Zicam = BS = my head exploding.
 

My brother swore to me this stuff was awesome. He carried on so much my wife bought of bottle of the nasal spray.

I have had a post nasal drip and of course a cough has followed. My wife suggested I give it a try.

As I sit here typing 2 hours after sraying this crap up my nose , the front of my head feels like it is going to explode. I cannot lay down it hurts too much. Its a writhing pain that you cannot make stop and its about to make me batty.

I am off to take a shower in hopes it will relax me I suspect I am on a vicsious cycle where I am aggrevating this worse with my tension.

I have never felt such discomfort in my life. A trip to the E-room might not be out of the question if this does not subside.

Where's Moses when we need him....? I hope the shower steam helped.

It took the edge off but I feel this is going to be a long night.

Never again.

I rarely take medicine when I am sick, Whisky fixes everything. :D

Ziacam works fantastic for my wife. I find it so-so. She uses the swaps as they are supposed to work faster.

I just use a huge amount of nasal decongestant (usually a double dose) and that solves the problem for me.

I've used the tablets - and they've worked great for me.

At around 2 in the morning the pain subsided. I will admit my sinuses are really clear hardly any post nasal drip either.

I will never do that again, I maybe got 4 hours of sleep last night.

Jim, a lot of people are sensitive to the Zinc in Zicam and it is suspected of causing nerve damage. Personally I don't trust the homeopathic remedies.

Zicam works great, but ONLY in the tablet form. I guess no one warned you about the nasal spray, that stuff is a nightmare. Taking the nasal spray is like torture. :eek: I'd never buy the spray.

A side effect of all that decongestant stuff is increased anxiety, and it keeps some people from sleeping too. Some people don't notice it, some do. I try to stay away from the stuff...I like taking the expectorants better, it will take longer for your head to clear, but you don't have to put up with the 'speed' effect of 'decloggers'

Face over a boiling pot of hot water, snort/snot some of it, followed by big cups of peppermint tea.

No experience with Zicam, however if it is a true homeopathic remedy, there will be vanishingly small amounts of any actual ingredients. That's what homeopathic medicine is, they think that if you put very small amounts of medication into a pill then the body will heal itself...I guess.

Anyhow, the chances of you having a reaction to any actual medicine in the spray are pretty slim since there should be almost no medicine in the spray.

That is, unless they are saying it is "homeopathic" but not adhering to the principles of homeopathy. I tried to pull up an ingredient list on their website but came up dry...not unusual with homeopathic remedies.

If you cant breath through your nose, and Sinus's are totally blocked and inflamed, use AFRIN but Caution..

do not use for more than 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try using plain old cheap saline up the nose. It works for me to reduce the crap in my sinuses. Just buy the cheapest stuff you can find. It doesn't 'burn' the way water in the nose does.

For the same reason, you can wash out cuts with saline and it doesn't hurt as much.

Or let water standout over night in a glass or bowl...so the chlorine evaporates....

Re: Zicam = BS = my head exploding.
 

Did you follow the directions? They are important.

What you experienced can happen if you just 'spray it up your nose'.

The swabs work well, also.

For me, it's worked very well. Has zinc in it.

It's great.

Completely agree, just tip your head back and wash out your sinuses with the stuff, doesn't burn, works great. I actually often do it immediately after nose spray.

The nose spray clears everything out, then the saline gets rid of the residue that keeps it irritable and burning for hours.

After that, hopefully be nice enough to stash that bottle somewhere it won't be grabbed by a friend that might be over and wants to clean their contacts, ew.


Also agree with the don't use Afrin more than 2 days, that stuff works great a time or two, but the addiction part kicks in and you can't breathe at all, sucks.

This thread reminds me of a joke.

Guy#1: When my dog is bad, I give him steak.
Guy#2: But, surely he LIKES steak?!
Guy#1: Not up his nose, he doesn't!

What are you smoking??

Re: Re: Zicam = BS = my head exploding.
 

I never read directions I am a guy. I sprayed the entire bottle up my nose.

j/k


I did 1 squirt per side per directions.

I am sticking with heavy doses of Whisky from now on at least then I get the headeache after I wake back up.

Ah yes, you promoted the flow of excretions in your sinus cavities, but didn't do anything to shrink them up so it could flow out. Now the enhanced flow doesn't have anyplace to go, causing impingement on sinus cavity pain generators. OUCH!

Been there, done that. I take a non-steroidal anti-inflamatory (Motrin or generic Ibuprofen) AND Guaifenex at the same time. The first reduces inflamation and swelling, the second is a decongestant that promotes flow. You don't want to do a decongestant without reducing swelling of membranes.

I hope this makes sense to you, check with a physician of course.:D

i find that rubbing some smack in my eyes whilst chewing arrow root and at the same time hopping on one leg with my hampton in my spare hand seems to ease the pressure somewhat...

sorry Jim! sounds like you have had a pretty tough time. hope your feeling better