I’ll admit I was a skeptic. But, I was spending several days at some friends’ house and arrived with a beginning whopper of a cold. Normally, for me, a cold gets really severe over the course of two days resulting in terrible nasal stuffiness and chest congestion, and then takes another three days to go away. My friends graciously offered to let the sick boy stay and gave me some Zicam. I think, in general, cold remedies are worthless or more unpleasant than the symptoms, but to my immense surprise, the cold did not progress as it usually does and the symptoms were gone in 24 hours. Despite this experience, I was still skeptical, but have had two subsequent similar experiences. I’m sold! It works for me!