Cold Defence nasal spay?

[FarAwayHills]

I am surrounded by coughs and colds both at home and at work. I'm doing my best to avoid catching something before Christmas and a friend recommended First Defence spray to prevent the onset of a cold. The reviews on Amazon range from amazing to saying that the side effects are awful which is making be wary. Does anyone have any experience of using this?

Personally I wouldn't use it - have a search for the thread here in General Health called 'FLU or SEVERE COLD with bizarre pattern of symptoms VICKS anti viral to blame?'
I posted my personal experience using it on that thread and a few others agreed. It's awful stuff IMO

I've used this several times. It stings quite a lot and makes my eyes water. I also still end up getting the cold, and seem to get it worse using it!
I have now started taking a zinc supplement, and echinacea drops when someone in the house has a cold or I start feeling a cold coming on, and I find it VERY effective. The drops I got from a health food shop, and they were expensive maybe £20 but they last forever. I've had mine a year though and still half a bottle.

That's interesting. Found the thread and I think the same thing happens to me. I use the spray if I want to delay the cold but I eventually succumb and half the time I wish I'd just got the cold out of the way straight away rather than prolong the whole thing. At the moment I'm having good results from zinc/vitamin c lozenges, sambucol and echinacea and lots of vitamin d

I had 'symptoms', very runny nose, streaming eyes etc etc, and an important meeting. I used First Defence for the first time - cured!! Excellent stuff. It might not be suitable for everyone but it worked for me when I needed it to.

I have tried it and had no problems with it. I can't be sure that it helped prevent a cold, because I am not susceptible to them anyway.

My mum recommended this to me a couple of years ago. Until I opened this thread I'd never heard of any side effects and certainly never experienced any. Whilst obviously it doesn't stop you ever getting a cold, without a doubt I've had way less than I used to and the ones I have had have been shorter and less painful!
I use the boots own brand one and recommend it to everyone I know!

My doctor friend says you would be aswell squirting water up your nose.