Mr. brown’s EENT said that one of your pairs of sinuses only have an opening pointing upward. The only way to get the neti pot water to drain out of those sinuses is to hang your head downward.
So after he uses the pot, Mr. brown anticipates this and brings along a towel when he bends over to tie his shoes in the mornings. Saves an embarrassing nasal gush at the office later on.
I wish that happened to me. When I can’t get it to “break through,” I feel it fill up my sinuses all the way to my ear drums. Well, I don’t know if that’s actually what’s happening, but the sensation is that instead of draining through my nose and clearing out the pathways, I feel my head “fill up” with increased pressure along the brow all the way to my ears. I literally hear crackling in my E-tubes.
It’s not painful on its own, but it seems to make me more prone to sinus headaches.
According to my doc yesterday:
The normal way your sinuses clean themselves is when they get irritated, they swell up, produce mucus, and the mucus drains from your sinuses and carries away any dust or allergens.
A neti pot simulates this, without having to go through the irritation or swelling part, which is the uncomfortable about the natural way of cleaning your sinuses. At the same time, the neti pot cleans out any old mucus or other icky stuff, providing even more relief.
So, in essence, you can wait for your sinuses to clean themselves out, or you can help them along with a nasal rinse. Helping them along often makes it so you completely avoid the irritation and swelling to begin with. Thus, you feel better.
Interesting - thanks for the explanation Athena
I haven’t ever experienced the post-cleansing gush. I just put my head between my knees for a while to try to cause it, but no such luck. Perhaps my sinuses are in worse shape than I thought. Or perhaps I tilt my head sufficiently during the procedure that they drain then.