<p>WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration says Zicam nasal spray can permanently damage users’ sense of smell.</p>
<p>The FDA says consumers should stop using Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel and related products immediately. All the over-the-counter products contain zinc. Scientists say that ingredient may damage nerves in the nose needed for smell.</p>
<p>The FDA says about 130 consumers have reported a loss of smell after using Zicam products since 1999.</p>
<p>At least their nose isn’t stuffed.</p>
<p>I guess I need to stock up immediately. This is the only stuff that seems to work for reducing the duration of a head cold. I have used it many times and still have an excellent sense of smell.</p>
<p>Ingesting large quantities of heavy metals is never a good idea… I was alarmed to discover that since it’s a “dietary supplement,” the FDA doesn’t regulate Zicam as a medicine. I quit taking it after that.</p>
<p>I and my family have been using Zicam for years with great success. I do have a relative
that did loose their sense of smell for quite a while after using Zicam. I will say that they did way over use it, you know the “if a little helps then alot will help more” philosophy. They have recovered. We use the swabs and follow the directions exactly! I caught my husband inserting the swab up way too far, he said he thought that would be better! I also will have to stock up.</p>
<p>I never put anything up my nose except for a bean in 1958. :-)</p>
<p>I too have used it for years without any side effects and it really does seem to work for me – usually knocks out my colds within a day or two.</p>
<p>This is part of the reason I will not have my daughter vaccinated with the Gardasil shots at this point (she is a closely supervised 13 year old): the side effects that only become known several years later.</p>
<p>On the plus side, the neurons in the nose are some of the very few in the human brain that are continuously born throughout life, so the smell loss shouldn’t be permanent. I don’t know if that helps. :)</p>
<p>Yes, I heard this on the news Tuesday evening and again Wednesday.</p>
<p><a href=“she%20is%20a%20closely%20supervised%2013%20year%20old”>quote</a>
[/quote]
How closely will you be able to monitor her in the coming years? Believe me, as one who knows, teenage daughters (sons too, I imagine, though I don’t have one) find ways of wriggling out of this so-called close supervision!!</p>
<p>JDA, I’d like to point out one significant difference: while the vaccine has been through rigorous clinical trials monitored by the FDA, the zinc remedies are considered “supplements” and are not under the FDA’s jusrisdiction. The FDA’s only power is to yank them off the shelf if something really bad happens to the users (like the recent cases of deaths in users of some weight-loss supplements). Of course, a new side effect could be discovered down the road even for an FDA-approved pharmaceutical.</p>
<p>Do not use drugs!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>AFAIK neural stem cells migrate to the cerebral cortex too – it’s just much harder for new cells to survive because they find it hard to make connections in transit.</p>
<p>galoisien, you are speaking my language here: one of the labs that showed that was actually mine. 
The stem cells don’t actually migrate to the cortex – they live in the area surrounding the ventricle at the base of the cortex. Their progeny migrate into the cortex.</p>
<p>These stem cells do continue to produce progeny in the adult, but the progeny mature primarily into oligodendrocytes and not neurons. Under special circumstances, primarily in brain injury models, neurons can be born from progenitors around the ventricle and can survive for some time, but a) only in very, very small numbers (on the order of ten, not on the order of a thousand), and b) it’s not known whether they can actually stably integrate into functional circuits.</p>
<p>But it is certainly a very hot topic in neuroscience right now – several labs (including mine) are trying to push the resident oligo-producing precursors in the adult mouse brain to produce stably-integrating neurons, preferably in high numbers.</p>
<p>I kind of thought that since it said “homeopathic” on the bottle, there was not much of anything in it! Haven’t ever tried it. Had it on my mental list of “probably won’t help but probably can’t hurt you” so I wouldn’t have tried to talk a family member out of trying it. Hmmm.</p>