Anyone have any good experiences with zinc?

Something like Zicam or Coldeeze? I know they're only supposed to really ward off a cold if you take it right when you first start noticing any symptoms. Well I just started to feel a bit of a hot/sore throat coming on. I don't know if it will turn into a cold or something else, or if it's just related to my usual allergies to all things green and spewing pollen.

I can't get sick right now! Finals next week, interview next week, this week is just too busy for sickness!!

So... do you believe in the power of zinc to prevent a cold? If you can convince me that it really works, I'll go out and buy something this afternoon. Otherwise, I'll just drink a whole lot to flush my system and hope that it's nothing...

Thanks!!

I didnt know you could, i just make sure i get plenty vit c and take paracetamol im getting over a cold that i thouht was going to turn nasty thankfully it hasnt

Oh yeah, I guess I could pick some oranges from the tree and make some OJ for some vitamin C.... Or lemons for lemonade.. always a lotta lemons around..

I use Cold-eeze when I feel a cold coming on, and I usually have a couple/few days of minor symptoms (slight sore throat/stuffy nose) and then it clears up. I also suck on vitamin C lozenges. I don't know if it's the zinc, the vitamin C, or if it's just all in my head, but since I started using Cold-eeze several years ago I've had very few full-blown colds.

Good luck!!

I have no experience with these products. I am posting to tell you what works for me. As soon as I begin to feel a cold coming on, I take a mixed potion which is 1/2 honey and 1/2 white vinegar. It works everytime. The secret is take it as soon as you feel the scratchy throat and runny nose. I hope you be okay.

Ha! Would you believe it, I was actually involved in the very first double-blind study of zinc's effects on colds! It was down in Austin, around 1982 or '83, and the local news did a story about some researchers who were looking for people with colds to test. I happened to have a doozy, so I went down and entered the study. They gave me some white tablets to hold under my tongue until they dissolved, every four hours, I think.

When I got home and used the first tablet, I immediately began to feel worse -- so much worse that I called the study office and told them about it. After much discussion among themselves, they decided to "unblind" me. It meant I wouldn't be able to be part of the statistical study, but it would be a good anecdotal test, because what I had been given was not the "study drug" (later revealed to be zinc), but the placebo -- which was a supposedly inert mineral tablet. They speculated that I might have had a reaction to that, and gave me the zinc to try instead.

So I went home and dissolved the zinc tablet under my tongue as directed. Forty-five minutes later, I felt so much better that I ordered a pizza -- the very thought of which would have turned my stomach an hour earlier. It was truly amazing, and the researchers were very excited about it.

There are two drawbacks, though: first, zinc is only effective on certain cold viruses. I happened to have the right kind, and it worked like a charm -- but when I tried it some years later, it had no effect on whatever virus (or bacterium) I had then.

And second -- it was the foulest-tasting thing I have ever put in my mouth. AUGH! But these zinc-based cold tablets are not nearly so bad, of course... they've incorporated some kind of flavoring.

As for preventing a cold, I don't know, but it would certainly seem likely!

Wow, you're part of history!! That's nice that they eventually gave you the real thing and it actually helped you feel better! I've tried the cold supplement things years ago and even though they're flavored, I still thought they tasted nasty.

Well after some more information gathering, I decided to pick up some zinc tablets rather than a cold thing like Coldeeze or Zicam. Like from the vitamin aisle, not the cold medicine aisle. I popped a few last night and woke up feeling kind of the same as yesterday, but definitely not worse, so that's a good sign I think (that, or it's really just allergies. but it doesn't feel like allergies). So I will keep taking a tablet every few hours I think at least for a day or so and see what happens.

Thanks!!

Yes, I believe in the power of zinc. It's worked for me on several occasions. Now if I think I may be put in close contact with anyone who is sick, I will take zinc tablets - one 50 mg per day, and more if I feel like I'm catching something. I witnessed several pills taken by my husband - cured his cold within hours.