Zicam Nasal Gel Cold Remedy
As I mentioned previously I have a cold and I’ve been taking Zicam, a product I have used in the past in various forms (more on that later). This review in particular is of the “Nasal Gel” form, read on after the jumpTo sum things up, I hate the nasal gel. It’s truly awful to use, it actually seems to irritate my nasal passages and while I do think it’s reducing my cold the suffering due to the nasal gel itself isn’t worth it. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a cold that my nose/sinuses were as miserable as they are right now and I’m blaming this crap for that.
Every time I squirt some of this stuff up my nose (a miserable experience) I am supposed to hold my nose shut for 5 seconds, this almost always results in my nostrils being “glued” to the middle part of my nose. This doesn’t hurt or anything but it is annoying as hell. I can’t even describe how annoying it is, I’m getting pissed off just thinking about the next time I have to put this stuff in my nose.
After you do the whole squirt/pinch routine you aren’t supposed to blow your nose for 30 seconds. This isn’t a big deal as long as you don’t mind a gel/snot combo running down your face; I personally happen to mind this a great deal.
All of those dreadful negatives aside it does seem to have the same effect on reducing my cold severity and duration as the other forms this medicine can come in, it just adds worse nasal drip and general snot production.
I guess ultimately I’d say if you have a cold you definitely want Zicam, I’ve tried the chewables, the throat spray and now the nasal drip. Both the chewables and the throat spray taste kind of bad but given the option I’d say the taste is about 1,000 times less unpleasant than the nasal irritation the gel has. If I felt a cold coming on and all I could find was the nasal gel, I’d probably go without Zicam which says a lot about how much I hate this stuff because I really hate being sick. Zicam is great, the delivery mechanism of the nasal gel is horrible.
My Zicam experience break down:
- Nasal Gel - Helps fix your cold, sucks super bad to use and makes your nose way more runny
- Chewables - Helps fix your cold, kind of tastes bad, convenient to carry.
- Throat Spray - Helps fix your cold, kind of tastes bad, not as convenient to carry as the chewables
- Nasal Swaps - Never tried