My Experience With The Neti Pot

Every so often I get allergic rhinitis. Mostly it's triggered by dust and sometimes it gets so severe that I end up suffering for more than a week and having to miss work. For quite a while now I've been researching about natural ways to relieve my chronic sinus symptoms and I came upon nasal irrigation. More specifically, using a neti pot to cleanse and drain the nasal cavity to help relieve allergy symptoms. 

I found out that Oprah even featured this in one of her episodes and there seemed to be a lot of people testifying how great this product is. So I bought a neti pot from the Himalayan Institute since I figured there's no harm in trying...

I've read that you can use regular non-iodized table salt for the neti pot but I got the branded salt just because I felt a little iffy about putting anything but the highest grade salt up my nose. At almost $6 for 10 ounces it's pretty pricey but it lasts a long time. And you can be rest assured you're neti potting with the purest salt out there. :)

Anyway... my first time using the neti pot was about a month ago so I'm now basically a pro at it. The first time i tried to put the saline solution up my nose I felt a burning sensation. Definitely uncomfortable but not painful. I found it so cool that you could actually breathe through your mouth while in the process. It got easier to do after a few tries and it did lessen my sinus problems somewhat. I used to have a chronic cold but it was resolved in the first week that I started using the neti pot.

Here's a demo on how to use a neti pot:

Right now I'm having another rhinitis flare-up and I've been sick since Sunday. My symptoms haven't gone away despite using the neti pot religiously twice a day. Maybe something else is to blame? Possible culprits are lack of exercise, lack of sleep and poor nutrition. I definitely have to work on those.