Where to get zicam

The manufacturer does not state what risks Zicam poses to younger children. Generally speaking, all homeopathic products should only be used in adults or children after consultation with a qualified health professional.

These products are not stringently regulated by the FDA and should be avoided in children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers due to the lack of safety research. Homeopathic products are minimally regulated as dietary supplements and do not undergo the same safety and efficacy testing as prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

The oral formulations that contain zinc can be taken every three hours. The manufacturer recommends not taking these products on an empty stomach, but also refraining from food or drink for 15 minutes after use. Also, avoid citrus foods or drinks for at least 30 minutes. Zicam Cold Remedy can be given as a nasal spray or a nasal swab :. Both formulations can be used every four hours until symptoms resolve. Given some supportive research regarding zinc and colds, using oral Zicam products may help.

While you may hear some anecdotal support for the use of nasal Zicam products, research to support their effectiveness in treating colds is lacking. Regardless of how you opt to ease your cold symptoms , check in with your healthcare provider if you are self-treating but not getting better. Looking to avoid getting the flu? Our free guide has everything you need to stay healthy this season. Sign up and get yours today. Hemila H. Zinc lozenges and the common cold: a meta-analysis comparing zinc acetate and zinc gluconate, and the role of zinc dosage.

JRSM Open. Rao G, Rowland K. PURLs: Zinc for the common cold--not if, but when. J Fam Pract. Mechanistic studies of the toxicity of zinc gluconate in the olfactory neuronal cell line Odora. Toxicol In Vitro. Kuehn BM. Zicam update. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellHealth. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page.

These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. Table of Contents View All. Table of Contents. Oral Products. Nasal Products. Who Can Use It. How to Use It. How Homeopathic Remedies Work. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign Up. What are your concerns? Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles.

Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. The FDA emphasized that their advisory does not concern oral zinc tablets and lozenges that are taken by mouth. Ironically, oral zinc products have long been used as attempted treatments for anosmia, the medical term for loss of smell. But it is widely understood in the medical community that intranasal zinc administration can cause a variety of problems with the sense of smell, up to and including its complete loss.

What's unclear about the Zicam products is how much, if any, zinc they actually contain. That's because they are marketed as homeopathic remedies, which typically contain little to no actual active ingredient.

As I've explained in detail in my earlier blog entitled "Homeopathy is a scam! The theory is that "like treats like" but only when present in vanishingly small amounts. Typical homeopathic remedies are diluted to a point where essentially none of the original material is still present.

But in the case of the Zicam products the dilution factor is only 2X, which means that the original material was diluted to the level of 1 part in one hundred, meaning that it's still quite detectable.

The unproven principles of homeopathy say that the more diluted something is, the more effective and they are often diluted to 1 part in a million 6X or much lower X or more.

One popular influenza remedy called Oscillococcinum is actually C, which means that it was diluted times, each at a fold dilution that's one part taken to a zeros-fold dilution. This may be why only some people have developed loss of smell from the Zicam products and not everyone who has used them. The unfortunate few may have been especially sensitive to the effects of zinc. If the label is to be believed, Zicam does contain a very small amount of zinc one part in parts of whatever the diluent is.

In an accompanying warning letter to Matrixx, the FDA said that they had received "more than reports of anosmia. The FDA has requested that Matrixx immediately submit all such reports to the agency. In addition, the FDA warned Matrixx that it was selling its products illegally because they are actually "drugs" according to the regulatory definition of a drug, which is a product "intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.

On receipt of the warning letter, Matrixx voluntarily recalled its products although they said in a press release that "Matrixx Initiatives stands behind the science of its products and its belief that there is no causal link between its Zicam Cold Remedy intranasal gel products and anosmia.

You might wonder how Matrixx was allowed to market its product in the first place as well as all the other homeopathic remedies clogging the shelves? In fact, even when the FDA determines there's a safety problem, as it did with Zicam, it doesn't use the enforcement discretion set forth in the guideline.

Instead, it declares that the product is actually a "drug" and forces the company to withdraw it from the market and then either prove it's safe and effective, with a new drug application, or else never market it again.