A Cold Or An Upset Stomach? You Choose

Recently I came down with a terrible cold. I have high blood pressure, and can't take most decongestants, so I thought I would try an alternative medicine that I had heard about. Zicam is a fairly new "cold remedy" that supposedly will help you get over your cold sooner, as well as lessen the severity of the symptoms. I chose the Citrus flavor RapidMelts with Vitamin C. You're supposed to use them at the first sign of a cold, and for 48 hours after your symptoms leave.

Instructions are to take one tablet at the onset of symptoms, and to repeat every 3 hours until the symptoms are gone. Unfortunately, I will never know if Zicam would have worked, because after the first day of taking it as prescribed, I got a very bad upset stomach, and didn't much care about my cold anymore. (Every time I ate one of those tablets, I had to make a run for the bathroom.) That was just as bad (or worse) than the cold! (Apparently, my stomach doesn't like zinc.)

This is the second time, that I have had those type of horrible side effects, with a product of this kind. I guess you just can't fool Mother Nature. If you get her in one area, she'll hit back in another. I had to laugh, after searching the label for side effects. It says "To avoid MINOR stomach upset, do not take on an empty stomach." My stomach wasn't empty, and the upset wasn't minor. (I'll spare you anymore details!)

Well sadly, I threw them away. My stomach's fine now, but I STILL have the cold!

(As an added note, while I was researching Zicam, I came across many news accounts of people alleging that they had lost their sense of smell, and taste, after using Zicam Intranasal Gel-(not the oral medication.) There has also been a class-action lawsuit, that was settled out of court for $12 million, by Matrixx, (the company that manufactures Zicam), so be very careful about using the nasal gel.