You know, a few years back, I read a story on a study that had shown that inhaling zinc (you can’t just take a zinc pill) lessened cold symptoms, and, more important, cut short the time of your cold by a day or more.
Since then, I’ve always had a bottle of “ZiCam” around. It’s a nasal gel that squirts zinc into your lower nostrils; you leave it there for thirty seconds, blow your nose, and then the zinc gets inhaled over the next few hours.
The idea, as far as I remember, is that zinc ions somehow bond themselves to the rhinovirii (cold germs) in your nose and neutralized them. Now, believe it or not, I’ve actually not had a cold in a good long while, so I’ve never had a chance to test the ZiCam.
I came down with one (a cold) a few days ago. Started in the muscles in my back, moved to my lungs, then developed into a full cold. As soon as I felt the symptoms come on, I launched into using the ZiCam. Now, about three days later, I’m almost completely over the cold. And colds usually last me about three days longer than this.
Could this just be a short cold? Yeah, I guess so, but I am going to go out on a limb and say ZiCam shortened the duration and severity of my symptoms (and yes, like most guys, I “suffer” a bit during colds, but not this time).
So, what the hell, the next time you feel a cold coming on — try it, you might be surprised.
You can also get zinc lozenges that do the same thing. However, remember, simply swallowing zinc does nothing at all.
Another little tip from the Kip.