Yesterday morning I felt the first unmistakable signs of a cold. I often hear 3-7 days for the average length of a cold. I wish. My colds always seem to last 2 weeks with effects that can linger for a month or so. I really hate them. On a recommendation from a friend and fellow skeptic, I picked up a bottle of Zicam. It says "Homeopathic" on the box, which almost kept me from buying it. As far as I'm concerned _homeopathic = bullshit_. However this stuff doesn't seem to rely on some dillution based hocus pocus. The claim is that the Zinc present in the spray inhibits the growth/spread of the cold virus. This keeps the virus load at a level that can be tolerated while the immune system gets its act in gear. So it's day two, and I woke up with a clear head. I'm still definately feeling the effects of the cold (I feel like shit) but my nose is under control. I'm cautiously optomistic.