Zinc lozenges to ward off/minimize colds...your experience?

[raccoon]

IME they work, but they make me awfully thirsty and ruin the taste of anything.

[Hissyspit]

1. They work, but I took one too many, developed an allergy and broke out in the worst hives ever in my

life. Haven't touched them since.

[brewens]

2. I would swear that Zicam squashed a cold one time. No doubt about it. Three other

times or so, no effect. I think you need to have the stuff handy and use it right when you get that nasty feeling in your throat or soft palate. It says so in the derections. If you think you might be catching a cold, go to bed and wake up miserable, you missed your chance to help yourself with that stuff.

I think the timing is too critical to make it reliable. The times it didn't work, using it was nasty enough that I don't think messing with it at all is worth it.

[yellerpup]

3. Zinc lozenges work well for Mr. Pup,

but the first time I tried one I lost my sense of taste for three days. I'd never try another one. It's no fun to lose your sense of taste.

[JaneQPublic]

4. I use 50 mg zinc tablets...

...at the first hint of a cold (e.g., scratchy throat and run-down feeling).

I take one tablet a day while drinking tons of water and getting to bed a couple hours early each night.

Time and time again, this regimen has helped me stave off a full-blown cold completely or at least kept the cold mild and brief.

The zinc tablets are usually available from the vitamin and supplement sectioin of most drug and discount stores.

I wouldn't recommend taking the tablets for any more days than necessary for cold releif, as I've read it's no good to have excess minierals in you system.

[raccoon]

13. Do they throw off your sense of taste? If they don't maybe I'll try them. nt

[JaneQPublic]

15. No, but I take only one pill/day for 3-4 days.

I'm guessing the lozenges affect sense of taste since they dissolve in your mouth. With the zinc supplements, you swallow them whole like a vitamin.

[n2doc]

5. Never has worked for me n/t

[Aerows]

6. I'd rather just take vitamin supplements

Those things taste nasty, and as others have mentioned, ruin your palate for a while.

[Sanddancer]

7. Rush? Is that you?

[nc4bo]

8. For some reason, Zinc makes me nauseous followed by uncontrollable vomiting.

within minutes of taking it.

For some reason, Zinc and I do not get along well.

[noel711]

9. Nope

they taste obnoxious,
coat your mouth and throat to gag-a-licious levels,
and just make you feel punk...

all while you start to sink into the morass of a bitch of a cold.

My take on feeling a cold coming on:

pour 2 inches of scotch into a glass full of ice
(brandy or bourbon works just as well)-

Fill a tub full of hot, bubbly water
(if you've got some of Kneip's herbal bath foam... that's an extra)
Sink into the tub, keeping the hand holding the drink above the water line.

When either the scotch is gone, or the tub water no longer hot
Get out, towel off, and go to bed.
You'll still have the cold when you get up,
but you will have had one hell of a good night's sleep.
which does make a difference when living with a cold.

[otohara]

10. I Take A Zinc Supplement

cuz those lozenges rip the skin off the top of my mouth.

I have a huge full container of them - not a fan

[slackmaster]

11. They give me the runs

And I almost never get colds anyway.

[MadrasT]

12. Doesn't seem to do anything for me.

[quinnox]

14. It seemed to work for me

I had a friend try it when he had a cold and he said it did nothing.