The Neti Pot

I LOVE my Neti Pot! No kidding, my Neti Pot and I are best friends!

The Neti Pot is a nasal rinse utensil. It is so simple and easy to use. It's natural, requires no electricity and it's cheap! It's just a little tea pot designed for that purpose with a bulbous end on the spout. Simple!

Basically, you use it to pour a saline solution through your nasal cavities. This clears them out, thins the mucus, shrinks the membranes and kills bacteria, helping to prevent and cure colds and viruses, while clearing your head so you can breathe.

It is a little "odd" at first to use it. I mean, you don't normally pour fluid up your nose, but it's not uncomfortable and you get used to it quickly. It doesn't burn like chlorinated water you get in your nose when you are swimming in a pool. If it's the right temperature, you hardly even feel it running through. It works so well that, once you start using it regularly, I think you will like it too. You just bend over the sink with your head to the side and pour it into the top nostril, or use it in the shower. It flows through and out the other one. You will have to adjust the angle of your head a bit to keep it running through your nose and not out your mouth, but you will get that after the first use and you can just spit it out. It's only salt water.

Sometimes you have to pour a few pot fulls through to get it all cleared out, especially the first time you use it. You might also need to use a bulb syringe with the saline solution first if your nose is really plugged. Then pour the saline through with the little Neti Pot.

You can buy a nasal rinse system that is a squirt bottle by another brand, and I am sure it works just as well. I have the Neti Pot because I bought it when it was a new concept and the only thing on the market.

I have had my Neti Pot for a few years and it looks just like it did when I bought it. It's important that it and the bulb syringe get a really good wash with hot soapy water after every use. It comes in ceramic form too, but I have been happy with the plastic one.

It comes with little packets of saline powder that you mix in the water in the pot. You can also buy boxes of just the packets when you run out, or you can make your own. Those packets contain pure, finely ground salt and baking soda. That's it!

You can buy pure salt in the form of sea salt, pickling salt and so forth. Read the ingredients and make sure it's pure. I have seen kosher salt and fine sea salt that contain a de-clumping agent. I buy coarse sea salt. The ingredients say "salt", period. I then grind it to a fine powder in my little electric coffee/spice grinder. (I clean it out really good first, not wanting to pour coffee up my nose!)

The recommended recipe for make your own nasal rinse solution is 2 parts baking soda and 4 parts salt. Use a teaspoon of this in a cup of water. The baking soda is to keep it from stinging and you can adjust the recipe to use as much or as little of it as you need. I imagine that the salt and baking soda will kill any bacteria in the water that you use, so it really doesn't need to be boiled first. If in doubt, use bottled water or boil the water and let it cool to lukewarm.

It should be lukewarm for comfort. You will know when you use it if it's too cool or too warm. With a little practice, you can run saline through your nose quickly and efficiently, with little fuss and time wasted. It is a good idea to stand up half way through and gently blow your nose to clear it before continuing, or more often if needed. I say "gently" because the mucus is thin at that point and it's easy to blow it all into your ears. I also wash my nose after using the Neti Pot to keep the salt from drying it out, especially when it is sore from blowing.

For comfort in allergy season, relief with a cold or as daily prevention to kill bacteria, I high recommend rinsing your nasal passage with saline at least once a day. You can do it as often as you like, since it's purely natural with no chemicals or medications involved. You can use it two to three times a day, every day, or just when you need it.

It is something anyone, anywhere can do. You don't need a doctor, prescription, medication, electricity or anything else from the "system" and it works! It's another step, for me, in becoming self sufficient.

Check back to read the comments to this post. I am sure we will hear from others who do this too and love it.