I hate cold weather. It makes my nose close up and then my sinuses fill up and then I sit and sniffle and snort and eventually it starts running down my throat and making me hack and cough and get sicker than a fucking dog.
I’m getting desperate enough to buy a neti pot.
This is fucking disgusting.
You won’t regret it. Well, unless you fill it with whiskey that is.
Get one. Make sure to use close to body temp water and the add salt/baking soda mixture. I usually buy the packets 'cause I’m lazy and one box will last a year.
As a person who suffered with bad sinuses for most of my life I feel your pain.
Here’s a couple of things I wish I’d learned much earlier in the process.
If you find a neti pot unwieldy, I highly recommend aerosol saline spray, (available at any pharmacy.) It was recommended to me by my surgeon following sinus surgery and I found it to be easy to use and very effective. You must sterilize the nozzle after each use, to avoid reinfection. I use a small bottle of rubbing alcohol, as a dip, and a tissue, after each use.
It keeps the membranes moist, the salt fights the infection, it thins the mucus and your sinuses will drain. Use it often, a few times an hour, until drainage improves.
The same Dr. suggested, when my sinuses were congested, 1/2 ounce of Apple Cider Vinegar, (available at any grocery store), twice a day. You can mix it with maple syrup or chocolate sauce, ketchup, anything you think will cut the taste, if you like. I find it no harder than taking a shooter myself. Be sure to brush your teeth afterward as it’s not great for the enamel of your teeth.
There is an enzyme in the skin of apples, concentrated in the apple cider vinegar, (as it’s fermented with the skins on), that actually thins mucus. Be prepared as this will clear your sinuses in just a couple of minutes.
These two things together are the bomb. Keeping the mucus thin, and the sinuses soppy moist, makes drainage, and relief, a snap. I credit this with finally clearing my sinusitis, notoriously difficult to completely throw off, by the surgeon’s own admission.
This was always one of those subjects that have plagued me my adult life.
I’ve always been too embarassed to bring it up and its not like it will ever come up in conversation. I use apple cider vinegar in some salsa recipes, so I’m going to do a ‘shot’ in about 2 min. As for the neti pot, is that something that health conscious adults could use during a hot shower?
(everything is going down the drain anyway and you have a ready supply of hot water. And if you spill, soap & sponge yourself off, right?)
I’m thinking about a neti pot too. Or the saline spray that elbows recomended.
I’ve pretty much had a cold since mid October. It cleared up and was better for a few weeks than BAM head cold again over X-mas. Real bad one this time. Sore throat every mornin because I have to breath through my mouth when I get clogged up. I’ll be going to the doc (again) next week.
Count Blucher, you could always try it. But you have to bend over to use a neti pot, so doing it in the shower could prove problematic.
I could never get a neti pot to work for me, misshaped sinuses probably the reason. There are several other things, like flushes and aerosols that all effectively do the same thing if you just can’t get the neti pot thing down. They all use a salt water solution to flush, moisten and thin mucus. So don’t hesitate to use whichever works for you.
I know at least three people who neti in the shower. What’s the problem with leaning over in the shower, provided one has a secure, private shower?
If you’re curious, I think there have been approx. 3 gazillion neti pot threads (and sinus threads that became neti pot threads) in the last few years here. Paging Qagdop the Mercotan!
I hear you. The later months of summer were a constant stream of sinusitis … well, not quite a stream, more of a slow ooze. I have a barometer in my head so anytime the barometric pressure got close to or over 30 I could feel it. The the weather changed a little and sweet blessed relief for about a week then I got a cold which progressed into new sinus issues and the weather couldn’t decide what it wanted to do, the pressure was up and down and my sinuses were soon in revolt again. The week of X-mas they were at their worst again, I even woke up x-mas day with my eyes all puffy.
I have a neti pot but I am not consistent about using it Sven though it usually helps because I am such a wimp and intentionally pouring water in my nose is torture. But even worse than that was taking a shot of apple cider vinegar, I thought I was going to die. I’ll stick to drinking natural apple cider.
Everyone who is suffering from sinus troubles has my sympathies. I had my first experience with sinusitis when I was pregnant, and it was overall far more distressing than the actual labor and delivery months later. Yeesh.
Achoo!
I use the neti pot in the shower, I turn so I am sidewise to the water and bend as needed. I dont mind if I dribble on myself, as in 10 seconds I will be stepping back under the spray and washing off anyway. It is sort of nice having the steam rising and warm water spraying on my back as I rinse. Very relaxing. I use the little premix packets. I also use standard saline spray during the day/evening to keep moisturized. I just use one of my alcohol wipes on the nozzle, since I carry my glucometer around I have them with me pretty much all the time.
:eek:
I read this and thought that you meant to use it in the neti-pot.
Vinegar :eek:
maple syrup:confused:
chocolate sauce 
:eek:
Ketchup :eek:
:smack:
You missed an opportunity to pit “I pit my pits”.
Don’t worry, so did I! 
Ooopsy, so sorry about that.
It’s not the first time I’ve told the story, and it’s not the first time I’ve failed to make this part clear.
I guess I’d better work on that.
Saline solution into sinuses, via flush, neti pot, aerosol spray.
Apple cider vinegar, ingested, 1/2 ounce, twice a day. Feel free to mix with maple syrup or ketchup or anything you fancy to cover the taste. Don’t drink on an empty stomach, brush your teeth afterward.
See? Now that wasn’t so hard, I’ll try to remember next time!
If you find a neti pot in the shower unwieldy (???) you can just use a bowl. Slowly snort the water up, and spit it out through your mouth. You’ll still want the salt and baking soda mixer, though.
elbows has suggested apple cider vinegar so frequently and consistently that I’m about ready to try it myself…
I know, I sound like a broken record. It’s just that it was a revelation to me, and worked like a charm.
I spent 20+ years, suffering terrible headaches and spending a small fortune on over the counter meds which offered only minimal relief. I could buy a car with the money I wasted quite honestly!
My surgeon educated me about a lot of things sinus related. I was using decongestants, which dry up your sinuses, and shrink swollen membranes. Sounds good, no? And it did offer the only relief I could find.
But in the end it’s counter productive. The drying out effect actually makes everything gummy in there, insuring it won’t be going anywhere soon, and is definitely going to come right back when you stop taking it. It’s sort of working against what your body desperately wants to do, which is get it out.
The cider vinegar thins the mucus, (and shockingly fast!), and, when combined with a saline flush/spray, no matter how bad your sinuses, it drains away. When that happens it’s not reproducing itself in your sinuses and you get better, your cold clears up etc.
He told me if I couldn’t stomach the 1/2 ounce at a time to not hesitate to do a smaller dose, more often, instead.
He also told me, prior to surgery that sinusitis is notoriously difficult to completely throw off. Once it’s in those dark, damp sinuses it likes to stay and can keep recurring even after successful surgery.
I credit these two things in combination with doing just that. They worked the bomb. I never buy decongestants now.
I guess I tell anyone who will listen because I wish I’d known about this years ago. And because it’s been so successful for me.
Could you recommend a neti-pot? It’s something I would use in the shower, everything I’m seeing looks like a little tea pot.
I’ve had the same since mid-October. I’m done with it. I’ll try anything.