Darling snuffleupaguses,
PeaceBang obtained a Neti pot a few weeks ago and cannot say enough good things about it. Since she started using it, she doesn’t even need a humidifier in the house anymore, because she doesn’t get stuffy.
I remember in 1991, doing a long-run production of “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” at the Des Plaines Theatre Guild in Des Plaines, IL. The run got extended twice and I was just dead ill, trying to teach high school during the day and play an elementary school-age child in a hilarious musical requiring a lot of frenetic singing and dancing. One of our tricks (I think we all had colds and flus at least one weekend) was to mix up little handfuls of warm salt water in our palms backstage and snort them up our noses before big numbers, to hydrate and clear our heads. It really did work. The Neti pot is a much calmer and more sanitary version of that same idea.
You mix up some pure sea salt (nothing iodized) with warm water in the Neti pot, plug one nostril with the spout, tilt your head over the sink, keep your mouth open, and let the stream of water flush you out, way up into the sinus cavities. You snarf out all the nasty stuff (keep tissues nearby), and then repeat with the other side. Be sure not to use too much salt, which can burn, and keep the water tepid-to-warm, not warm-hot (ouch!). You don’t want to boil your brains.
Some mornings — and I’m trying not to be too graphic here — I don’t even feel stuffy but five minutes after using the Neti pot I’m blowing merrily away into my Kleenex and being quite, um, productive. Do I hear a choir of nuns singing, “The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Mucus?” I mean, this definitely isn’t the kind of thing you want to do in front of your hot new lover. “Pardon me, my exquisite darling, while I stick this ceramic doohickey up my nose and flush my cranium.” It’s not a very appealing thing to watch.
I really wish I could do this for my cat, who has snuffly-nosed tendencies, but I’m sure she would misunderstand my good intentions and engage in severe forms of social protest like howling and scratching the bejesus out of me. Someone obviously needs to design a tiny kitty cat neti pot. Remember a year ago when she was in the hospital in the oxygen chamber clinging to life? And you were all so wonderful praying for her? Don’t think we have forgotten. So kisses from PeaceBang and Ermengarde, both of whom are breathing blessedly well this January.
“Thanx, everyone. I doing really well now. My paw fur growed back where it was shaved, so cuteness factor not at all impaired. ”
So funny you wrote this–just got back from CVS where one of my purchases was a new Neti pot. I had a nice ceramic one given by a friend that I broke last year. I just got a terrible cold and needed a new one badly…thank goodness for CVS’s plastic version. Once you get the head tilt just right, the neti pot is a miracle.
For those who find a neti pot a challenge (like me!), Dr. Neils Sinus Rinse works on the same principles, but comes with pre-measured packets of saline to mix with the distilled water, and can be heated in the microwave. It’s a plastic squeeze bottle, and you lean forward instead of sideways. Works like a charm.
It’s also online at Drugstore.com: http://tinyurl.com/375zwx, where you can also buy refills of the packets.
My hubby regularly uses a Neti pot and swears by it. I’m sure it’s good for him, but it’s gross, gross, GROSS! I just stay out of the bathroom when he’s doing his thing…
I love my neti pot!
Here’s a helpful demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8sDIbRAXlg
Hey, thanks to whoever (a few posts ago) recommended the Vicks Personal Inhaler (cute, little, and $30 at CVS)! I got one and it’s excellent.
Now for the Neti Pot. I was still doing the saline-solution-in-the-hand thing, though when I get a cold I sometimes use a dropper. Why I haven’t gotten a Neti Pot I don’t know. It felt like an unnecessary luxury, but since I just got that inhaler…
I SWEAR by my Dr. Neils Sinus Rinse. It is absolutely wonderful. I actually have fun using it, and I, like you, PeaceBang, go through a ton of Kleenex after using it.
I’m also glad to hear that Ermengarde is doing well. I miss your Friday cat blogging! Can’t wait to see new Ermie pictures!
This is hysterical — but thank you, now I know what a Neti Pot is. does anybody else remember “Up Your Nose with a Rubber Hose”? Singers I know have long recommended “irrigation” (the polite term) for short-circuiting an incipient cold…
I have the personal Vicks inhaler, a ceramaic nehti pot, and Breathe-Free uh, “nose rings”, they dont make them anymore (you bought a couple of boxes, and you didnt need to buy anymore).
The three of these things work well together….
I have the Dr Neil’s setup, and as soon as I’m done with the pre-measured packets I’ve got I will be done with the pre-measured packets. it’s so handy but very wasteful, in my opinion.
and PB you are so right about not wanting to do it in front of your hot new lover! when I first came home with the Dr Neil’s package from the ENT doctor I was cohabitating with the fellow who is now my hubby. we weren’t exactly hot and new, but I was sure-as-heck going into the bathroom with my new doohickey, rather than staying in the kitchen, where I was heating up the water and where he could see me from the couch. My sweetie intervened though, because he was SO CURIOUS about what it would look(/sound/feel/smell?) like.
talk about indicators of whether or not we were marriage material! his courage to ask me to nasal rinse in front of him, and my courage to do it.
that just looks weird. does the water also run down your throat? how do you keep from choking on the water?
does it work? i have been congested all winter, but due to high blood pressure, i cannot take decongestants, so if this works, and you don’t choke, i will give it a try
how often do you need to do it? how long does it last?
i am just full of questions….
[Jeff, when you tilt your head right, the water just goes in one nostril and out the other. I have never choked or anything close to it. You keep your mouth open and breathe through it. I do it every morning and then again later in the day if I feel like it, but mostly just once. The idea is to keep your nasal passages clean and clear and hydrated and to give the natural flora and fauna in your sinuses in good fighting condition. I would highly recommend it to you. – PB]
I almost peed my pants when I watched this spoof, : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQm7YpxgOnA&feature=related
my significant other has recently started using a sort of McGuyver version of one of these with a funnel or something, he uses it before bed and loves how he can breathe easy while sleeping and isn’t all nasally clogged in the morning.
I recently moved to western NY where it is so dry. While my congregants suffer through colds, my Neti pot, purchased years ago from Chinaberry, has kept me hale and healthy. It is gross, but oh so wonderful!