i woke up today with "the first signs of a cold" or whatever. think i should do zicam?

11/29/2007 9:07:53 AM

I think they reintroduced the nasal swabs. Use those - all the other kinds I know of are oral, and they all taste awful.

11/29/2007 9:11:47 AM

works for me.

Also, the motherload of Vitamin C does the trick - several grams. Buy some at the Vitamin Shoppe.

11/29/2007 9:20:19 AM

Quote :

"I think they reintroduced the nasal swabs. Use those - all the other kinds I know of are oral, and they all taste awful."

Nah, they have the nasal gel too.

Definitely start on it. I use it whenever I feel a cold coming on and I almost never actually get sick. ::knock on wood::

11/29/2007 9:28:12 AM

zicam works.

fixed me up in about 2-3 days. of course i didnt do it before the cold, it was maybe like a day or two into the cold.

but it helped.

yeah, after a while it tastes like crap. but who cares

11/29/2007 9:32:56 AM

how does zicam work? all the studies show that it does nothing.

11/29/2007 9:55:30 AM

so i actually just went to CVS and asked the pharmacist and he said "if you already have a cold, zicam wont work." because apparently the zinc coats your throat to prevent you from absorbing the germs and shit... he said it was like closing the flood gates after the flood.

11/29/2007 10:05:14 AM

yeah, if you already have it, its not as effective.

zicam/coldeZe (sp)/all the other stuff.

work just about the same.

11/29/2007 10:07:33 AM

my mom (a nurse) read a study that showed that the nasal swab form of zicam does do some good in the early early stages of a cold. all other forms (sprays and whatnot) do nothing. the nasal swabs have always worked for me (i have to be very careful about colds, weakened immune system and all).

11/29/2007 10:13:38 AM

Quote :

"how does zicam work? all the studies show that it does nothing."

that's not true. the nasty liquid works (especially if you don't mix it with any drinks with the spoon). it's the only otc med that my boss will buy because it is about the only medicine that was proven to work in its trials and studies. he was ceo of a company that had access to trial data and all kinds of stuff and it's the only thing he swears by.

http://www.zicam.com/pdf/ClevelandClinicZicamStudy.pdf - this isn't it, but it's similar to what he was talking about.

11/29/2007 10:14:58 AM

Quote :

"Also, the motherload of Vitamin C does the trick - several grams. Buy some at the Vitamin Shoppe."

just FYI vit. C isn't proven to do shit for a cold...but it has a nice placebo effect - so by all means, if that's what helps you, do it

11/29/2007 10:40:15 AM

^same as echinacea

11/29/2007 11:27:46 AM

Zinc. Studies have shown that people who are sick are low on zinc, so they assume that loading you up with zinc will help you fight off the cold faster or make it less severe.

I agree -- don't get any of the edible crap because it does taste absolutely horrible.

11/29/2007 12:31:28 PM

Quote :

"so i actually just went to CVS and asked the pharmacist and he said "if you already have a cold, zicam wont work." because apparently the zinc coats your throat to prevent you from absorbing the germs and shit... he said it was like closing the flood gates after the flood."

Please tell me you're kidding about that being a pharmacist's statement.

Quote :

"Zinc helps the thymus glands produce hormones that stimulate the immune system. Because the thymus shrinks as we age, it begins to produce less of the hormones needed to make white blood cells. As little as 15 to 30 milligrams a day can help boost the body’s production of these infection-fighting blood cells in people over age 40, so that getting older doesn’t necessarily mean being more vulnerable to illness. "

http://www.vitaminstuff.com/mineral-zinc-2.html

I use the nasal gel btw. Been using it since it first came out and haven't tried the other methods.

[Edited on November 29, 2007 at 12:35 PM. Reason : l]

11/29/2007 12:34:01 PM

Zinc gluconate lozenges seem to reduce the duration of symptoms with a cold, but no one seems to know the exact MOA

Quote :

"The mechanisms through which zinc affects the common cold remain to be determined, but several possibilities have been described. Zinc prevents the formation of viral capsid proteins, thereby inhibiting in vitro replication of several viruses, including rhinovirus [11, 12, 28-30]. Zinc combines with the carboxyl termini (negatively charged canyons) of rhinovirus coat proteins, which may prevent the virus from combining with the tissue-surface protein (intracellular adhesion molecule type 1) and entering the cell. This process stops further reproduction [31, 32]. Extracellular zinc may exert antiviral effects by stabilizing and protecting cell membranes by uncertain means [30, 33-36]. In vitro studies have suggested that zinc may induce production of interferon [37]. Zinc ions also have human prostaglandin metabolite-inhibiting properties at 0.01 to 0.1 mmol [38], which may also account for the ability of zinc to help relieve symptoms of the common cold."

http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/125/2/81

11/29/2007 12:44:06 PM

Quote :

"Also, the motherload of Vitamin C does the trick - several grams. "

emergen-c

1,000% daily value of vitamin c

gets rid of colds, etc. within a day!

11/29/2007 1:34:44 PM

lol

1000%

11/29/2007 2:29:31 PM

Quote :

"Zinc helps the thymus glands produce hormones that stimulate the immune system. Because the thymus shrinks as we age, it begins to produce less of the hormones needed to make white blood cells. As little as 15 to 30 milligrams a day can help boost the body’s production of these infection-fighting blood cells in people over age 40, so that getting older doesn’t necessarily mean being more vulnerable to illness."

i call bullshit...

b/c zicam helps me and i have no thymus glad (hence the weakened immune system)

also, the thymus helps t-cells to fully mature and move into the bloodstream, not just "stimulates the immune system." you're thymus going to function according to the level of sex hormones circulating in your blood, not zinc.

11/29/2007 2:31:46 PM

^ yeah, and if im not mistaken you don't have any thymus left after you exit puberty...

11/29/2007 2:57:22 PM

you do, but it's not as active. mine was removed however.

table:

Age.......Grams
birth...............about 15 grams;
puberty...........about 35 grams
25 years..........25 grams
60 years..........less than 15 grams
70 years..........about 0 grams

courtesy wikipedia

[Edited on November 29, 2007 at 3:13 PM. Reason : ]

11/29/2007 3:09:14 PM

Laugh if you must, baonest, but I am never sick after taking 1,000% vitamin c.

11/29/2007 3:14:43 PM

zicam has worked for me twice. and worked like a charm when i had a pretty bad flu one year. i used the one that "dissolves" on your tongue.

maybe it was all placebo effect. but i was feeling better pretty quickly.

11/29/2007 3:15:58 PM

ok

11/29/2007 3:18:16 PM

Airborne


ftw.

11/29/2007 10:10:58 PM

Zicam works for me. I use the kind you put up your nose.

11/29/2007 10:42:53 PM