Zicam warning

[Guest guest]

Zicam Patient Diagnosed with Nerve Damage

July 7, 2009. By Heidi (http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php)

Boston, MA: Pam O. used Zicam twice before she experienced reported _Zicam

side effects_

(http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/zicam.html?ref=article12492) . She is

now worried that she will never fully recover from the

Zicam smell loss, and will suffer without a sense of smell or taste for the

rest of her life.

" In April [2009], it felt like I was getting a little tickle in my throat,

so I thought I was getting a cold, " Pam says. " My understanding was that

Zicam was most effective if used at the start of the cold. I had used it in

February [2009] without any side effects. This time, I used the nasal pump

and squirted each nostril once. It burned a bit at first, but the burn was

not devastating. I had felt the burning when I used Zicam before.

Within 2 hours, I had no sense of smell or taste. I sat down for lunch

that day and I couldn't taste it. I made a cup of flavored coffee and it

thought it tasted very weak.

That weekend, I was talking to a friend. I said I thought I'd fried my

nose on Zicam. A girl [who was nearby] said that happened to her 2 years ago

and her sense of smell and taste were gone for 9 months. I became alarmed

and went online, where I saw reports of people losing their sense of smell

and taste permanently.

I got a prescription for Prednisone, which I took for 10 days to prevent

permanent nerve damage to my nose and to reduce inflammation. Then, I saw an

ENT [ear, nose and throat] doctor in Boston, who had not heard of this

problem. He referred me to a [nose and sinus] specialist. I was the second

person to call with the same problem that day.

I had a CT to rule out any other possible trauma. The doctors ruled out

everything else and they concurred that it was the Zicam. The doctor's words

were, 'chemically modulated damage to the olfactory nerves.' They said it

was definitely nerve damage and it will take a long time to heal.

Since that time, I've done acupuncture, seen a chiropractor and done

craniofacial therapy, trying to help the nerves heal. There is nothing that can

be done. I spent a fortune on chiropractors and acupuncturists—I'll do

anything. It's pretty devastating.

Every morning, I stick my nose in jar of peanut butter. It could be

psychological, but occasionally I can smell the peanut butter. However, it is

very faint and it comes and goes. One day I could smell it faintly and the

next day not at all. I can't smell a rose or a hamburger. I can't tell the

difference between gasoline or bleach. I can't smell things burning. If I

forget about food on the frying pan, the smoke detector goes off but I can't

smell the food burning. I have a funny taste in my mouth, like rancid coffee

or burning tar—that's the only way I can describe it.

For 3 days in a row, I asked the pharmacist to take Zicam off the shelf.

In April, they wouldn't. If this information this had come out sooner, I

probably wouldn't have been exposed to Zicam.

It's been 3 months and I'm hoping for a full recovery. I just want to

share my story and I want to know if there is any hope of recovery. I want to

hear that somebody got better. "