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Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less

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Lizawithazee
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
Metal belongs on the OUTSIDE of my body, thankyewverymuch.
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Nice Beaver
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
At least each of those 340 people now have a defense to an accusation that he or she dealt it.
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restless
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
Holy crap! I can't use Benedryl for minor seasonal allergies because of sports, so I tried using the Zicam for allergies swabs. Back to the wackness that is the Benedryl. Oh, well. Sounded too good to be true.
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kimsama
06/17/09

@restless: Dude, try yourself some Claritin or Zyrtec. Or get a prescription for a mild nasal steroid (like fluticasone propionate). Works for me and steroids can't rob you of your sense of smell.
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MisterHippity
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
Another Zicam side effect: "Horrific, almost unbearable burning."
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scroll_lock
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
WHAT???! WHAAAAAT?! I swabbed my ears with a QTip this morning and can't hear a thang.
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Private Hangnail
06/17/09

@scroll_lock: And by swabbed you mean you poked the thing in until, finally, the blood came and the voice telling you to cut up Richard Simmons bad went quiet?
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DahlELama
06/17/09

@scroll_lock: "You have to stop the Q-tip when it meets resistance!"
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scroll_lock
06/17/09

@Private Hangnail: I knew when brain matter was extracted it was a bad sign. I'm running off now to get fitted with an old-school ear trumpet.
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scroll_lock
06/17/09

@DahlELama: QTips love it when your cochlea plays hard to get.
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scroll_lock
06/17/09

@Private Hangnail: And I'll get to Richard Simmons once I'm finished with Messrs. Siegfried and Roy.
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MisterHippity
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
That happened to my dog when he took Zicam.

(OK, now you're supposed to say, "How does he smell?")
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blix
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
"My dog opened the medicine cabinet and got into some ZiCam".
"How does he smell"?
"Terrible"!
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resipsaloquacious
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
For once in my life, I am happy I did not read the directions for application.

As an aside, let me confirm that Zicam does not kill the smell of flatulence.
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BookishLookish
06/17/09

@resipsaloquacious: Lulz.
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Private Hangnail
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
I used that stuff once. It, combined with snot, formed a thick crust on the inside of my nose. It also irritated the outside of my nostrils, turning them bright red. Basically, I looked like a junkie two days into withdrawal who had a penchant for stuffing Q Tips up his nose.
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BEERxTaco
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
I used the Gel Spray about a year ago, thinking it was like any other nasal spray. I sniffed it in deeply and felt a burning sensation. This was followed by a complete loss of smell and taste. Afterwards, I read the directions that said to just squirt it in the nose and rub it around, not to sniff it in deeply, but it was too late for that.

To make things worse, it didn't even help. It's just a zinc delivery system, not a decongestant. After several weeks my sense of smell and taste returned, but are diminished, and I doubt I'll ever get it back to the level I had before.

I hope they go bankrupt.
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firedmyass
06/17/09

@BEERxTaco: So a company with a useful product should suffer because some people (like you) are too goddam stupid to read directions before you cram something unfamiliar into a hole?

Idiot. You gonna sue somebody next week because that new pencil you bought isn't labeled "Do NOT Jab in Eyes"? I hate you so much.
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Perhaps Not
06/17/09

@firedmyass: Can I start a betting pool for how many posts it will take until you get banned? I give it three, max.
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Cicada
06/17/09

@firedmyass: After reading this comment, I hate you with a pure undiluted passion that makes the seas boil and puppies weep in fear. I hate you more than a yeast infection on prom night. More than the smell of an old diaper sitting in the sun. I hate you more than Glenn Beck hates the tiny little bit of his soul that just won't die no matter how hard he tries to kill it. I could power the entire Eastern seaboard off of the dirty coal of my hatred.

Amateur.
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Flippyjack
06/17/09

@BEERxTaco: Zicam should have a bigger, more detailed warning. But it works great. It has instructions on it. If you snort Zicam, you are an idiot. Once I was real sick and kinda sleepy and I snorted some on accident- it burns if you do that. I think you'd have to snort a lot (fucking moron) to lose your sense of smell. IT'S THE BEST (FIRST) COLD MEDICINE EVER INVENTED THAT ACTUALLY SHORTENS THE COMMON COLD and now it'll probably go under. You stupid non reading fuck.
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Perhaps Not
06/17/09

@Flippyjack: You get four. Taking all bets!
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anxiogenic
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
Wow--- I can't imagine any degree of restitution being fair if someone took away my sense of smell. I'd sooner offer a limb than lose whiskey.
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BookishLookish
06/17/09

@anxiogenic: Girl after my own heart.
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anxiogenic
06/17/09

@BookishLookish: Girl? Maybe. My image is of Zooey Deschanel, and more importantly, the fairer sex has no monopoly on anxiety.
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BookishLookish
06/17/09

@anxiogenic: OK, human after my own heart.
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dado
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
I once lost my sense of smell from an infection and it was horrible. I tried to cure it with wasabi, which made for a difficult time down below the next day. $12 million? They got off cheap.
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BookishLookish
06/17/09

@dado: I know someone who lost her sense of smell when she fell off her bike and hit her head. I think I would prefer to lose an arm.
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SaraRueful
06/17/09

@BookishLookish: A friend of mine had sort of a mini-stroke (in which she fell and hit her head) -- at first she was fine, but a couple weeks afterward she lost smell AND taste. Two and a half years later, they're still not back. I can't imagine how miserable that would be.

On the other hand I could probably be a supermodel if I couldn't taste the deliciousness of Taco Bell, potato chips and beer.
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dado
06/17/09

@BookishLookish: Thankfully I got it back after two weeks...I read some stuff about anosmia, the part about having to rely upon friends and family members to help with your hygiene was particularly unnerving.
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BookishLookish
06/17/09

@dado: Besides the pleasure that we get from smelling, there are tons of safety things, too. When you push out a rugrat (aka are reduced to being a mammal), this becomes really clear. I cannot imagine not being able to smell my kid. And not being able to smell if a carton of milk went bad? I also believe you can smell crazy and thus avoid it. Ya smell me?
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tigolbitties
06/17/09

@dado: @BookishLookish: it does suck to lose your sense of smell! i lost mine my first semester of grad school, went to a neurologist, ear, nose and throat specialist, oncologist and psychiatrist and no one could tell me why i lost it. what made it worse was not that i couldn't smell, cause i could it just wasn't the same. i couldn't tell the difference between peanut butter and coffee, gasoline and cigarette smoke, etc... since everything smelled differently, nothing tasted the same, my friends had to sit with me and help me associate new scents with familiar items... then this year, it slowly started coming back... i have no clue what caused it and what's changed!
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BookishLookish
06/17/09

@tigolbitties: Poor tig. Glad it came back though.
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Botswana Meat Commission FC
06/17/09

@tigolbitties:

At least you've still got your tits!
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homoviper
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
I had heard this about Zicam! I still use it, just not the nose swabs.
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TableNine
06/17/09

In reply to Cold Medicine May Render You Scents-less
Now I know what to get Kristen Stewart for her birthday.
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Mary Mouse
06/17/09

@TableNine: Hee hee.

Also, I was talking about cold remedies with friends recently and it turned out that zinc lozenges make all of us barf. So now I definitely won't be putting it up my nose either.
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