horizontal or upside down it will squirt a stream. It is a lot cheaper than the neti pot variety and you can find it anywhere. There is some question as to the benefits of a hyper tonic solution vs. isotonic (nasal spray), but i recommend it to my patients and I use saline nasal spray daily with good effects...

Just my 2 cents...

I also have patients that swear they have lost there smell after using the nasal spray as well as the swabs. Lots of controversy!

• eleventy billion for the sinus douche. I got mine and my wifes at Wallyworld.

Neti pot. You can buy the salt at the bulk store and mix up your own saline quite cheaply.

The zinc lozanges have always worked better for me than the Zicam anyway.

And any zinc supplement won't do it. The nasal spray and the lozenges put the zinc where they can be effective, a zinc supplement does not.

I found nothing to support the "huge amount of petri dishes" story but found 2 different studies done in 1984 and 1986. Here's the patent. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5409905.html

I did find some data that says lozanges are better than the nasal spray. Here's one warning:

Intranasal zinc has been known since before 1938 to carry a risk of anosmia (loss of the sense of smell). This means spraying ionic zinc into the nose may result in contact of the zinc with the olfactory bulb which is in the top of the nose, which will cause excruciating, unremitting pain and persistent anosmia (loss of the sense of smell) which appears to be a permanent condition.

A couple of excerpts from some follow up zinc lozange studies.

The only biological effects of zinc lozenges are due to ionic zinc (iZn), which is available at physiologic pH 7.4 only from a few zinc compounds, mainly zinc acetate and zinc gluconate. The biological effects of ionic zinc include antirhinoviral, ICAM-1 inhibition, and interferon induction and immune system benefits. No other zinc compounds release sufficient ionic zinc at physiologic pH 7.4 (pH of mouth and nose) to have a beneficial effect as a common cold treatment. Response to the zinc lozenges is believed completely dependent upon the zinc lozenge chemistry in the formulations and dosages used and the time of zinc lozenge oral dissolution. The lozenges must slowly dissolve over a 20 to 30 minute time period for efficacy to be observed, because only the ionic zinc absorbed into the oral tissues, which requires time, has any benefit in treating colds. Swallowed zinc has no effect on colds. Swallowing zinc is not necessary for efficacy to result. The chemistry of zinc lozenges is very complicated (solution equilibrium chemistry – a branch of inorganic biochemistry) and is well beyond the training and scope of nearly all zinc lozenge manufacturers and formulators. The interested chemist/scientist/physician can learn something about this science by reading "Zinc Lozenges: Cold Cure or Candy” Solution Chemistry Determinations”.

Zinc lozenges slowly dissolving in the mouth over a 20–30 min period releasing adequate iZn (>18 mg) used each 2 h shorten common colds by 6–7 days, which is a cure for the common cold.

But you want to look at your ingredient list because not all lozanges are made alike. · Zinc acetate yields 100% iZn. · Zinc gluconate yields 72% iZn. · Zinc gluconate-glycinate yields <57% iZn. · Zinc gluconate + citric acid (or zinc citrate) yields 0% iZn. · Zinc aspartate yields 0% iZn. · Zinc oxide yields 0% iZn.

Contrary to what you might think you DO NOT want the lozanges that have Citric acid or other food acids as they destroy the effectiveness of the zinc. You also do not want rapid melt lozanges you need the 20-30 hold time in the mouth to make them optimally effective

I'm sorry, but "neti pot" > "sinus douche" just on name alone.