I think its time to contact the Neti Pot Corp and have them start paying for all this free advertising!
Since I’ve been doing this (not using a neti pot as such, but a bottle that I can pour from) I have yet to suffer a cold or flu this winter. A couple of mornings, I’ve had one snot-filled nostril, and on occasion I’ve sneezed. But this is a complete contrast to my usual during cold and flu season.
Normally, I get a cold or flu, and my who head gets stuffed up and, inevitably, the cold or flu ends but I’m left with a week or more of bronchitis, coughing and hacking like a consumptive.
But nothing this winter!
Is the salt providing an inhospitable environment for the bugs?
I’ve had the opposite of gaffa’s result. As noted earlier in this thread, I started using a neti pot, but at the end of January I developed a cold. This has been the first full-blown cold I’ve had in at least two years.
On the assumption my catching the cold was coincidental, I have continued using the neti pot every day, frequently resulting in ropes of mucous hanging from my nose once the water finishes draining my sinuses.
My brother in law told me yesterday that sometimes he mixes ginger tea and mint tea and adds the salt and it gives an extra boost when he’s congested.
StG
My current neti like experience. It is amazing what I will do when congested to the eyeballs.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10847506&postcount=8