I am a convert (and my sinuses don't hurt much now! yay!) (edited)
Sure, I'd heard about "neti pots" because of doing some yoga - but it just seemed weird. Even when I could understand in theory why it might work it still just seemed weird.
However, in a recent post I complained about my sinuses and how they were making me miserable and a few people mentioned that they did "nasal irrigation". So I figured - well - why not? It's hardly likely to really hurt anything right?
So I tried it.
Now - the first time I tried it I used victorthecook's recipe of 1 tsp salt to a cup warm water. WOW! It was rather like having the top of my head blown off! Distinctly uncomfortable! But - it worked! It cleared a hunk of junk out and I felt the effect immediately. So I decided to water it down some and try again. This time it was distinctly less unpleasant. It was still weird but mostly messy and not so - disturbingly sharp feeling.
I'm hear to tell you that in 3 minutes I feel tons better, much better than any of the cold meds I have been trying the last few days. I'm going to try to add this to my routine because it makes sense to me that it would help clear out pollen and crap.
this article says "Summary: Nasal irrigations should no longer be considered merely adjunctive measures in managing sinonasal conditions. They are effective and underutilized. Some of the persisting unanswered questions will only be answered by further research."
jecklar mentioned that I should NOT use table salt with iodine. Oh. Um... so *that* was the problem!! Yep, sea salt was much less yucky even when I used more. Phew.
Also, a word of warning: I found this article which cautions against nasal sprays that contain the preservative benzalkonium chloride (BKC). So I just got rid of those.
here's a recipe that uses baking soda. I didn't- other recipes just say warm water and salt.
I went to good old wikipedia for basic info and links to an article that went into more details about how and why.
However, in a recent post I complained about my sinuses and how they were making me miserable and a few people mentioned that they did "nasal irrigation". So I figured - well - why not? It's hardly likely to really hurt anything right?
So I tried it.
Now - the first time I tried it I used victorthecook's recipe of 1 tsp salt to a cup warm water. WOW! It was rather like having the top of my head blown off! Distinctly uncomfortable! But - it worked! It cleared a hunk of junk out and I felt the effect immediately. So I decided to water it down some and try again. This time it was distinctly less unpleasant. It was still weird but mostly messy and not so - disturbingly sharp feeling.
I'm hear to tell you that in 3 minutes I feel tons better, much better than any of the cold meds I have been trying the last few days. I'm going to try to add this to my routine because it makes sense to me that it would help clear out pollen and crap.
this article says "Summary: Nasal irrigations should no longer be considered merely adjunctive measures in managing sinonasal conditions. They are effective and underutilized. Some of the persisting unanswered questions will only be answered by further research."
jecklar mentioned that I should NOT use table salt with iodine. Oh. Um... so *that* was the problem!! Yep, sea salt was much less yucky even when I used more. Phew.
Also, a word of warning: I found this article which cautions against nasal sprays that contain the preservative benzalkonium chloride (BKC). So I just got rid of those.
here's a recipe that uses baking soda. I didn't- other recipes just say warm water and salt.
I went to good old wikipedia for basic info and links to an article that went into more details about how and why.