Well I had a brief fever and headache yesterday and we thought Zicam was just a regular cold medicine until it appears on Wikipedia that it is homeopathic medicine and has been the subject of FDA recalls. So does it work or not? Because although I’ve gotten better its probably due to other factors including consuming Tylenol.
It’s potentially-dangerous homeopathic crap.
The FDA has already recalled some of the preparations, the evidence it works at all is ‘inconclusive’, especially if you look at the studies that aren’t flawed.
So, in short, it’s crap.
It hinges on whether or not you believe zinc does anything to alleviate cold symptoms. Some cite studies that they do, other point out that those studies are far from scientifically rigorous enough to mean anything. Or, at least, prove anything conclusively in one way or another.
The recalls were because of a side effect, IIRC. The FDA announcement (here) links it to anosmia, i.e. the loss of smell. Those were the nasal spray products, though.
Well, no. You got better entirely because you have a functional immune system. Tylenol doesn’t do jack about the underlying cause of a cold (or any infection), it just reduces some of the symptoms to a certain extent.
This is also why people think zinc and other junk ‘cures colds’: If you get a cold and take it, the cold will go away. The cold will also go away if you don’t take it, but they never quite figure that part out.
Is the same true for the Allergy Relief formulation of Zicam? It sure seems to have worked very well for me during certain allergy seasons, but I certainly haven’t done any extensive comparisons.
If you’re low on any given substance than it would be beneficial to replenish it. However, zinc will bond with copper and strip it from your system. That is not good.
I wouldn’t recommend it to people with a family history of heart attacks.
I’m not sure how to find the cite, but I recall reading several years ago that the original promoter of zinc lozenges tested them on his own family; that they reported swifter recovery from a cold. The obvious problem was that this was horrible science - no control group, no placebo and a honking huge wad of bias. It was clear that family members might wish to please their relative, or say the cold was all better - just to cease sucking on the foul tasting zinc lozenges.
Not all Zicam products are homeopathic. Their Multi Symptom Cold and Flu line contains acetaminophen and other typical cold medicines, and are pretty similar to the DayQuil/NyQuil range. The Cough Max spray and lozenge contain dextromethorphan-- perhaps not an effective medication, but not homeopathic. The Extreme Congestion Relief/Extreme Sinus Relief sprays are oxymetazoline, like Afrin.
The most popular Zicam line, the original Cold Remedy range, is homeopathic, as is the Allergy Relief range.
I dislike the fact that the Zicam brand, as well as other brands like Head On, have introduced normal OTC medicines into their line-ups, blurring the distinction between homeopathic and regular medications. I’m sure the marketers are well aware of that effect.
Zinc testing is interesting. It appears it does help, but here’s the thing.
Science demand a double blind study. In other words neither the patient nor the doctor knows if you’re getting the real thing or the placebo.
Here’s where the flaw happened, no one could replicate the taste of zinc. If you notice when you such a zinc lozenge it has a distinct taste. In order to test it against a placebo you woulde have to:
Remove the zinc taste from the real thing
or
Add some artificial zinc type flavour to the placebo
Bascially when they tested it everyone knew if they were getting the real thing or the placebo. Note you have to suck the lozenges you can’t swallow them. Supposedly the act of sucking coats your throat or something along those lines
So the results of the tests alway came back as invalid.
I did some data entry work for the U of Chicago back years ago, and I was shocked to learn on other studies, routinely 20% - 35% get better on the placebo. It says something for the power of thinking huh?
It also says something about the different degrees of sickness and the different ways people can heal or have their symptoms clear up.
I’m pretty sure Zicam (at least the nasal gel that I’m familar with) is NOT homeopathic, despite the label. I think that’s more because of a marketing trend. There are a lot of OTC remedies that are labeled “homeopathic” to appeal to the new-agers who like that word and don’t know what it means, which are actually not. (i.e. not based on dilutions of some symptom-causing agent to ridiculous degrees). Not sure if there are any accepted standards for using that word for marketing purposes.
I’m pretty sure I remember hearing reports that Zicam was causing damage to people’s nasal cavities, and specifically reducing one’s sense of smell (possibly permanently).
I’m generally a skeptic, but zinc in general (specifically lozenges) as a cold remedy might be one of the few things I lean towards the uncomfortable designation of “believer” on. As mentioned, there have been studies for and studies against. There have been debates over methodological flaws, and as mentioned the taste factor seems to be a big obstacle.
I remember reading just last year I think, on the NIH site, on the page about colds, only one very unsatisfying sentence; something like “zinc may be beneficial in reducing the duration of colds”, and I was thinking “That’s it??? They can’t say anything more definitive than that by now???”. It’s actually very frustrating (I think I’ve even started a thread or 2 here over the years on the subject).
In any case, I do take cold eeze zinc lozenges whenever I have a cold since I first heard about a potential benefit some 8 or 9 years ago. I truly believe the duration and severity of my colds since I have been using this is dramatically reduced. Just one guy’s anecdote.
That’s ringing a bell for me, too - was there even a Doper who said this had happened to them?
I tried zinc lozenges - just couldn’t get past the taste. Blech.
I only used Zicam nasal gel one time (because my aunt wouldn’t shut up about it) and I was in tears, it hurt so bad. I never tried it again. It was the third most painful experience of my life.
I didn’t lose my sense of smell but I’m not surprised to hear that some people have. It was worse than getting Tiger Balm in your eyes.
Or you could remove the sense of taste entirely by making the participants chew a hanenero pepper a minute before sucking the losenge. (a less painful option may be available.)
I’ve had a rock placed at my bedside end a backache and a homeopathic solution that would be classified as pure water being so diluted, instantly stop a headache and within minutes stop body aches, and a few more the fever was gone.
The zinc nasal applications shouldn’t be called homeopathic. Zinc clearly has a pharmacological effect (hence the sometimes extreme side effect behind the recall). The question is if the effect works to help reduce cold symptoms and duration.
Similarly, one wouldn’t call a viagra-based cold remedy homeopathic, even if viagra’s use in reducing cold symptoms isn’t proven.
If you want to question the efficacy of zinc preparations, by all means feel free to do so, but it’s not as if it’s the sort of thing that no scientist takes seriously, and one shouldn’t dismiss it as quackery similar to magnet bracelets and foot pads.
I only called it that because the people selling it do. For example, from their official Twitter page:
That’s so much crazy I’m not going to dive in.
It’s true that the National Center for Homeopathy disagrees. However, the day I take marching orders from those lackwitted woo-woo-hyping self-aggrandizing pieces of worthless simian scum is the day I kill myself by taking a header onto the New Jersey Turnpike from the window of my own coal-burning zeppelin.
The big thing is that homeopathic does not necessarily mean extremely high dilution. It means using a substance that normally causes a symptom to stop that symptom, usually in subtherapeutic dosages. And a lot of homeopathic products include actual active ingredients along with the homeopathic substance. Heck, remember Head-On? It has menthol, which does dull pain. Or Rescue Remedy, which is for anxiety and includes alcohol.
The National Center for Homeopathy uses a much more restrictive definition that include the high dilution and the lack of regular medicine.
Also, it seems that the FDA has told them to withdraw the intranasal versions, saying those are the ones that tend to cause anosmia (loss of smell).
So instead you’ve decided to use a word incorrectly to punish people who disagree with you about the practices described by that word, by using the term as it is used by a company with a dangerous and unproven product to insinuate to the general public that their product is safer and somehow more effective than other, scientifically proven and government regulated medications?
That’s like homeopathic word choice therapy.
No. I’ve decided I’m not going to take a stand on how to define a goddamned fairy tale.