Cold-Eeze

Here's something my grandmother taught me... Stick dimes in your nostrils, put on rubber pants, and load up on Tylenol PM.

I have to admit they are not the best tasting lozenge, ok they are downright nasty. The best tasting one I have found is actually a generic brand sold at Walmart under the equate label. They only come in cherry and I think they played with making the taste a bit better. I have used them for about 2 years now and they really seem to work. The last cold I had lasted 3 days. I did find however that the first 24 hours it seemed to cause a spike in body temperature. My normal temp with a cold is usually around 100-101F but once I took these it went up to about 103. This could just be a side effect of the product or maybe the virus was just a little stronger then I had anticipated. The fact is I have not had a cold last more then 3-4 days everytime I take the product.

It seemed to work, but I literally had a horrid taste in my mouth for hours afterward. Food tasted bad, and there was no rinsing the taste away. It got scary, so I have decided to stay away from this product, although it did actually seem to prevent my succumbing to a potentially very bad cold.

These truly work, but there are some setbacks. First of all, this stuff does taste like sediment and the worst part is that it doesn't go away after the lozenge has dissolved. No, for the next few hours you'll also feel like your entire mouth is coated in a fine layer of sediment as well. It also gave me an upset stomach, despite the fact that I followed close instructions on how to use the product in order to experience minimal side effects. I felt a cold coming on yesterday, took two lozenges over the course of 24 hours and I'm perfectly fine today. However, just looking at the packaging now makes me queasy.

These taste like the sediment from Niagra Falls, and are about as healthy.  It's not that these will negatively effect you, but rather that they don't help.  Too cheap to be true?  That's because it isn't true.

A direct comparison: Last week my boyfriend had a pretty bad cold. He coughed, sneezed, and sniffled all week and had a mild fever the whole time. On Friday I started feeling a mild sore throat and I immediately bought Cold Eeze and started taking them. I've been taking three Cold Eeze lozenges a day, (morning noon, and before bed) as well as 1,000mg of Vitamin C after dinner and I have practically no symptoms. I have the tiniest bit of congestion, and I had a very mild sore throat for about two days, but its Monday and I'm not experiencing nearly the severity of symptoms that my boyfriend felt. (He didn't take any Cold Eeze)

I've been using this for a few years and I've got mixed feelings at best. I've taken it several times when I felt a sore throat coming on and I've woken up OK the next day, so it may have prevented several colds. But if I get a cold despite doing this, Cold-Eeze doesn't shorten it - I still suffer for days even if I keep taking it, and it seems like a waste. A lot of people on this site have claimed that Zicam shortens their cold to 2-3 days, so I think I'm going to experiment with that. It might work for you, though. (Hint: if you don't like the aftertaste of the lozenges, it comes in a flavorless quick-dissolve tablet form too)

I start taking theses every time I get a sore throat and I'll be darned if they don't stop it every time. I haven't had a full fledged cold since.

These seemed pretty good the one time I tried them. The bad thing is - if I remember correctly - they tell you to take them when you feel a cold coming on. Well, sometimes I don't quite pick up on the symptoms until the cold has moved in and set up housekeeping in my throat, bronchial tubes and sinus cavitities. Still, I thought Cold-Eeze was at least as effective as other over the counter cough and mild cold remedies. I do hope the price has gotten more reasonable than when they first came out though because honestly they are not worth any more than a package of Halls.