# Does Zicam Cold Remedy really do anything? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700 "2005-02-12T03:15:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![potatoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@potatoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/potatoes)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700/1 "2005-02-12T03:15:10Z")
Ok, I’m getting a cold. And I’m going on a vacation soon. Yeah. Not the greatest mix. Anyway, I bought some Zicam cold remedy to see if it helps. It is supposed to reduce the severity of a cold. Is there any REAL proof that Zicam does this? Active Ingredients-zincum gluconicum and zincum aceticum ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700/2 "2005-02-12T03:45:53Z")
[Cecil on Zinc and colds](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980206.html) [Does Zicam cold remedy really work?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238824&highlight=zicam) [Nasal Gel](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=160558&highlight=zicam) ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700/3 "2005-02-12T04:04:24Z")
My doctor is not averse to alternative medicine and in fact heads up a clinic that tries to wed traditional western medicine to other treatments. It was telling for me that when I told him I tried Zicam, he snorted with laughter. I can’t share personal experience because it burned my nose. Not literally, of course, but I found it so unpleasant I couldn’t comply with the instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700/4 "2005-02-12T18:37:24Z")
All I can contribute is my personal experience and that of my friends. I have asthma and a cold for me lasts anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks! :eek: If it goes beyond 2 weeks it will settle down into my chest and cause severe breathing problems. colds are serious around casa de Rick. Anyway a few years back I felt myself getting a cold at work. My mountain biking partner suggested Zicam. I stopped on the way home, and picked up a bottle. After I had paid for it and opened the package I noticed the homeopathic blurb on the label. At this point I figured that I had just flushed $10 down the shiter. But since the money was spent anyway, I decided to use it and prove to myself what an idiot I was for not reading the label before laying out the money. So fully expecting it not to work I proceeded. My cold was gone in 48 hours! Several friends that I have recommended it to also have had the same results. Since then I have used it several times and had the same results. Cold is gone in about 48 hours. It has gotten to the point that I carry a bottle with me in my briefcase when I travel. Two warnings: The first is for **CrankyAsAnOldMan** Do not snort this stuff when spraying into the nose. If you do so you will get a burning sensation in the sinus that will make you want to kill yourself. You may even want to do this: :smack: Just spray and pinch your nose shut for 20 seconds or so. Secondly a friend of mine got a nose bleed from using Zicam, but she considered this to be a very worthwhile trade off for a short cold. YMMV in this and all things. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700/5 "2005-02-12T20:06:20Z")
I sit here, with a somewhat itchy, coughy throat, sucking on a zinc lozenge. For the past several years, I have reached for the zinc lozenges (e.g. Cold-Eze or olther brands) at the first sign of a cold-type ailment, and in these past few years I have had very few full-blown colds; my symptoms have been milder and over more quickly than they used to be. Obviously, there are other possible explanations for this besides the zinc, but in my estimation the likelihood that the zinc has helped is easily enough for me to keep taking it. ---
**Author:** ![Calliope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Calliope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calliope)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700/6 "2005-02-13T00:52:37Z")
Yes, it absolutely works. I used it for a cold several months ago and the cold was gone in two days. My husband came down with a cold last week. I gave him the Zicam nasal gel and he was over it in two days. My daughter came down with the cold next. I started her on the Zicam and it was again gone in two days, tops. I don’t know how it works. I don’t even care. It works. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700/7 "2005-02-13T01:16:17Z")
When it first came out a few years ago, I read about it in several reputable health newsletters who gave it mildly good reviews, indicating that it did seem to do better than placebo in reducing the duration of colds. Since I tend to get asthma symptoms when I have upper respiratory infections, I jumped right on it and tried it out. I personally found that if I started using it as soon as I felt a cold coming on, it tended to either knock it out entirely, or else the duration would be far shorter than the long, drawn out asthma-complicated affairs I usually ran into. Last year, however, after hearing that [it has been implicated in the loss of the sense of smell](http://www.classactionamerica.com/Current-Cases/zicam-cold-eeze-anosmia-loss-smell-sense.asp) in a number of people, I have quit using it. Even though the fact that I’ve used it successfully in the past tends to suggest that it probably won’t bother me in the future, I’m not willing to risk the loss of one of my senses. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-zicam-cold-remedy-really-do-anything/289700/8 "2005-02-14T03:29:21Z")
Here’s my anecdote. The last cold I had (November) was gone in just two days. I haven’t had a cold in the last three years or so that lasted any longer, yet I’m exposed to colds frequently because I have two small children. What do I do for a cold? Just a little rest, and try not to sneeze on anyone. Colds frequently just go away after a couple of days, but I’m sure that if I had taken Zicam or infinitely-diluted duck liver extract, it would have been easy to credit them with the cure.