Count me as another convert. Having lived in Cincinnati for too many years, I developed year-round allergies and constant stuffiness with some sinus pressure. I have hated my nasal passages now for several years. I’ve heard of the neti pot before, but I was hesitant to try it. I’m not a big fan of perpetually medicating myself, however.
This morning I picked up my neti pot, after reading this thread, and used it before work. Today I can take deeper breaths through my nose than I have taken for a very long time. My nasal passages are completely clear. It is a most wondrous feeling and I would highly recommend neti pots as much as I recommend good arch support at work. How could anyone not want to feel so free and clear?
I texted my husband about it earlier and demonstrated it this evening, suggesting that he might see some relief from his nose constantly running the moment he starts eating. He also take Claritin regularly and deals with sinus issues as a norm. After dinner, he tried it and reports that his nose isn’t running any longer. The jury’s still out to as to whether it eases his allergen suffering.
ETA: Husband also reports that he can smell everything now…hehe. Oh and thanks to the OP and **Qadgop **for his sharing his personal and professional experience.
It took a little more coordination than I expected at first, and I did get to swallow some (yep, salty water!) but I worked it out. I think at first I was pouring too fast.
It wasn’t a screaming dramatic change, but the congestion/breathing does seem a little better and my nose is no longer itching (that alone makes it worth it!). I’ll keep at it, as I suspect this will be a good thing.
Heh. Mr. brown says that after a day or two of use, he noticed he could actually smell everything very pronouncedly. So he stepped out on the front porch to inhale the fresh morning air, and sucked in a big noseload of fresh skunk stench.
OK experienced neti pot users – I’ve been waiting a couple of days between sessions for two reasons. First, I am apparently getting water in my eustacian tubes based on the lovely crackling sounds (which differ greatly from the audible whistles my sinuses make when I blow my nose). Second, I end up having that pool water/nose feeling so I assumed the water’s just not all drained back out.
I still can’t get more than quarter of a pot up my right side, and my left side takes even less.
Suggestions? Am I right in waiting between sessions until the crackling noise and pool head feelings go away?
My educated WAG is that you may not be using enough salt in your neti pot, hence you’re not getting sufficient shrinkage of the swollen nasal tissues. This would also put water up your eustachian tubes and cause retained fluid there due to insufficient shrinkage.
Warning: I haven’t looked up your snoot or in your earholes personally, so this is just educated guesswork. If you are chronically congested with swollen nasal tissues, it may be worth upping the salt in your solution.
Water of the proper salt concentration may help stop your ears from popping, so waiting isn’t necessarily the only possible course.
Hope that helps, it’s tough to do this by remote control.
Don’t I know it! But mostly I wanted to figure out why everyone else apparently can pour the entire contents of Niagra Falls up their noses and I struggle to get a dribble up there. So it’s sure worth trying
I’m having better luck if I do this in the shower at the end of the shower when I’ve already breathed in a lot of steam and cleared my sinuses as much as I can by blowing (without squeezing my nose). If I do that, I get the water to flow out the other nostril. The other night, I tried when I wasn’t in the shower and couldn’t get things flowing so well. So I think upping the salt, as Qadgop suggested, in combination with using it in the shower, is why things are going better for me this time.
Qadgop also said up the thread that there is evidence that the pot is better than the squeeze bottle. But for now, I’m using a squeeze bottle so I don’t have to tilt my head to the side, and that might be partly why I’m not having the problems with my eustacian tubes that I did when I tried the pot. I figure I’ll use the squeeze bottle for a few months to promote some healing, and then I might try the pot again. Better to wait until summer for that experiement, anyway, since I’m less prone to sinus infections once the air isn’t cold and dry.
In any case, it’s too early to get excited and think the flushing is helping my overall problems with exhaustion and brain fogginess–but I must say I’ve felt more awake and alert this week. May that trend continue, and may it be related to being able to breathe more effectively through my nose. Regardless, my sense of smell is amazing me, although like the OPs husband and the skunk, that wasn’t such a good thing when I opened the door to the women’s bathroom yesterday. :eek:
Just finished my first nasal rinse. I used the bottle. Weird feeling on first contact, of course. I could breath when I started so I figured it would pour right through. Nope, I felt my passages fill with water and stop up, barely a trickle came out the other side. After holding for a moment, I blew the water out my nose. I tried the other side, pretty much the same results. Here is the part someone is gonna yell at me for…
I went back to the first side, filled with solution, then gently “surged” with the pressure a bit.
Something broke, big time*. The solution flushed out the other nostril taking some gunk with it.
After that I just let it flow, cleared and changed nostrils, cleared and I’m done.
I just tilted my head (just now) and some water came out of nowhere.
so far the right side feels fine, left, ahhh, is the same so far. The water keeps running out the right side, which feels fine, great in fact. The left just feels… congested still. I’ll put it at a 50% success. Will try again tomorrow.
First indication of “pool water up nose” sensation which quickly disappeared.
I did as the instructions suggested and started half strength, but last night at 2 am when I woke up congested I upped it to full. Could only really manage a half a pot up the snoot, but 10 minutes later I had real relief. The sinus headache on the right has disappeared and that side seems quite clear. The left side of my skull still aches, but it’s better. I’m getting some drainage, but no worse than many days.
The box says “up to every 2 hours” but that seems an awful lot of neti potting… how much is too much?
My husband says he just can’t understand how I can pour water up my nose, but whatever. I can convert him to the Neti Side later.
Meanwhile - he’s right, there IS a dead mouse somewhere around here!
My SO poined out one of the original threads that ran a few months ago and got me a pot becuase i am always having sinus headaches. Yes, I was grossed/freaked out after watching an instructional video - but i tried it anyways.
Feeling the water work its way from one nasal end to the other is “different”. There have been a couple of times where my headache has been so bad that when using the pot I have damn near screamed in pain because the headache became sharp and persistant. I didnt stop though, telling myself to hang in there and i’m glad I kept going because after a few more seconds there was relief! Only one time had my headache been bad enough that it moved from my nasal area to the back top of my neck with very little relief. Fortunately I Neti’d a couple more times that day and it got better.
Oh, and the first time I used it I damn near fell on the floor when i was done - whoa! dizzy spell/light headedness overtook me! It was a good feeling =)
I dont “love” my neti-pot, i tolerate it. Not only that, but I have the kids irrigate when they are here as well. The youngest suffers from many allergies and it has really helped her to breathe and not be so stuffed up!
And, working in a hospital I was able to get some Dr and Nurse opinions. The ones who are aware of the Neti-pot immediately recommended the product and verified its safety (as long as you follow the instructions including using filtered/distilled water). The ones who did not know what it was by name, also verified its safety and benefits of irrigating. Kids can also use it (just make sure you supervise until you know they can do it by themselves)! And I was told it’s safe to use every 3-4 hrs.
To those who are having trouble getting the water to flow, do you keep your mouth open? I thought that seemed odd in the instructions but I did it and kept my mouth open and it flowed right through. Then I did it again and had my mouth shut and nothing came out, opened the mouth and everything flowed again. I’m sure it’s some form of magic.
Yes, I kept my mouth open - I can only hold my breath so long in any case. I think my nasal tissues are just so swollen and irritated there isn’t much room for the water.
I’m also cutting back on the chemical decongestants because they can interfere with my sleep, which hasn’t been so good lately.
Husband reported this morning that he had some difficulty getting it to go through. Didn’t seem like he’d had any difficulty the first time. Will ask if he’s up to a whole packet of solution when he gets home and suggest more. And I’ll be sure to remind him to open his mouth, although why would you close it? Don’t you gotta breathe through it?
Bicarb? Sodium bicarbonate a/k/a baking soda? If so, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this recipe. I’ve never found a set ‘recipe’ before for the de-snottification process, and I always wind up with either a noseful of water that doesn’t do much except make me sneeze, or everything smells like salt for a week.
And I had not known that about Kosher salt; I’ve been buying the specially marked DE-IODIZED salt for quite some time because I’m allergic to Iodine, so I didn’t want to be squirting Iodized salt up my nose just in case it would set off my allergies.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. My husband, my nasal passages, and my ears all thank you.
I did a second session this morning with a whole packet in half a pot of water. Boy did I feel that . . . at first. Things moved, and then they just stopped. And when I say *stopped *I mean I had that pot shoved in my nose and pointed so that the spout was vertical to the ground and nothing went through. So I tried from the other side and mostly nothing got through. I did that back and forth a couple of times before giving up. Now I can feel something lodged where it ought not be lodged. I am undeterred. I will do this again tomorrow and I will DEFEAT my sinuses.
