So last night my nose was so stuffed up I couldn’t sleep at all, and at 6am I finally gave up and ran out to buy that device I have heard such wondrous things about: yes, the neti pot.
Anyway, at the moment, I have one totally blocked nostril and one clear one. However, when I tried the neti pot, water wouldn’t go through. I know there was some circulation, because I tried the spout side on the clear nostril and the water went to my throat.
Will a neti pot not work if one nostril is totally blocked? I thought it would clear out that nostril by sheer force of will (and pressure!).
And if it won’t clear out that one blocked passage, please help me! Tell me what else I can use! I want to sleep again.
If your head is bent forward far enough it shouldn’t go down your throat. As for the one nostril thing, usually if I hold it there for awhile and it will eventually push through. If not, I hold it there for a bit to loosen up the gook, take it out, blow my nose really well and then stick it right back in. This almost always works for me. Good luck! I love my neti-pot.
QtM will probably be along soon and give you all the info you need but yes, if it’s really blocked it will probably take several flushings to unblock things and help the swelling.
If one side is blocked, getting water through is tough.
In those tough cases, I’ve recommended for some people that they use a little nasal decongestant spray, just enough to open the passageway a bit. Using that too much or too long will cause dependence on the spray, so it should be used cautiously.
but once it’s open a bit, start using the neti pot. The neti pot solution will then be able to irrigate the nasal passages, soften stuff stuck up in there, and help bathe the nasal tissues in a saline solution, which will help both excessively dry and excessively swollen nasal mucosa.
Also, be aware that the saline solution from a Neti pot is mostly irrigating the nasal passages, turbinates etc, I’d be very surprised if any appreciable amount was entering the sinuses themselves.
It’s variable. Depends on how open the os to the sinus is.
I’ve used the neti pot myself, got all the fluid out as expected, then surprisingly a few hours later had a spontaneous loss of a large amount of fluid which had apparently entered my sinus, sloshed around for while, then decided conditions were right to exit the sinus again.
Damned inconvenient at times, but ultimately it’s a satisfying sensation.
I went with the NeilMed squirt bottle kind. I just got it (at QtM’s endorsement I recently read). I was looking for a Neti pot, but it was late-night and the only place open was Walmart.
Anyway, I’ve had many “blocked” recently. The pressure I could provide with the bottle seemed to dislodge any of the initial blocking.
That said, I haven’t been floored at the effectiveness of nasal irrigation; but it helps some, and every little bit counts.
This seems like a good thread to mention that my husband, who has used a spray steroid up his sinuses for years, has gone without them for several days now. He says that as long as he uses the neti pot twice a day, things are kept clear enough that he can go mostly without the steroids anymore.
I know that I just spent 46 hours in a hospital, and when I go back for round 2 I am damned well taking my neti pot… my poor sinuses were feeling so damned dry and crunchy:(
