Background: Started using the original Zicam cold remedy several years ago as soon as it was released. For several years at the first sign of a cold I would use the zinc gluconate "goop" inside my nasal passages and for those several years that the original Zicam cold remedy was available, myself and my wife and some coworkers of mine never had a cold last more than 2 days. The colds that we did get were completely gone by about 3 days. I never missed a day of work due to a cold. I never spent time in bed feeling like crap for 10 days trying to feel better. I never missed a week of exercising for a cold. I never had a cold become chest infection as they now often become.
Then came the lawyers and Zicam was was blamed for casuing people to lose their sense of smell. It was total BS. The nasal zinc formula worked too good and it actually got rid of colds like it said on the boxes. The lawyers got it removed from the shelves.
The stuff you buy today is total snae oil. It does not work because there is no zinc in it.
Ever since it has been removed, each and every year, my wife and I have resumed getting colds a couple of times a year just like we did before Zicam first came out.
The active ingredient that killed the rhinovirus was the zinc gluconate, which anyone can buy in bulk. The problem is that I can't find out how to dissolve it and make my own "goop" for nasal passages. It remains a "hard" powder that is abbrasive to use.
Can anyone tell me how to dissolve it?