Zicam Psychedelic Reaction

I recently started working at a new office, and was fortunate enough to get sick on my second day. My wife is usually the sick one, so we have an extensive array of products from odd homeopathic tinctures to the traditional big brand cure-alls.

In an effort to fight my cold I tried Zicam nasal spray. It was my first time using it and I thought, "It's a spray, put it in your nose and inhale." The first 30 seconds brought some relief leading me to believe that Zicam was actually a good product. However, as the next 2-3 minutes passed my head began to tingle, and I started feeling dizzy to the point where I might pass out. The tingle escalated to a full burn as I began contemplating my demise. I ran to the bathroom to try and hackup and washout any residual medicine. A sore formed on the inside of my cheeck. I looked in the mirror and say blue flashes. I thought for sure that I was either going to "break on through to the other side," or fall down and lose consciousness.

I sat down to ride out the storm, and eventually my condition improved. My wife, who is a health care worker, began investigating this reaction. I then came to find out that the magical Zicam is not to be inhaled, but merely misted in the nasal passage only. I suppose that is what you get for not reading the directions.