I promise I haven't tried to be a stranger. I know I haven't posted since last year (thank goodness that was only a week ago), but I've had a serious cold that has kept me from doing much at all.The only good thing to come out of this cold is I remembered to try out my NeilMed NasaFlo Neti Pot. NeilMed Phamaceuticals was giving away free Neti Pots with 2 sample packs of sinus rinse a few months back, and I picked mine up through the sample giveaway. When it arrived I tucked it away in the medicine cabinet, and I honestly forgot about it until my cold popped up.
I admit I wasn't very fond of the idea of pouring the sinus rinse in my nose becFause I hate getting water up my nose, but it's not bad at all. Because the sinus rinse is a sodium chloride & sodium bicarbonate mix that you add to warm distilled, filtered, or boiled water (after the water has cooled to warm) it doesn't burn or sting. I read the directions carefully, and I waited until my nasal passages were almost clear before attempting the rinse hoping it would remove any extra bacteria I had lingering. The instructions say you cannot rinse with a fully blocked nasal passage, but you can rinse with a partially blocked one.
I filled my pot with warm distilled water, added the sinus rinse, and shook it to mix it. I stood over the sink, bent forward as directed, and turned my head to the side. I placed the Neti Pot to my nostril and began pouring as directed, but nothing happened. Instead of draining I felt my other nostril clog up. I blew gently, but yet again nothing happened. A small amount of the solution trickled down my throat, and I suspect that was due to my nose clogging up as I followed the instructions, and stood in a position to prevent that. Three hours later I went to bed with my nose still clogged, the feeling of fluid in my ear, and a headache.
I don't know what I did wrong. I followed the directions exactly, and I still ended up with fluid pooling behind my ear and no drainage. I woke up the next morning to find my pillow absolutely covered because everything had drained out during the night. I jumped on the pc and did some Googling, and I found that there were many others complaining of the same thing. They followed the directions, but there was no drainage, or the solution drained out the other nostril properly they still had fluid behind the ear. Many also reported headaches. I was really hoping the Neti Pot would work for me, but it didn't. I'm not giving up yet, and I'll try again with completely clear nasal passages.
Hubby, on the other hand, tried it, and loved it. The solution drained from his nostrils like it's supposed to, he had no throat drainage, and no sensation of fluid pooling behind the ear. Hubby is a heavy snorer, but after using the Neti Pot his snoring hasn't been quite as bad as normal. It didn't stop the snoring, but it did help to lessen it. He plans to purchase a box of sinus rinse packets and rinse once a week.
If you're looking for a Neti Pot I do suggest giving the NeilMed NasaFlo pot a try. It's cheaper than a lot of the other versions on the market, and I feel my issues were more related to user error since it worked perfectly for Hubby.
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