Feb 27, 2007 9:36 am US/Central
Man Blames Loss Of Sense Of Smell On Medicine
by Jeanette Trompeter
(WCCO)
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Quint Bridenstine said the cold remedy Zicam caused him to lose his sense of smell.
CBS
A Minnesota man claims a popular cold medication caused him permanent damage.
The drug is called Zicam and one version is a gel you can put in your nose to help you get better fast. Quint Bridenstine said that drug permanently damaged his sense of smell.
"There's so many smells," Bridenstine said. "You don't even realize how many there are and how many that you're missing. It's just unfathomable."
Zicam Cold Remedy is a homeopathic nasal gel that is sold alongside FDA-approved cold medicines, but it is not tested or regulated the same way.
Bridenstine said he took Zicam just twice, a little more than a year ago.
"I immediately felt a burning, stinging sensation," he said. "(I thought) this is probably what it's supposed to do."
The burning went away, but the other side effect did not.
"I felt like I couldn't smell anything," Bridenstine said.
Zicam contains zinc and promises to "get you over your cold 3x faster." What the packaging doesn't tell you is that Zicam may cause you to lose your sense of smell.
"When you lose your sense of smell, life becomes miserable," said Dr. Alan Hirsch, the director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, Ill. "It has long been known that intranasal zinc actually causes people to lose their sense of smell."
WCCO-TV has learned the Food and Drug Administration is investigating Zicam. FDA records show that since the beginning of 2004, almost 250 people have reported losing their sense of smell after taking Zicam.
Last year the company that makes Zicam paid out $12 million to people who blamed the product for their loss of smell.
Bridenstine said he may also sue. His attorney, Tony Nemo, believes Zicam's delivery is partly to blame. When Nemo shot Zicam into the air, it reached his office ceiling.
"I just can't believe how powerful it is," Nemo said.
"There clearly should be a warming saying, you know, there's a chance, if you use this, that you're going to lose your sense of smell. Forever," Hirsch said.
Zicam's maker insists the product is safe, saying, "Matrixx continues to believe that Zicam (Cold Remedy Intranasal Gel) does
not cause loss of smell and claims to the contrary are scientifically unfounded and misleading."
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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