Being sick and Cold fX

So I'm sick with something like a flu. I find it odd that after all these years, I am still not completely clear what the symptoms of influenza are. So, for my "edumacation" and yours, here are some basics on influenza:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Fact Sheet on Influenza

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Q & A for influenza and how CDC tracks the flu

CDC - What is the difference between a cold and the flu?

KidsHealth information on the flu (I'm posting it because of the at-home care tips. Note that I edited the text to apply to the self and not to the care of another person).

• drink lots of fluids to prevent dehydration
• get plenty of sleep and take it easy
• take acetaminophen or ibuprofen to relieve fever and aches (but do not take aspirin unless your doctor instructs you to do so)
• wear layers, since the flu often makes you feel cold one minute and hot the next (wearing layers — like a T-shirt, sweatshirt, and robe — makes it easy to add or subtract clothes as needed)

KidsHealth - Is It a Cold or the Flu? (I liked the chart that compared the flu to a cold. Again, I edited the information so it applies to the self and not a child that you are taking care of).

Flu vs. Colds: A Guide to Symptoms
Questions	Flu	Cold
Was the onset of illness …	sudden?	slow?
Do you have a …	high fever?	no (or mild) fever?
Is your exhaustion level …	severe?	mild?
Is your cough …	dry?	severe or hacking?
Is your throat …	sore?	fine?
Is your head …	achy?	headache-free?
Is your appetite …	decreased?	normal?
Are your muscles …	achy?	fine?
Do you have …	chills?	no chills?

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Here's the second part: Cold fX. I thought I had seen this over-the-counter herbal supplement before in the U.S. but I could be mistaken. Anyways, it seems all the rage here in Vancouver, BC. Doing a simple Google search revealed these results:

COLD-fX Canadian Website
The company uses sports stars and hockey personality Don Cherry in its marketing. It seems like Don Cherry is quite the Canadian celebrity and I should watch him sometime just to get in on Canuck pop culture (I'm referring to the Canadian nickname, not the hockey team... and where did the term "Canuck" come from anyways? It makes me think of the sound beavers would make when they chewed on wood or the clack of two charging mooses' antlers. And mooses looks like Moses. And how come American hockey doesn't have a team called the "Yanks"?)

British Columbia Community Drug Utilization Program (BC CDUP) Review of Cold-fX
I understand almost everything I read in the review but that might just be my psychology background. Umm... it says that although the two studies were rigorous in design, they were flawed (which many studies are in some way) but mainly the company combined study results in a questionable manner to obtain the purported clinical evidence of effectiveness. This was the bottom line of the report:

There are no published trials to support the use of Cold-fX for the treatment [emphasis in document] of colds and flus. At this time, the data for prevention of colds and flu in seniors and adults is insufficient to recommend the routine use of Cold fX.

Oh and wash your hands.

Now, this all seemed straight-forward to me. However, I found something at the end of the document that contradicts the Urban Legends Reference Page: Cold fX Warning

(Beware: this website, which I think is named Snopes.com - Rumor Has It, is highly addictive. Just click on the "random" button to get going. Two things annoyed me about this site: the pop-up ads and the fact that the random button brings up a story in a new window).

From BC CDUP report
(note that the PDF is password protected for copying (as in copy-paste) so I just looked at it and typed it):

Cold-fX Cautions

endocrine: may have estrogenic effects, thus avoid in women with estogren sensitive conditions (breast cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids)

Now the references of the BC CDUP report list two monographs that this information above could have come from. One of them is for ginseng and not Cold fX, which supports the conclusion in the Snopes.com commentary on Cold fX, which was quoted from the FAQs from the Cold-fX manufacturer. Anyways, I don't feel like researching it anymore. Too sicky.

Here are some other sources that help paint an inconclusive picture:

UBC professors question effectiveness of Cold-fX in the Calgary Herald

Health Canada approves Cold-fX's medical claims on CTV.ca

Alternative Remedies for the Flu on Intraspec.ca, which recommends Cold-fX