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FDA Says Homeopathic Cure Can Cause Loss of Smell
Hugh Pickens writes "The FDA has advised consumers to stop using Matrixx Initiatives' Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel marketed over-the-counter as a cold remedy because it is associated with the loss of sense of smell (anosmia) that may be long-lasting or permanent. The FDA says about 130 consumers have reported a loss of smell after using the homeopathic cure containing zinc, an ingredient scientists say may damage nerves in the nose needed for smell and health officials say they have asked Matrixx executives to turn over more than 800 consumer complaints concerning lost smell that the company has on file. 'Loss of the sense of smell is potentially life-threatening and may be permanent,' said Dr. Charles Lee. 'People without the sense of smell may not be able to detect life-dangerous situations, such as gas leaks or something burning in the house.' The FDA said the remedy was never formally approved because it is part of a small group of remedies known as homeopathic products that are not required to undergo federal review before launching. The global market for homeopathic drugs is about $200 million per year, according to the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists. Matrixx has settled hundreds of lawsuits connected with Zicam in recent years, but says it 'will seek a meeting with the FDA to vigorously defend its scientific data, developed during more than 10 years of experience with the products, demonstrating their safety.'"
Seriously, I get a cold, I can't smell anything either. So really, it seems I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't.
if it actually does anything at all.
The zinc gluconate is toxic to many bacteria, as well the cells that detect smell in some people, it turns out. But Zicam is not a homeopathic remedy, and was never marketed as such.
I'm trying to think of a downside to making all medications and supplements require FDA approval. If everything on the counter had to be certified as both safe and effective, it'd kill the snakeoi-ahem, supplement, industry. But would we really lose out on any potential groundbreaking drugs? Has anyone ever heard of an OTC supplement that went on to revolutionize medicine because it got to market before the big bad government could look too closely at it?
Homoeopathic medication consists of almost only inactive ingredients. The so-called active ingredients are typically diluted beyond the point of having any real effect. In this case, that could be an excellent defense for Matrixx.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd23gBkhf9A
Cheers!
Atheist: Buddhist in a Prius
If I hadn't used so much Zicam Cold Remedy I would say this smells fishy.
my site of misleading and incorrect information!
Anosmia? You know, I always thought it was very funny that losing your sense of smell was called anosmia. "Anos-mia", you know, like "schnoz-mia." Don't you find that very funny?
It seems to be still on sale though:
http://www.google.com/products?q=zicam
Quick, buy it, pretend that you lost a sense of smell (let me see them prove otherwise) and then wait for a nice settlement check. Just kidding, that would be dishonest.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Since when did Slashdot become CNN's day after repeat? Must be a slow geek week as this isn't the first repeat
Zicam
This product needs to be removed from the market. I'd like to see stricter controls on things like this. Anything that attempts to cure or prevent disease needs to be evaluated and tested by the FDA. All supplements, vitamins, these cold prevention products should all have to shown to be safe and do what they claim BEFORE they can be sold.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
I would hate to lose the ability to smell my wife's panties.
No sense of sight: Blind :-)
No sense of hearing: Deaf
No sense of touch: Numb
No sense of direction: Lost
No sense of smell: ???
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Something about this doesn't smell right.
This warning only applies to the version of Zicam that you stick in your nose. When I have a cold, I use the lozenges that dissolve in your mouth, and I swear they really do help control the symptoms of a cold.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
The odd bit of this story that no one really seems to be reporting is that this medicine, although sold under the "homeopathic" provisions of FDA regulations (and thereby bypassing the normal approval process), is not a homeopathic medicine as the term is usually used.
If you go read the wikipedia entry on Homeopathy, you can see that the way homeopathic medicines are made involves taking a substance and then repeatedly diluting it with water, alcohol or sugar. Most homeopathic medicines are diluted repeatedly until the level of dilution is such that statistically, there is unlikely to even be a single molecule of the original substance remaining. Homeopaths consider higher levels of dilution to be more powerful. They generally believe that the water "remembers" the shape of the original substance.
The Zicam nasal spray is only diluted 100:1 (2X or 1C on homeopathic scales), meaning that it is within the range of normal dilutions used in preparing drugs for delivery, not diluted to a level used in homeopathic remedies. It's being governed by rules meant to only cover placebos, but at that concentration, it's not a placebo. It's a real drug which can have real side effects. If the rules have allowed this drug to come to market legally then those rules have a huge loophole and need to be fixed ASAP. But no one seems to be noting that.
Lost your sense of smell have you?
Then of course you'd have no problem spending a few hours in a room full of skunks would you.
I kinda think they could devise some test to show that you were faking it.
and I can't smell shit, knowing the Obama administration I should switch to weed... oh wait! :)
bullshit.
Homeopathic quackery is infamous and justly ridiculed for the fact that its 'remedies' contain exactly no active ingredients and - unsurprisingly - also have exactly no biological effects. This zinc based stuff is obviously not homeopathic.
just put some of that in the drinking water
I know someone who was suckered into taking a sip of ammonia when she was a little kid. 40 years later and she still doesn't have a sense of smell. They still sell ammonia, granted I'm talking apples and oranges (cleaning product vs something meant for use INSIDE the human body), but the ratio of puyers/drinkers of ammonia may only be slightly higher than the ratio of buyers of zicam/people who lost their smell. I use it to clean certain kinds of messes (i tend to clean with a chemist's mindset, if it reacts, it is no longer a mess, it is a salt), but on occasion, I lose the sense of smell and get a sore throat for a few hours. Though that tends to happen more so with bleach than ammonia.
Zicam is everywhere, even if there was a recall, you'd probably have 3-4 cold/flu seasons before you couldn't find it anymore.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
According to the warning letter the solution contains "an active ingredient measured in homeopathic strength--Zincum Gluconicum 2X".
2X equals to 1:100 solution - which may be quite a significant dosage of the "active ingredient", depending on its nature.
Incidentally, this is not the first time this particular maker of this particular homeopathic drug has been a cause of this particular health concern.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
At least I won't have a stuffy, runny nose as a result of my cold!
I've lost my smell to nasal polyps and chronic sinusitis years ago, it's a little disappointing sometimes but sometimes it's nice not having to smell awful things.
I've heard that when you can't smell you can't taste, which is bullshit. I can't tell the difference between some things but I do very much have a vivid sense of taste still.
And you know that "You lose one sense you gain another" thing? It doesn't work with smell.
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
husband: honey, i have a cure for those smelly farts i have
wife: thats nice dear, Beano?
husband: no, this is better just one sniff and your cured forever
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
For what it's worth...
While I haven't used Zycam, I have, a number of times over the last few years, used zinc gluconate tablets (dissolved in the mouth and gargled up toward the nose) to try to mitigate an oncoming cold.
And I have also noticed, over that period, a significant reduction in my sense of smell (which I hadn't connected with anything and assumed might just be due to age).
Needless to say I'll be skipping the zinc treatments in the future, at least until this is resolved.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
The body has phenomenal healing capabilities. They've done extensive and thorough tests on people contrasting the actual drugs and sugar pills and almost all of the participants from both groups were satisfied with the result. For the most part, it's all in your head.
Being diagnosed with an extremely rare disease named KTS (Klippel Trenaunay Syndrome) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber_syndrome I've taken my fair share of pretty much every drug (from morphine to dilaudid). From personal experience I can tell that all it does is slightly mask the pain and make you feel like worse even worse shit when you factor in all the side-effects. Now, TFA is talking about cold meds but it's the same principal; if people expanded their horizons and stopped popping Advils or taking Zicam when they aren't feeling well and taking another root (natural medicine, anyone?), It's guaranteed society would notice a difference.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
Homeopathic remedies (which I prefer to call homeopathetic...), as others have stated, are diluted until there is a low to zero probability of them containing 1 molecule of substance.
This is stated to be a 1:100 dilution, which is 1% active ingredient: a significant concentration of a proven active (and detremental) ingredient.
There use of homeopathic labels (2X, which means 2 dilutions of 1: 10) was done simply to avoid FDA attention, and they are likely to get into deep trouble because of it.
Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2000;(2):CD001364.
Update in: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;(3):CD001364.
Zinc for the common cold. Marshall I.
National Center of Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 0200. marshali@health.qld.gov.au
OBJECTIVES: Interest in zinc as a treatment for the common cold has grown following the recent publication of several controlled trials. The objective of this review was to assess the effects of zinc lozenges for cold symptoms.
SEARCH STRATEGY: A search was made of the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE and reference lists of articles. Searches were run to the end of 1997.
SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised double blind placebo-controlled trials of zinc for acute upper respiratory tract infection or cold.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed trial quality.
MAIN RESULTS: Seven trials involving 754 cases were included. With the exception of one study, the methodological quality was rated as medium to high. For most outcome measures different summary estimates were used across the studies to describe the duration, incidence and severity of respiratory symptoms. This limited the ability to pool results. Results from two trials (04 - Mossad; 08 - Smith) suggested zinc lozenges reduced the severity and duration of cold symptoms. However, there was significant potential for bias, and further research is required to substantiate these findings. Overall, the results suggest that treatment with zinc lozenges did not reduce the duration of cold symptoms.
REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: Evidence of the effects of zinc lozenges for treating the common cold is inconclusive. Given the potential for treatment to produce side effects, the use of zinc lozenges to treat cold symptoms deserves further study.
(This meta-analysis was actually withdrawn, and I don't know why, maybe to evaluate more recent data.)
It's much safer to stick with homeoerotic cures instead.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
But this product has nothing to do with homeopathy. Homeopaths sell water. They don't do active ingredients.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Yes, but ammonia isn't marketed as something you snort or drink. Zicam is indeed marketed as a nasal spray.
I don't know, but it works for me.
It's funny that they can market zicam as being "homeopathic". It's a total mass produced, corporate, industrially made drug and probably not good to snort up your nose. Most likely it has damaging effects to the olfactory nerves. -Ravi http://www.ravijaya.com/
The Matrixx has you.
Life is full of wonderful smells...
Don't these guys know ANYTHING about homeopathic medicines?
Clearly not - they must be homeophobes.
The same people who are screaming that we need the FDA to regulate this kind of thing are the same ones who doubtlessly bitch about big pharma this and big pharma that.
What's so odd, you may ask? Obviously these guys don't know the industry as the FDA is the big brother that keeps big pharma in line.
If you think the pharmaceutical industry is out of hand now wait until you give the FDA power over supplements and herbals. It'll be a fucking slaughter by the largest of pharmaceutical producers with the FDA kicking anyone back in play who doesn't have the money to buy their way into legitimacy. No one with less than a few billion on their side will ever get anything to market without the blessings of the FDA.
Think it's a joke? Than please shut the fuck up until you learn how the industry works and how the FDA makes it near impossible to get even the least effective drugs to market without putting more money into their pockets than all the Wall Street bonuses over the last decade.
Next on the FDA's agenda: control all homeopathics. I guarantee you.
Health Freedom is almost as popular as Freedom itself.
I do know people who had been successfully treated with homeopathy without knowing the intended effect. Specifically the subject stopped having uneasy sleep, which it had been having for a long time, just by taking a few drops of a bach flower remedy on a regular basis. The subject was a child, have never been told what was supposed to be cured and apparently there was no other reason for the end of the symptom.
I know homeopathy probably won't cure severe diseases, but it isn't as useless as people think. Seemingly there is no reason for it to work at all, yet there are people who get results by taking it.
Being skeptic will not achieve anything. If it seemingly works for some people we shouldn't say "it doesn't work" just because we believe it is not supposed to work. We should ask ourselves why it works. Discover why and in which circumstances it could work rather than just trying to disprove it.
Reality beats theory at any time, don't limit yourself to what the books say. You may even end up discovering something completely new.
The good, the evil and the vacuum tubes.
Maybe they can sell Zicam to people who work around hog waste lagoons or people who pump out septic tanks.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
Diluting the problem in the solution!
The guy that thought of that was a genious.
He just had one drop of genious though, diluted in a sea of being a complete dumb-shit.
Usually my sense of smell does but one thing: annoy me.
I highly doubt that. You just don't realize what your sense of smell is doing for you. For example, about 70% of what you think of as "taste" when you are eating food comes from your sense of smell. Without a sense of smell, your food will taste rather bland and you probably wouldn't be able to appreciate the more subtle flavors (and definitely the aromas) of various foods. Try it yourself. Next time you are stuffed up with a cold, try eating one of your favorite foods and see if it is still as full of flavor as you remember.
While humans don't use pheromones as actively as other animals, the sense of smell still plays a big part in arousal (and in stopping arousal, to be fair). Good smells make sex better. You do want to have better sex, don't you? (insert the "oh wait, this is slashdot" quips here).
And finally, all those things that annoy you about sense of smell are probably also helping to save your life. It lets you know that something is wrong (bad air, bad food, bad place, etc).
So, for a person's overall quality of life, I'd say that the loss of the sense of smell is a pretty big deal. It is not one of the senses I would want to lose. I'd rather lose my ability to hear.
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
I've met some people are fans of homeopathic remedies. Losing ones sense of smell could be a good thing.
Have gnu, will travel.
...it isn't homeopathic.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
You should really consider changing your cleaning practices, I think...
That's easy: they just need to put some fermented dog poo under your nose while you don't expect it and watch your reaction :)
Just to clarify, it's actually a nasal swab. You basically jam a slimy q-tip up your nose and swirl it around.
I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.
I am someone who lost prolly 75% of his sense of smell over the 90s. Why, I do not know.
I do find favor with extra spicy foods, as they stimulate me in ways other foods cannot.
My wife has a hyper sense of smell. I take out the garbage.
Makin' money, makin' friends, makin' whoopee and wearin' Depends
... is what I am smelling right now.
Ah, a case of the cure worse than the disease! That doesn't sound pleasant.
I don't know, but it works for me.
pretend that you lost a sense of smell (let me see them prove otherwise)
That's easy: they just need to put some fermented dog poo under your nose while you don't expect it and watch your reaction :)
Well, have to be both blind and anosmic(can't smell) to ignore fermented poo almost in your face.
The good, the evil and the vacuum tubes.
I had an "FDA approved" drug once that right on the label said (paraphrasing) "WARNING: Can eat a hole through your stomach and kill you". That's not an exaggeration. And this was a pain medication. I never took one because despite it being "approved", I'd rather just deal with the pain then potentially kill myself.
The FDA blocks shipments of e-cig nicotine inhalers that are basically 100% effective to stop people from smoking since people are still inhaling nicotine vapor as a replacement (note: it's not the puffer, it's much closer to a cigarette). Just instead it's safe (except the FDA won't say it's safe).
I've long given up on thinking the FDA really has consumer protection at heart. It needs to be revamped. It's like because the FDA regulates it, it's OK to have serious side effects. Because the FDA doesn't, it's not OK for a 1 in a million chance. Because the FDA doesn't regulate it, but doesn't understand it, it can't allow it even though it could stop 100's of 1000's of deaths.
This ever growing category of unregulated drugs are becoming a real problem. Not just is there the problem that sometimes (like in this case) the fact that it's unregulated makes it possible to sneak actually harmful ingredients in there, but to Joe Average these "cures" look just like real medicine (at least those at my local pharmacy do) and only us in the know can tell that they aren't. That's all well and good for headaches that usually cure themselves anyway but if people really need a working drug and they aren't getting it, for example because they think that they are taking one, that can have grave medical consequences. Not to mention what can happen if people, encouraged for example by the fact that these things are sold in the pharmacy like any other drug, really believe that it works and then are blinded to the signs that it doesn't.
http://whatstheharm.net/homeopathy.html
P.S. There is a homeopathic drug that actually works. The "active ingredient" is salt.
The make a swab, nasal spay and a lozenge. The nasal spray and swap are the problem. /pharmacist
130 people experience said symptoms and there is an outcry? If 130 people complained about a heavily backed pharmaceutical, it would be buried. How many people die from Tylenol every year?
I doubt it works, but lets at least be balanced here.
This actually happened to my mom like 2 or 3 years ago. She tried to file a lawsuit against Zicam and everyone treated her like she was crazy. She still can't smell anything. What action can she take against this company?
It's not necessarily the "medicine", I regularly lose my sense of smell temporarily in the late stages of a cold these days. The loss of smell generally lingers for a week or so after the cold has gone.
It's not medicine. If it was medicine it would be labeled as such AND it would have a provable effect.
It's water! How often does that need to be said? The only effect it has is as a placebo. And for those who believe that you can't overdose on homeopathy I have two terms for you: Water poisoning and drowning.
If one does a little digging and actually reads the letter the FDA sent to the company, they said that the "FDA has concluded that these products MAY pose a serious risk to consumers who use them....". Whereas, the press release says "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today advised consumers to stop using three products marketed over-the-counter as cold remedies because they ARE ASSOCIATED with the loss of sense of smell (anosmia)." The two differ a lot in meaning. The message to the company says that there could be a connection, whereas the news release just says there is a connection. Personally, I think that the FDA is being overly aggressive. The Obama admin. has encouraged a change from the (awful) years of Bush. Likewise, the FDA has taken a very aggressive stance toward companies. PS- I have used Zicam and it works, and I can still smell! Sources: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm167065.htm http://preview.tinyurl.com/lq68wd
I read Dan Hurley's Natural Causes and it opened my eyes to the supplement industry, and the relative lack of regulation. I recommend it to anyone taking supplements, including just vitamins.
Quick, buy it, pretend that you lost a sense of smell (let me see them prove otherwise) and then wait for a nice settlement check. Just kidding, that would be dishonest.
I'd love to be the lawyer in that case. I'd show up to court with a gas mask and week old road kill, then collect my cheque when you pass out while offering to represent my client for the counter-suit.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
And it's even in an effective dosage, at least that's what I got from this blog post http://cmpalmer.blogspot.com/2005/04/zicam-homeopathic-cold-remedies.html That is weird though, it's a fake "fake drug".
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Not taking "proper" drugs can save your life too. It's a bit of a toss-up.
I lost my sense of smell in a motorbike accident (crash helmet wasn't done up and I headbutted a Range Rover at 80mph).
The crap thing is losing your sense of taste because you can't smell food.
So isn't what the company did fraud?
They said something was homeopathic (but it isn't) and tried to profit from it.
And they have caused rather permanent damage.
The article does not explain whether zinc in general causes you to loose your ability to smell, or whether it is that putting zinc up your nose causes you to loose the ability smell. In the interest of science, I will perform a scientific experiment with Cold-Eeze lozenges, which unlike Zicam, are typically taken orally. Here I have two Cold-Eeze lozenges and a bottle of perfume.
*stuffs one lozenge into each nostril*
*takes a whiff of the perfume*
How very interesting, I can't smell a thi... gasp!
*collapses of axphyxia*
Conclusion: Zinc can cause premature death, when stuffed into nose.
"For example, about 70% of what you think of as "taste" when you are eating food comes from your sense of smell. Without a sense of smell, your food will taste rather bland and you probably wouldn't be able to appreciate the more subtle flavors (and definitely the aromas) of various foods. Try it yourself. Next time you are stuffed up with a cold, try eating one of your favorite foods and see if it is still as full of flavor as you remember."
Bullshit. My grandfather and myself both have anosmnia, this lie gets perpetrated as fact time and time again with only the cold "evidence" as backup.
My grandfather is locked in a trunk with a skunk and not noticing smell-less, I am 90% there, I didn't believe him when he said taste was not affected, he is a wine connoisseur. I can't smell most foods, and I was conscious of my gradual loss of smell since I knew he couldn't smell. Everything tastes absolutely 100% A-OK. If we have colds, everything tastes wrong and dull just like it does for everyone else.
Smell is important for many reasons, gas leaks mainly, (my grandfather almost died) 70% of taste is not one of those reasons.
The is almost no research done into anosmnia, so somehow this smell myth has never been challenged. We taste great, I am an excellent cook, and a connoisseur of many items, with an ability to taste subtle flavors most miss, often accurately pinning down variations in ingredients, compared to my smell-full family have unrefined tastebuds and any X is an X, with no variation in quality.
Web Developers: Celebrate to our roots! Animated Gifs and Tiled Backgrounds, dont let our history die!
Our family uses the disposable swabs. Both the allergy and the cold swabs, not the spray for several years now. Nobody has this problem. But it has shortened colds. And helped with allergies. (None of us use any nose sprays by any brand)
Before we all go off the deep end and get's yet another "alternative cure" (regardless if you agree or disagree it's a cure) banned in lieu of big pharmacist, expensive drugs, big hospital bills, questionable safety in our vaccinations, all while having no health care, and a government which has welfare for banksters, warfare and surveillance.
Ever think this might be purposely targeted so you'll have no cure to specially crafted bugs which accidentally escape super labs?
I don't know that it is, or isn't and I ain't trying to be paranoid, I am just throwing the idea out there, cause I'm fucking sick and tired of the lies that come from my government, to the point where I don't trust anything they fucking say anymore. Which leaves me with validating facts on my own. The media has literally become a dangerous cult.
I don't know about you, but I am not willing to give up a product which frankly worked fine for my family several years now, in exchange for a Goebbels Media pushing a fucking "Prescription for America" when no opposing views including Single Payer were allowed in discussions.
The debate about if it's homeopathy or not, I don't care. It's a political narco profit motivated fascist argument. You go ahead and waste several million or billion on such nonsense and it's research, legal fights, and bureaucracy.
Keep in mind they are already trying to fuck with the codex.
I am much more simple.
I go by if the fucking thing works or not.
In OUR family's case zicam swabs (Cold and Allergy) works just fine, no loss of smell. We also followed the instructions carefully.
I can't speak to the spray.
We also use oil of oregano, and many other food supplements.
Of course all this is my opinion, and as it should be implied. Ask your friends and neighbors if they have problems. Not what they hear on the tv, you want to know first hand experience and use and results. There lay the answer, we don't need all this FDA, DHS, ATF crap, it's already too fucking big and too expensive!
Turn the tv off.
Nah, not dramatic enough. What you do is lock up a fridge full of meat and veggies, unplug it and let'em set in the AR sun starting in June, and schedule the trial for late August. You dramatically have the fridge wheeled in, don your WW2 era gas mask, unseal the tape and let'er rip.
Granted by doing so you are probably breaking the Geneva Convention on cruelty to prisoners or something, but we are on a search for justice after all, sometimes sacrifices have to be made ;-)
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
"Furthermore, since water will have been in contact with millions of different substances throughout its history, critics point out that any glass of water is therefore an extreme dilution of almost any conceivable substance, and so by drinking water one would, according to homeopathic principles, receive treatment for every imaginable condition."
Alchemist: Be Thou For the People
There is a little bit of poison in every medicine.
- High Tech workers, please say NO to Union Carpenters, their Union sees fit to control our compensation.
There are about 130 cases of loss of smell "after" application of Zicam. People concluded it was the Zicam because after squirting it into their nose too vigorously, they experienced pain and then they lost their smell later. But it would be hard to get this stuff up your nose far enough to reach your smell receptors, and people who did were not using it as instructed ("So he held the nasal gel to his nose, pumped and inhaled.").
A more likely explanation is that in hundreds of millions of uses every year, some people experience loss of smell by chance (it's fairly common), and among those, some people used it incorrectly or irritated their nose when using Zicam and drew the wrong conclusions.
It's probably no big deal by itself if Zicam gets taken off the market: there is little evidence that it works. It's also mislabeled because it isn't actually "homeopathic". But the principle and reasoning itself are disturbing.
I have to wonder if my sense of smell is more at risk if i DON'T use it.
Someone needs to point out that this stuff really seems to work and, in my case at least, without damaging the sense of smell. It's one of the few medications that I will use because it saves me days of suffering from a cold. I'm going to stock up for next winter before it's off the shelves.
35 million products sold, 130 cases of lost smell for taking a medication that treats colds, meaning that those taking it already had a cold or were developing one. So just what is the frequency of permanent anosmia after a cold for those that haven't taken the Zicam product).
From the Zicam website:
"Since Zicam Cold Remedy intranasal Cold Remedy products were first introduced in the market in 1999, more than 35 million retail units representing over 1 billion doses have been sold"
"It is well understood in the medical and scientific communities that the most common cause of anosmia is the common cold, which Zicam Cold Remedy intranasal gel products are taken to treat. Given the enormous number of doses sold and colds treated, there is no reason to believe the number of complaints of anosmia received is more than the number that would be expected in the general population.
I just wish they would do a proper study of risk and effectiveness.
Except it is marketed as not being a medicine (homeopathic) otherwise it would have been required to mention said loss of smell as a side effect.
"10 years of experience" does not constitute "scientific evidence"
This is the single most coherent remark I've seen about this story. Unfortunately critical reasoning in the mainstream media doesn't pay the bills, so we'll never see it reported there.
Chemistry is not enough. It's 2009 here. Quantum physics might be more appropriate. Anyway...
# Thermodynamics of extremely diluted aqueous solutions.
Elia V, Niccoli M.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999 Jun 30;879:241-8.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10415834
# Permanent physico-chemical properties of extremely diluted aqueous solutions of homeopathic medicines.
Elia V, Baiano S, Duro I, Napoli E, Niccoli M, Nonatelli L.
Homeopathy. 2004 Jul;93(3):144-50.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15287434
# The 'Memory of Water': an almost deciphered enigma. Dissipative structures in extremely dilute aqueous solutions.
Elia V, Napoli E, Germano R.
Homeopathy. 2007 Jul;96(3):163-9.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17678812
I concur.
I have virtually no smell sense either, and I taste mostly okay. It might have upped my tolerance to outre tastes, but the normal tastes come through just fine.
But there has to be some corner case where some fragment of taste gets affected. I can't taste the difference between different brands of saltines. But they all taste "like saltines", so that's fine with me.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Quick, buy it, pretend that you lost a sense of smell (let me see them prove otherwise)
Nose, meet bucket of vomit. Next up, meet my friend, Skunk. Next up, ...
I'd like you to see not react at all.
Look about it. They have "cures" that "get better the smallest the amount of "cure" in the water" (e.g. 1nanograms to make it "better") . They are butt crazy.
Perhaps my farts DO SMELL?
I've used Zicam nasal pumps to clear my nose effectively. I hadn't noticed a complete loss of smell, but I do notice that my coffee doesn't has the same level of aroma that I recall from years ago.
I know I haven't lost my sense of smell completely because cats still stink to me.
A good friend of mine complained of these symptoms years ago. And he's still suffering. So I believe this is indeed true. I would sue the makers of Zicam, straight to hell.
I had sinus surgery a while ago and temporarily loss my sense of smell (and taste). If you've never experienced that, I can't express enough the terrible psychological effects of it. It's hell.
Since your claim is that the nerves are damaged, a quick fMRI would prove that your brain is receiving signals from you undamaged nerves.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
Van: Calling all scientists! Calling all scientists! Be advised that there will be a worldwide conference on global warming in Kyoto, Japan.
Scientist: I have a degree in homeopathic medicine.
Van: You've got a degree in baloney!
[hits scientist with blast of water]
My sister died that way!
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
I have two words for you: calms forte
Best sleep aid/anti-anxiety on the planet. 4 of those and you'll have one of the best night's sleep in your life.
It would be easy enough to do a controlled study to compare the incidence of anosmia in people with colds using Zicam versus those with colds who don't use Zicam.
It would be easy enough for Matrixx to base their beliefs on science instead of speculation.
But no. They make no attempt to prove safety, even when presented with indications of serious adverse effects. Instead, they confidently speculate that their product is safe, and go into a holding pattern. Studies are expensive. Holding patterns are cheap. Safety be damned.
For companies like Matrixx (and almost all producers of "alternative remedies") "science" is no more than a word in a vast lexicon of marketing terms. The only objective to which these Charlatans show a genuine commitment is the gross sales of their products. Otherwise, words like "health", "remedy", "studies", "dosage", and other terms that are strictly constructed in the legitimate world of pharmaceuticals, important terms, are just smokey propaganda buzzwords in this vast industry of faux "medicines". The only word that comes to my mind that would properly be ascribed to these people is BULLSHIT. Not surprisingly, it's a word you'll probably never here them use, as it hits too close to where they live.
Side Effects May Include...nausea, vomiting, headaches, heartburn, hair loss, diarrhea, dry mouth, water retention, painful rectal itch, hallucination, dementia, psychosis, coma, death, halitosis, lung cancer, mental retardation, brain tumors, paralyzation, sleep loss, internal bleeding, internal combustion, a sudden craving to sniff your carpet, an addiction to cocaine, heroin, PCP, speed and Windex, bone weakening, claustrophobia, acne, playing Everquest II, regular PMS, making Jesus cry, the inability to use proper english in an online environment, homosexuality, AIDS, an urge to stab your spouse, inability to breathe oxygen, urge to watch the Chinese version of Friends, migraines, diabetes, deafness, and of course, the inability to speak properly.
How many people would've lost their sense of smell anyway? 130 sounds like a very low number... possibly within the "normal" range for the sample size used? DNRTFA
Q: how do you keep a skunk from smelling?
A: give him Zircam
My dad was born without a sense of smell. He has 3 smoke detectors and turns on a series of lights when he is cooking (so that he doesn't forget and burn the house down). One interesting thing is that the sense of smell is closely associated with taste(notice how bland things taste when your nose is stuffed up) so Dad likes to douse things in hot sauce or lemon juice so he can get some flavor. Over the years he has chugged a few containers of spoiled milk that would gag a crocodile. There are real dangers though. Someone carelessly tossed an empty container of a chemical into a trashcan next to his workstation. Without a sense of smell he simply breathed it in for hours whereas anyone else would have detected it in seconds. He ended up with chemical pneumonia. Other symptoms include being paranoid about BO and wearing too much cologne that was recommended to him by the pretty girl behind the perfume counter at the mall.
This was about a year ago. I had severe cold, and couldn't sleep due to blocked nose. I took just one spray of Zicam in each nostril to completely unblock it within few minutes, but the lost sense of smell was terrifying. I mean, yes, the sense of smell when having cold is greatly diminished to begin with, but this was a total and complete loss. I got freaked out back then and did few searches on the internet, where I discovered bunch of other folks with similar concerns. In my case it took about a month until I started regaining some sense of smell (the cold itself was gone within few days), and during that period I felt very miserable in anticipation of having it last for the rest of my life.
Guys, we are missing the important bits. This medicine actually does something, it is not really homeopathic, the homeopathic label was put there either to evade FDA regulations and maybe to sell better too. Neither thing should happen, I don't think homeopathic medicine should not sell better than real medicine but what absolutely should never happen is for a medical product to be able to skip FDA regulations.
But... the future refused to change.
I have used homeopathic remedies for many years and they work like a charm...
mostly because my mother is really into it. I had pinkeye, and was given 100x homeopath pinkeye 'cure'. I put it in one eye, not the other, and the un'treated' eye got better about 2 days quicker. Look, if you want to believe that homeopathy works, drink some tap water. The concentrations will probably be higher, otherwise the water will remember the shape of the active ingredient that was in it at one point.
Part of the reason for the FDA's creation was to stop the horseshit 'therapies' that were being sold a hundred years ago. They have a responsibility to screen out the bullshit, especially when it hurts people like this.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
It's actually both. There is (was) a swab and a spray version.
If it contains enough Zinc atoms to be detected (let alone have an effect) it's not diluted nearly enough to really be homeopathic.
Not saying homeopathy isn't a scam, mind, just this once they're being abused by worse scammers.
they have both a Gel Spray, AND the swabs. i've used the swabs, and they do seem to help, (but you just apply that around the inside of the nostril) If i understand what i'm reading, this is about the Gel Spray, which would be a much larger dose, applied farther inside the nasal passages.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
This doesn't make sense to me. Homeopathic is nothing but water, usually (or some other base, like alcohol), and as we all know - everything is diluted to ridiculous proportions - maybe one molecule of "cure" within billions of water.
So how can it be dangerous? How much zinc is actually in there? There's nothing actually in it, it's homeopathic!
I have a pretty open mind when it comes to metaphysical stuff and wortcunning and all that, but the one thing I just can't buy is homeopathy. It doesn't even have good psuedo-logic behind it. Water has no "memory", period. It's such a scam.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Because surely, an FMRI is the simplest method for testing whether someone can smell or not.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I didn't say it was simple or cheap, but it tells the absolute truth, even is the patient is asleep.
Plus, it's cool. 8-)
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
So, now that the FDA will be regulating cigarettes, how long will it take for them to figure out they are worse for your health than Zicam?
Something smells fishy. I think.
And finally, all those things that annoy you about sense of smell are probably also helping to save your life. It lets you know that something is wrong (bad air, bad food, bad place, etc).
It's a bit of a toss-up, really. Yes, there are annoying smells telling you that something dangerous and unhealthy is going on, but the law almost never gives you recourse--all you can do is run. Smokers can smoke, drivers can drive, Bostonians can dump shit into the (less stinky than it used to be) Charles, chemical companies (eg. NECCO) can dump whatever they like into the air, neighbours can spray TruGreen on their lawns... certainly it's not that hard to make a case that the dangerous things you can do something about are rare enough that the ones you can't are more trouble than they're worth. A life spent running from danger is pretty unhealthy, for very intense psychological reasons. It can be better to just deal with a little harm to your body than to live in a perpetual state of being the bitch of whomever is making stinky.
That said, I still pretty much agree with you :)
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/fashion/18skin.html?_r=1
still holds true, as long as people are willing to insert as much of pointless water magic cures there will be a business based around it. it's all hoax and no fact, and thus people buy it because it holds no fact (magic). it's like all those miracle diets, u don't have to diet if you just have a head with a brain on top of your neck...
...explained to me what homeopathy is.
I just found this interesting site about health problems and the loss of taste and smell from which some Zicam users have suffered. There is also important safety information here:
http://www.zicam-smell-loss-lawyer.com/
They make this stuff in China
So when they try to dilute it with water its full of lead and mercury.
1. Market homeopathic medicines at the x1 dilution ratio.
2. No need to apply for normal million dollar drug testing - hey, they're homeopathic, you FDA bozos, stay out of it
3. Profit
One of my business partners took this stuff about two years ago and completely lost her sense of smell within 30 minutes. Yes, it's dangerous. Yes, it needs to be off the market. Yes, the manufacturer has known of the dangers for years, having been sued numerous times. Yes, they should be held accountable.
Naw...that is too much like old time Chicago politics!
Matrixx admits it held 800 adverse reaction reports regarding Zicam: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/7045#more-7045
"It drastically reduces, to the extent of almost eliminating, the duration and severity of the cold."
Interesting. I get those same results from the NyQuil mixture of drugs.
It isn't sensible to buy NyQuil, because there are many manufacturers of the same mixture that charge much less.
Since it is no longer possible to buy Zicam in the U.S., there may be times when you would be interested in trying an alternative.