I learned to do it the hard-core way, by inhaling water from a bowl and spitting it out my mouth. After that using a pot was easy. Learning to snort the water was about as freaky, and took me about as long, as learning to put in contact lenses. That is, several short attempts over the course of a day and I got it.
Get a pot that comes with a measuring spoon. That will free you from buying the salt/bicarbonate packets. Mix up your own salt solution of 2 parts pickling salt (small and quick to dissolve, uniodized) to 1 part baking soda.
I have been able to stop taking Claritin altogether, since I began using my neti pot once a day. Allergies are gone. I haven’t had a cold for a year now, either.
One caution: you can snuffle the water out of your nose a little after you’re done, but DO NOT blow your nose. It’s easy to force water into your eustachian tubes, and that can give you an ear infection. I had it happen to me once.
If you try the apple cider regimen prescribed above, drink it with a straw please. You don’t want to melt the enamel off your teeth.
I find that I get serious dry sinus and nosebleed issues in the winter, so between showers I keep several bottles of neutral saline nasal spray around, I buy the smallest size available and I throw them away at 2 weeks and get new ones.
Keeping my sinuses hydrated has improved my comfort immensely. I don’t seem to get colds as much either.
I don’t understand why anyone would buy packets of salt and baking soda. I use the kosher salt and baking soda that I always have on hand. Do most people not have these on hand? You really don’t even need to measure; it’s easy to eye it, and you have to really screw up before you can tell the difference.
At first I used a makeshift neti fashioned from a semi-disposable children’s sippy cup. I bought the Walgreen’s pot because it fit into my nostrils more easily.
I don’t have regular sinus problems or allergies that affect my sinuses. I only use it when I’m sick, and it really helps flush out the gunk that regular nose blowing can’t get to.
I hate getting water up my nose at the pool, but I was relieved to find that the neti pot doesn’t feel anything like that, and I was able to breath through my mouth totally normally and easily – as long as I kept my chin pointed down.
One of a few products that has changed my life. (See also: Diva Cup.) I’d been on prescription allergy medication for, I don’t know, EVER, and I haven’t taken any in the past year and a half. During allergy season, I use the sinus rinse faithfully twice a day, and I’m good. It also makes colds livable - they don’t go away any faster, but you can breathe the whole time.
It feels weird at first, but you’ll get used to it. It’s definitely worth it.
I prefer using the premixed packets because I’m wimpy about using the Neti pot and adding more steps to the process would mean I would be even less likely to follow through. I do feel better after using it but I often put off using it until I’m already having sinus issues instead of using it as more of a preventative. It’s not really that uncomfortable it’s just the idea of it that always puts me off.
I used one for a while, but haven’t recently. My problem was that I’d fairly regularly not get all the water out of my nose. So I’d be doing something at work, bend over for whatever reason, and a bit of water would come shooting out of my nose with no warning. No one ever saw it, but it would’ve been awkward if they had! I suspect, though I’m not sure, that this may have something to do with my deviated septum, so YMMV.
I had a horrible, horrible sinus infection around Thanksgiving I think it was, with no insurance. I was of the EWWWW crowd when I thought about a Nettipot, but by that point I was desperate enough I would have tried anything. So I tried it. The first couple times, my sinuses were so blocked, NOTHING got thru, and i thought what a waste of time & money.
About the third time, things began moving, and within 3 or 4 days, my infection was gone.
It wasn’t unpleasant at all, didn’t feel like I was drowning, just a warm sensation in my sinuses. I am now a believer.
the warm water circulating around the sinus cavity also sort of soothes me when I get a sinus headache. That combined with the warm shower is fantastic when I am trying to get to sleep and am just feeling out of sorts. Then pop into a bed warmed up with heated mattress pad and made with freshly washed microfiber plushy sheets. We need an asleep in 5 minutes face.
You would not believe what flushes out of your nose after you’ve been doing yard work. It’s gotten to a point now where I can’t NOT use a neti after working in the yard, because I know what’s in there!
I bought one at Walgreens. It is just a plastic one nothing special. I have used it and it is not uncomfortable or unpleasant but for me it also made no difference so I stopped.
I have to admit I’m a bit nervous about the neti pot. I mean, what if the water never came out? :eek:
I finally got brave enough to use Hydrasense and have used it nightly for about a month now. It seems to help my congested sinuses. Does anyone know if it’s the same principle as the neti pot?
The Hydrasense spritzes desalinated seawater up my nose but the water doesn’t run out the other side — or through my sinus cavities, like Unauthorized Cinnamon posted about (fascinating!) — so maybe it’s not quite the same thing.
I had the same problem, so I switched to the NeilMed squeezy bottle. Not having to tilt my head to get the water to go through seemed to eliminate the water going into my ears.
I’ve had mixed results using it. Sometimes, no mater how I use it, there is EXTREME pain involved. Not sure why sometimes it flows through, and sometimes it seems to go straight into all the sinus cavities.
I usually find that water pours out of hidden sinuses after swimming or using a neti pot when I bend over a long way such that my upper torso is upside down.
Whether this says something interesting about the positions you and your wife have sex in, I’m not sure
Just tried one for the first time this past weekend. So far, meh. It wasn’t nearly as weird as I thought it was going to be. On the other hand, it didn’t do much of anything as far as I can tell. Many I’m doing it wrong? I can feel the water running through and it pours out the other nostril but I’m still stuffy at the end.
This is what I do. I buy the Neal Med saline packets at Target, mix 1 or 2 in the Neal Med bottle…dump in the Water Pik with the attachment and let it fly. Like a Neti Pot on steroids…it has a pulsatile action which helps to clean sinuses better I think.
