Product Review: Zicam

Last week, I could feel the onset of a cold, undoubtedly transmitted to me by MacKenzie. I thought it would be a good opportunity to try Zicam. It's a product that contains zinc and is supposed to shorten a cold. It can be taken orally or nasally (I chose the oral spray). Rush Limbaugh used to promote it (I'm not sure if he still does), and if there's a pitchman I trust, it's him. Most of the stuff he promotes is expensive, though, like Sleep Number beds and Allan Brothers meat. Zicam is no exception, as it costs $12 or so, but I had a coupon. Also, after having witnessed the severity of MacKenzie's illness, I thought it was worth a shot.

In the end, I don't think it helped. Despite taking the stuff every 3 hours, as per label directions, my cold still lasted a week or so, which, if I recall correctly, is a normal cold duration for me. I'm still sniffly, but that may be in part from Texas-related allergies.

The problem with this review, of course, is that there's no control. I have no idea how long the cold would have lasted if I had not used this product. If I had a twin (or a clone) that was also sick, maybe we could have done a real, scientific experiment, but alas, all I could do was compare this cold to past colds, and it seemed pretty similar.

I also found that nasally-applied zinc can permanently damage one's sense of smell, so maybe I won't try the nasal version of Zicam. This same article suggests that oral zinc may not be worth anything. So I do not recommend this product. As Rachel once said to me, "Maybe you shouldn't take pharmaceutical advice from Rush Limbaugh." Maybe she was right.