Actually, with the right amount of salt, and the right temperature, you don’t feel the water in your nose. You might if you snort it, but not with the gentle flow from the Neti. However, not enough salt, or completley forgetting the salt as I did once, (but never, never again), is like acid tipped daggers shoved up your nose and twisting in your brain.
I’ve just bought a SinusRinse kit and started to experiment a bit. (I think I may switch to a traditional neti, as I like tilting my head and the SinusRinse’s design doesn’t work well with that.)
I’ve got a pretty seriously deviated septum, though, and no plans to get it fixed in the very near future, so putting the water in my right nostril works much better than the left. Is it really important to do both sides? Seems as if both are getting a wash no matter which way you go, since the water goes in one side and out the other.
I received ours in the mail and have been experimenting a bit, too. It seems to open up some room up there, but since I don’t have stuffy sinuses to begin with, it’s hard to tell. I apply no pressure towards him at all, but Mr. brown still loudly says he won’t touch it. However, he’s weakening. He knows that it’s recommended to sinusitis sufferers, and this latest bout he has had has been a nasty one. It helps that I mention that it moistens things up and is supposed to rinse out pollens and other allergens - he has bad hay fever.
I always do just one side. I think doing both sides would cause too much irritation.
I love mine for the relief it can give. I don’t use it often, but when I need it, it offers relief like nothing else. It’s been years since I’ve had to go to the doctor for sinus-related problems (which is a change).
To be honest, I think some of the appeal is just feeling something different. When your head is pounding and your sinuses feel like hell and you’re thinking you might willingly undergo sinus surgery with a rusty Craftsman drill without anesthesia…well, having your sinuses fill the wrong way is a different enough sensation to be appealing.
I have noticed that if the salt solution isn’t right, it hurts. I bought some over-the-counter stuff once, thinking that a pre-mixed solution would take the guesswork out . . . but that stuff burned like you wouldn’t believe. It was dreadful. If THAT had been my first neti pot experiment, I wouldn’t have touched the thing ever again.
I use one of those syringe-looking things that comes with printer cartridge refill packs. At most it holds about 12ml of fluid, but it all goes up my nose. The tap water in our area seems to be good enough that too little salt isn’t a major problem, and I use cold water because warm feels unpleasant. It works better as a preventative measure – I’m slightly allergic to one of the cats (and to certain kinds of weather, apparently), so I have to go flush out my nostrils after brushing or petting him if I don’t want to spend the next several hours in misery. Once the gunk production gets going, attempting to flush results only in squishy Eustachian tubes. Then it’s time for the co-drydamol.
Would one of these be good for my dad? He has a very dry nose, snorts the saline all the time. He had a nose bleed a couple of years ago so bad he had to have it packed for two days, which was a nightmare for him. Then he had to have it cauterized. Now, he lives in terror of a nosebleed and is afraid to blow his nose for fear it will spring a leak. Suffers a lot in winter.
Is this OK for people who get bloody noses? Or will it irritate the lining?
Also, can you just by sea salt at the grocery to use for these things?
I recommend it for patients who have dry noses and use nasal saline spray. It’s sort of like nasal saline spray to the 10th power. It’s helpful for many patients who have frequent nosebleeds due to dryness.
And kosher salt works fine.
I’ve also advised some patients to use vaseline or even a little olive oil to lubricate the nasal membranes to protect them after flushing. But that’s after I’ve personally checked out their noses.
How do you apply vaseline? Just inside the nose, or should you use a q-tip and really go for deep lubriation? Or do you mean add the oil or vaseline to the warm salt-water and snort it?
I wonder if using salt-water aquarium salt would be more beneficial? Minerals and such.
Prepackaged salt? Wow. I use a plastic margerine container and make the solution warm and salty to the tongue/taste. Then I snort away in the shower.
-Tcat
I too recommend nasal irrigation for chronic sinusitis and related nasal problems. I particularly like the Grossan Nasal Irrigation Tip attachment for the Water Pic. The pulsating action works to restore proper motion to the nasal cilia. You can Pic your nose and you can pick your friends, but don’t Water Pic your friend’s nose. 