Get a physician-designed plan organized around where you are in your illness — symptom guidance, the Pharmacy Navigator, a daily tracker, and the knowledge to know when to seek care. This is where ZnPaC comes in.
For everyone · Understand
I want to understand what's happening.
Everything your doctor didn't have time to explain — antibiotics and when they don't help, contagion windows, recovery timelines, and the evidence behind all of it. In plain language.
For clinicians
For Clinicians.
You already know the evidence. No lecture — just the tools, for your patients and your next URI encounter.
Be first. Presale opens this fall — get the heads-up before it's public.
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Russell W. Raskin, MD
Hi — I'm Dr. Russ Raskin.
If you're here, you're probably not feeling your best right now. I've spent nearly fifteen years in urgent care, preceded by over a decade in emergency medicine. I never planned on becoming an expert in the care of colds and the flu — but here we are. I've seen this before, more times than I ever expected. Let's figure out where you are and what to do about it.
When did this start?
How are you feeling compared to when this started?
Day 1–2 · Early Initiation
This is a great time to start.
You caught it early. The evidence supports starting immune support as early as possible — particularly for zinc, where timing matters most. Let's get you set up with the right plan and the right tools.
A Few Days In · Plateau Phase
You're in the thick of it — and that's expected.
This is the most distressing part of the curve for many patients — symptoms have stalled, mucus has thickened, and recovery seems distant. That feeling is real. Your immune system is consolidating before the recovery phase begins. The right support now may help move you from plateau to recovery.
About a Week In · Recovery Phase
You may be closer to the end than it feels.
A week in can feel like the most distressing part of the arc — because recovery is taking longer than you expected. That is not unusual for many patients. Keep an eye on your symptoms, watch for any warning signs, and make sure you're on the right path.
10+ Days · Improving
Good news — you're on the right path.
After 10 days, improvement is the right direction. Recovery from a viral URI can take time — sometimes up to three weeks or more for full resolution. Keep going. That said, take a look at our When to Seek Care guide to make sure nothing warrants attention. And once you're back to baseline — that's when the SYC Defense Protocol begins. The goal is to keep you off the arc next time.
10+ Days · Not Improving
At 10 days with no improvement, it's time to take a closer look.
Symptoms that have not improved after 10 days may signal a secondary complication — a bacterial infection layered on top of the viral illness. This is the clinical signal we call double worsening. Please review our When to Seek Care guide and consider seeing a clinician.
10+ Days · Getting Worse
Please review When to Seek Care now.
Worsening symptoms after 10 days is a clinical signal that warrants attention. Please review our When to Seek Care guide immediately. If you are experiencing difficulty breathing, chest pain, high fever that will not break, or any severe symptoms, seek medical attention now.
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SYC Defense Protocol · Daily Maintenance
You're well. Let's keep it that way.
Most people do nothing for the 340 days a year they feel fine — then scramble when a cold hits. The SYC Defense Protocol is daily immune maintenance built for the well: the goal is to keep you off the arc in the first place. ZnPaC is what you reach for when you feel it coming on — SYC Defense is what you take before that day ever arrives.
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Education Platform
Learn Here.
Everything your doctor didn't have time to tell you about your cold. What brings you here today?
Start here · Understand the illness
By symptom
The antibiotic truth
Looking ahead
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For Clinicians · Peer to Peer
You already know the evidence. No lecture. Here are the tools.
Clinical content, communication frameworks, and a platform you can recommend to patients — built by a physician who has spent nearly fifteen years in the same exam rooms you have.
Communication
How to Deprogram Your Patient
Five beliefs. Five responses. Scripts that work in fifteen minutes — including the traffic light framework for wait-and-see prescriptions.
Read the article
Evidence
The Antibiotic Belief Cycle
Why patients come back certain they need an antibiotic — and how to break the cycle.
Read the HCP version
Systemic Context
A Look Behind the Curtain
The seven forces driving antibiotic overprescribing — and what the data say about breaking the cycle.
Read the HCP version
Antibiotic Stewardship
Your Favorite Pack of Antibiotics Is Essentially Dead
The indication-by-indication case against reflexive azithromycin prescribing. Resistance data, doxycycline displacement, the narrow remaining legitimate role, and the policy path forward.
Read the HCP version
URI · Bronchitis · Pneumonia
Is It a Cold, Bronchitis, or Pneumonia?
Airway anatomy map, comparison table, when antibiotics are and aren't indicated. Send patients here before the visit.
Read the article
Bronchitis · Peer to Peer
Bronchitis: Cut the Crap
Fifty years of evidence. The therapeutic cabinet is empty — by drug class. PTBD explained. The protocol that actually works.
The 2025 AAO-HNS update: watchful waiting is now Level A initial management for all uncomplicated ABRS — regardless of severity. The exam-room moves, the convergence that warrants treatment, and why the defensible position is no longer the prescription.
Read the HCP version
Post-Viral Cough
What Is With This Cough?
Duration data, trajectory groups, what doesn't work, and what to actually do — including the behavioral interventions that measurably cut inappropriate prescribing.
Read the HCP version
Otitis Media
Antibiotics Don't Treat Ear Pain
The red ear reflex, AAP diagnostic criteria, AOM vs. OME, stratified antibiotic decision framework.
Read the HCP version
Otitis Media · Under Two
Ear Infections in Young Children
Why the under-two population is legitimately different. AAP age stratification, anatomical and immunological basis, and the diagnostic discipline required when the patient won't cooperate.
Read the HCP version
Formulation · Evidence
It's in the Cup
The top prevention signal in the 2025 NMA was for the beverage, not the extract. Why EGCG is out of the capsule and in the cup — the risk-gate reasoning, peer to peer.
Read the HCP version
Communication Tools
Send Them Here
The one-sentence referral that does the deprogramming work after the visit.
The plan for when a cold hits — wherever you are on the arc. A structured protocol you take for up to 10 days — Zinc, Quercetin, NAC, Vitamin C — built to help you ride it out.
"This did not come from a brilliant idea. It came from frustration — years of it, accumulated one patient at a time in an urgent care exam room."
I trained in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. For the first half of my career I practiced emergency medicine — high stakes, high volume, the full spectrum of human crisis. Early in that career I watched young, otherwise healthy patients develop antibiotic-associated complications — colitis, allergic reactions, organisms that no longer responded to the drugs we depended on — from antibiotics they never should have been given. That stayed with me.
When I moved to urgent care, I found a different kind of battle: a system that had conditioned patients to expect an antibiotic for every cold, and conditioned many clinicians to provide one. URI patients can make up 80 to 90 percent of what we see in urgent care at certain times of year. Every day felt like the same fight.
For years, I thought about the placebo effect. Not as a trick — as a clinical reality. You cannot in good conscience prescribe a placebo. So I built something better — a structured protocol with four ingredients that have their own evidence base, designed to give patients what they actually needed from me all along.
"You don't need an antibiotic for a cold. You need a plan."
— Russell W. Raskin, MD
From the education platform
Everything your doctor didn't have time to explain.
A physician-written library on colds, antibiotics, and what your body is actually doing. A few to start with:
You already know the evidence. Here are the tools.
Clinical content, communication frameworks, and a platform you can hand a patient after the visit — built by a physician who has spent nearly fifteen years in the same exam rooms you have.
Physician-Authored Educational Material · Russell W. Raskin, MD
Not feeling well? Let's find what may help.
A free, physician-built guide to the over-the-counter options worth considering — organized around the symptoms, age, and health history you enter.
Physician-builtGuided by your answersPrivate to you
This tool shares general educational information, not a recommendation. Always discuss the use of any of these products with a qualified medical professional and pharmacist before use, and read all package instructions, box inserts, and warnings.
Step 1 of 3
Step 1 of 3 — About You
A few quick questions first.
This helps us show the options most relevant to your symptoms. All information stays on your device.
Biological sex
Are you pregnant?
If unsure, we will assume that you may be pregnant for safety.
Age
This helps us flag age-specific cautions
Weight (lbs)
⚠ At under 100 lbs, some standard OTC doses may be higher than appropriate for your weight. Please review all dosing with your pharmacist before use.
Step 2 of 3 — Your Symptoms
What are you experiencing right now?
Select all that apply. We'll pull together the options based on your selections.
Systemic
Nose
Throat
Chest / Cough
⚠ Important — tell us more
Which of these best describes what you're experiencing?
Ears
Eyes
Sleep
⚠ Emergency — Call 911
Stop. Call 911 now. Do not drive yourself.
The symptom you described — chest pain or tightness with difficulty breathing, or a sensation of air hunger at rest — is a potential medical emergency. This is not a cold symptom. Do not wait. Do not drive yourself to the hospital.
Call 911 immediately or have someone drive you to the nearest emergency room now.
⚠ Go to an Emergency Room Now
Please go to an emergency room now. Do not wait.
You described difficulty getting enough air at rest — not just the sensation of breathing differently with a cough or congestion. This warrants immediate evaluation.
If your symptoms worsen rapidly — you can't speak in full sentences, your lips or fingernails look blue, or chest pain develops — call 911 immediately.
See a Physician or Urgent Care Today
See a physician or urgent care today. Do not wait until tomorrow.
You described audible sounds while breathing. This warrants evaluation today — particularly if you have no prior history of asthma or reactive airway disease. If you do have a history of asthma and have your rescue inhaler, use it as directed while seeking care.
If symptoms worsen — you cannot get enough air at rest, chest pain develops, or you cannot speak in full sentences — go to an emergency room or call 911.
Here's what can be considered.
Based on your symptoms and health history. This is not medical advice and does not replace the clinical judgment of your physician or other healthcare provider. When in doubt, get checked out.
This tool is for educational purposes only and does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. It does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personal medical guidance. · Russell W. Raskin, MD · Board-Certified Emergency Medicine & Internal Medicine · R.W. Raskin Health Protocols, LLC · ShortenYourColds.com