I Camphor the Menthol! (Vicks Vapor Inhaler)

Member Name: TheChocolateLady

Product:	Vicks Vapor Inhaler
Date:	05/05/06 (4549 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Works fast, lasts a very long time, so not really expensive.

Disadvantages: Its small and might get lost?

What’s the really bad part of having a cold? It’s when your nose is stuffed up, right? Your head feels like its filled with cotton wool and you feel like your temples are being crushed in a vice - I’m sure you all know this feeling all too well. But that’s not the worst of it for me. When my sinuses are clogged - which happens quite often to me - I get horrible, debilitating headaches. Some people would call them migraines, but I prefer to call them sinus headaches. When I get these headaches, I find it hard to concentrate on anything and all - my vision gets blurry, I can get nauseous and all I want to do is go into a pitch-black room, lie down, close my eyes and go to sleep - hoping against hope that I’ll wake up in the morning feeling better.

But I can’t always do that, can I? I mean, I have a full-time job, not to mention a house and kids to take care of (my husband can take care of himself, thank you very much). And while sometimes the kids can be very understanding and helpful, my boss expects certain things, and sometimes I think he’s more helpless than a baby. So, I can’t just stay home and nurse my stuffy head. I have to muddle through, get out of bed, and force myself to focus, focus, and focus on the job at hand. And sometimes those nasty sinus headaches start right in the middle of work - often when I know that there’s no way I can leave and find a safe hideaway.

So, what do I do when this happens? Well, first of all there is my faithful sinus medicine that has a pain reliever (paracetamol) and a decongestant (pseudophedrine HCl). That helps, but it takes time to work, and sometimes it only really takes effect if I use it in conjunction with a long sleep. Since that’s out during working and family hours, I need something else. That’s why I bought a Vicks Inhaler.

These nifty little items are shaped much like a small lipstick. The long top unscrews from the inhaler to reveal the inner white tube that has a hole at the end of it (yes, it is a slightly phallic shape, but let’s not go there right now, okay?). The outside cover tells me that amoung the active ingredients are Menthol and Camphor. Sounds familiar? It should, since this smells exactly like our old faithful Vicks Vaporub.

But this little inhaler only contains a mere 0.5ml of product, and costs around £2.30 at most places I’ve found. Now, I hear you say “whoa! That much for such a little thing?” Well, yes. And to tell you the truth, I’ve had my previous one for almost three years and just recently felt I had to replace it. So even if this seems expensive, it lasts a very, very long time - as long as you close it when you finish snorting… um… inhaling.

To use this, you remove the cover, put the end with the hole into one nostril, close the other with your finger, and then inhale. Simple, isn’t it? Then you do the same thing with the other nostril. Now, what you’re going to experience here is a blast of seemingly cold air that moves swiftly up your nose and penetrates into your sinuses. If your nose is stuffed up, what you’ll feel is it starting to unclog. If it doesn’t work totally the first time, no problem - you just do it again until it works. With me, this usually takes about two whiffs when my nose is stuffed and one good deep inhale when I’ve got a sinus headache. When your nose isn’t stuffed, you’ll also feel a slightly chilling feeling at the back of your throat, and the famous Vicks scent will invade (in a nice way) you. But this doesn’t mean you’ll start stinking from the stuff, since actually you will be the only one smelling this. Trust me, I’ve done this enough at work to know that no one has ever smelled this on me after I use it. Pretty cool, no?

Now, I decided to do a little experiment. Not long ago I had the beginnings of one of my famous sinus headaches (weather’s changing, I guess), which feels like someone was starting to put a knife into my head just above my left eye. I pulled out my handy Vicks Inhaler and took a strong drag on it. Then I went to back work. Within about 30 minutes I could feel that knife was starting to pull away. After about an hour, although the scar is still in my forehead, I can concentrate on my work and get it all done - plus, I feel good enough to finish revising this review!

Thanks for reading.

Davida Chazan @ October 2002, updated May 2006.

(And does anyone get the pun in the title?)
~~~~~
Technical Stuff:

The homepage for Vicks is http://www.uk.pg.com/products/products/vicks.html

According to http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100003812.htm l, there are no known harmful effects when using this medicine by pregnant or breastfeeding mothers, and there are no side effects reported with this either, nor are there any known interactions with this to other medicines. However, it is not recommended to use this on children under six years of age, or anyone known to have an allergy to the ingredients (obviously).

Look for this inhaler at your local chemists. According to the Auravita Internet site, this costs £2.29 (that’s 1p less than when I first wrote this review), and last practically forever.
~~~~~

Summary: Something to sniff about - when you've got a cold or sinus headache!