It uses normal warm tap water and a little salt to irrigate and hydrate the nasal passages. The Neti helps relieve sinus problems, moderates allergies, lessens the impact of colds and flu-naturally. And it works like a champ and it is totally natural but I would be lying to you if I told you that it didn’t take some getting used to.
I grew up in Hawaii and never had sinus infections, primarily because I was a fish. I was always in the ocean so my nasal passages were always being irrigated with a warm saline rinse — the ocean. Now, I get sinusitis, also known as sinus infections, all the time.
My friend Kate turned me onto the neti pot. It looks like aladdin’s lamp. What I do is simply mix some warm tap water with some sea salt and then tilt my head and run the warm salt water up into one nostril. The saline fills my sinuses and then flows out of my other nostril. Sometimes it flows a little down my throat.
The only reason I had stopped using the Neti is a funny story.
I was on a movie date with Wendy years ago and when I leaned over to kiss her hello an entire sinus-full of warm saline solution rushed out and splashed all over her shoes. Being a surgeon, Wendy was sure it was a brain hemorrhage: to her, it wasn’t salt water but spinal fluid, also known as cerebrospinal fluid, from my brain. I have been using it again and its amazing. Thing is, I must have a pretty labyrinthine sinus because it happens still.
Question is, do the benefits outway the costs? I believe so. Any embarassing experience is worth avoiding a sinus infection. It can’t be too good to need to take antibiotics every time I get a sinus infection. The Neti is natural and easy for me.
