Colds used to always run their predictable course with me:
- Throat scratchy.
- Throat sore and scratchy.
- Nose starts to run.
- Nose becomes faucet; Kleenex stores deleted.
- Nose starts to clear; cough sets in.
If lucky, the whole thing would be over in around 7 days. When unlucky, residual stuffiness / coughing would linger for some weeks afterward.
So last Wednesday, when my throat felt scratchy, I felt a certain sense of doom. Not for the first time, I dosed with Cold-FX in response. (Per their recommendations—six pills the first day, then four, then two.) I have found that, for me, Cold-FX tends to lessen the severity and duration of colds. But this time, it was quite extreme. Really, I had a mildly scratchy throat and a bit of coughing at night, for about five days. No fatigue. No stuffed-up nose. No real sense that I ever needed a cough drop or a Tylenol sinus or anything.
Was that even a cold? Jean says no (partly because he didn’t catch anything at all). But I definitely had some sort of throat thing for a few days. It was just super mild.
Oh, well. No sense in worrying about not being sick. And I don’t know whether Cold-FX deserves any credit or not. But I’m certainly keeping it on hand…
Cultureguru's Weblog 
February 17, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Are these things zinc tablets? There was a report on BBC World yesterday about research proving that zinc seems to fight colds the best, but they still don’t know what doses, etc. I think the story’s on the BBC news website, in the Health section.
February 17, 2011 at 2:07 pm
No, they’re North American ginseng — which is different than Asian ginseng, apparently. According to my Nutrition Action Letter, it’s the only natural product that has some good clinical evidence that it can help prevent and shorten duration colds. But that was before the recent zinc trials.