Today I am going to talk about the wonderful world of the Neti pot. This will be familiar to some, and to others using a Neti pot is going to sound pretty crazy. A few years ago, when I was in the midst of being sick and worn down, I had an allergy season that kicked my butt. It was rough, particularly because I had never had allergies before in my life. Now I know that my immune system was seriously compromised, so of course I would react to environmental allergens, but at the time I was so irritated by the constant sneezing and drippy nose that I would have done anything for some relief (enter Benadryl and Sudafed- neither of which actually helped anything at all). Then I heard about the Neti pot. Nasal irrigation is a great way to alleviate sinus/nasal congestion, keep your mucous membranes happy and not dried out, and to remove anything from your nose that may irritate your sinuses and throat. I was also dealing with serious sinus headaches, so when someone told me about using the Neti pot to alleviate headaches and allergies, I went right out and bought one without even knowing how it was used. If you haven't seen a Youtube tutorial on Neti pot usage, you should watch one, they are hilarious. There is no possible way to not look disgusting and totally weird while using a Neti pot. Essentially, you use the little pot pictured above to pour water through one nostril and out the other, with you head tilted forward and to the side you are pouring the water out of (so the water doesn't just go down the back of your throat). This takes a few tries to get it process down, but trust me, it is worth it. The first time I used one, I was so congested the water didn't move AT ALL through one side of my nostrils. Totally blocked. But I didn't give up, and finally that nice warm saline water was able to move through and move out the gross mucous and pollen that had been sitting in there, stuck up on my nasal membranes, and it brought so much relief I nearly cried. Now my husband and I regularly use the neti pot, especially after cleaning the chicken coop, being in the garden, being around a sick person, after surfing, or anytime my head hurts or my nose feels dry. That way I am always making sure my nasal membranes are functioning happily (moist clean membranes=happy membranes) and that I am washing away any pollen, dirt or bacteria that may have gotten up there in a quest to aggravate me.
I have a few recommendations that are very important with the Neti pot about the water you use- there has been one incident in the news in the last few years saying that a person contracted a brain parasite via Neti pot usage, from the water that they used in their Neti pot. Who knows if that is actually how the person got the parasite, but it is always good to be safe, so: use distilled or filtered and then boiled water, that is then cooled down to a little above room temperature (play around with the temp you like- mine has to be just right, not to cold, not too hot). It is imperative that you use clean, filtered/distilled and then boiled water, to make sure there are no little buggies that are going to crawl into your brain (I Neti almost daily and always used filtered boiled water, and so far, no brain parasites). I don't used distilled water since my only way of getting it would be in plastic bottles, and I don't use any plastics (another post for another day), but my Berkey filtered water (Best water filter ever- another post to come as well) that I then boil and cool and use is nice and clean. Tap water is not a good idea, since the chlorine put into it will dry out your membranes and make using the Neti pot pretty useless. I also buy sea salt (I actually have the exact Neti pot and salt pictured), but Kosher salt works as well- just don't use table salt (ever, but there is yet another post!)
So go watch a Youtube video on using a Neti pot, get in a good chuckle, and then go out to your nearest health food store and pick one up and give it a try- I promise you, it will be worth it. Cheers to no allergies!
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