never heard of a netipot? ever heard of nasal irrigation?
i first heard about nasal irrigation a few years ago when my friend Kai was having a lot of issues with her sinuses: polyps, constant sinus infections, headaches and a lot of pain related to her allergies. she had a few surgeries to remove the polyps and was advised to start using nasal irrigation to keep her nasal passageways "clean."
nasal irrigation is an ancient technique used to control allergies in the nasal passage ways, to help clear out muscus during colds and to keep the nasal membranes healthy and clean.
when kai first told me about this, i immediately thought it had to entail a certain level of pain. kai said no, it works based on the laws of gravity. i didn't get it.
fall and spring bring on my allergy flareups and i've accustomed myself to walking around with a permanent sinus headache for a few months every year. but last fall, i was in so much pain that even wearing my glasses was too much for me to handle. i just happened to be in the drug store, looking for loratadine when i came across the SinuCleanse box. i immediately knew what it was and didn't hesitate to buy it. i figure some old hippie trick can't really hurt me, right?
well, i never used it. i just put it away in the bathroom and kind of forgot about it. finally, i used it a couple times after hanging out with my smoker friends. sometimes, when i hang out with people who smoke in the house, it's easier to just join them in the smoking rather than just breathing the foul odour of cigarette smoke. so after spending a night playing poker or just hanging out with smokers, i would clear out my sinuses with the netipot in hopes of avoiding a sinus infection.
a netipot is the actual container used to hold the water and mixture of sodium bicarbonate that you use to irrigate the nasal passages. while it seems like you'd be waterboarding yourself (a term nancy used when i first told her about netipots), it's totally safe and doesn't involve an ounce of pain. gravity takes care of everything and all you have to do is breathe with your mouth open.
if used regularly, it can decrease the amount of medication that sinus-related sufferers take over the course of a year. i've only been using it on and off for the last four months and while i haven't really had any sinus problems, the real test starts now. it's spring and my allergies are beginning to ramp up. my experiment officially started this monday.
i am using the netipot daily. i also happen to have some sort of weird sinus thing happening right now which involves swelling of my right eye and after just two days, i can tell a difference. the pain isn't as intense as usual and the swelling has subsided a bit. the headache is now a dull throbbing pain instead of that jabbing behind the eyes and nose pain. i'll take dull over jabbing any day, wouldn't you?
that said, in addition to the netipot, i am still taking the loratadine and rhinocort. but eventually, i will try to wean off the drugs and see what kind of results i get from daily nasal irrigation (doesn't that just sound gross?!).
i hope any of you out there suffering from sinus problems consider trying it out. you won't regret it. best. invention. ever! i can't believe it took me 36 years to discover this!
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