Inspired by the latest post on Borderline TMI I would like to bring your attention to Neilmed Sinus Rinse.
I got one of these at the family Christmas gift exchange a couple of years ago, and I'm still not sure if it was meant as a gag gift or if the giver was genuinely sincere in her espousing of its effectiveness. Given my wife's family's fondness for holistic medicines, vibrating massage thingies, etc, the cousin who claimed she used it and loved it probably actually did. (No, I don't think she actually gave me hers...) Not too sure about it myself I took it home and put it in the kitchen cupboard, where it sat, unopened, for a loooong time.Eventually my clogged sinuses got too much for me, and when I recalled that my father used to snort a cup of slightly salty warm water to alleviate his sinuses, I figured I had nothing to lose (except snot) and a whole lot to gain...like clear sinuses.
I nuked a cup of water to just warm and mixed it with a packet of salt in the little squirt bottle, screwed on the cap, stuck it up my right nostril, looked sheepishly at myself in the vanity mirror, then leaned over the sink and began slowly squeezing the bottle.
The instructions recommend that not only do you not hold your breath while doing this, but that you breathe through your mouth to avoid putting pressure on your middle ear. And so I did. I leaned over the sink while carefully & slowly breathing in and out my mouth as I squirted warm, salty water up my nose.
At first nothing happened. Oh sure, I could feel the warm water slowly filling up my sinus cavity but it wasn't coming out my left nostril (the cap seals your nostril pretty good, and I have big nostrils) and then it happened.
No, the water didn't begin pouring out my left nostril.
It began running down the back of my throat, into my mouth, and out my mouth into the sink.
Warm, salty water. From my nose. Was coming out of my mouth.
Along with...other stuff.
It was disgusting, in a satisfyingly cathartic way.
When I'd finally squeezed the bottle to almost flat I removed it from my nostril, and now I had water running out of my nose AND my mouth.
But my nose felt kind of good.
As I walked to the kitchen to warm a second cup of water for my left nostril more salty water dripped out of my nose. Oops.
When I repeated the procedure with my left nostril it mustn't have been as blocked as the right (or vice versa) because this time around the water began running out of my right nostril. Along with...more stuff. Big, long, thick chunks of...stuff.
And when it was done and I'd blown my nose into a paper towel (because a tissue would have disintegrated) I felt great. My sinuses felt clearer than they had in a long, long time. The snot was gone, the pressure was gone, and the pain that accompanies blocked sinuses? Gone.
I used it almost every day for a couple of weeks - because every time I did there was the cathartic relief that comes with the removal of large chunks of snot - before scaling back to just a couple of times a week as I felt necessary. And except when my sinuses get really clogged up the water goes in one nostril and out the other, accompanied usually by a thick string of snot that feels so good to be rid of.
If you're plagued by blocked sinuses, forget the old "head over a bowl of steaming water" trick, that won't cut it. Instead try sending 8oz of warm, salty water up each nostril. You might be surprised at how good it feels, despite how disgusting it sounds...or looks...or tastes ;P
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