My DIY Neti “Pot”
As a lower elementary teacher I find myself getting a cold every couple of months or so. I am accustomed to sore throats, headaches, low energy kinda feelings. What I hate is when these come bundled with a stuffy nose! I don’t sleep well with a stuffy nose unless I take a pill like Nyquil which leaves me feeling groggy in the morning. I hate that! Also, it is much harder for me to take deep calming breaths if I can’t breath through my nose!
Anyway, all of this to say that I currently have a cold and a stuffy nose. Sigh.
I recalled some of my Portland friends raving about the Neti Pot and since I can’t blow my nose too often or sneeze too hard without getting a bloody nose (this began last year and I’ve had the veins in my nose cauterized twice because of it) last night I decided to try out the Neti Pot. The only problem is I live in Venezuela and nobody that I’ve mentioned it to has ever heard of the Neti Pot let alone seen one here!
So I made a DIY Neti Pot!
I used a sauce bottle that I had picked up months ago when I was on a salad kick (and never used because it is quicker to just shake some balsamic and EVOO on my salads). I then read several blogs about different DIY Neti pot solutions of about 1/2t of sea salt and 1/2t of baking soda mixed into some warm drinking water.
I poured all of the ingredients into my little squeezable sauce bottle shook it up for about a minute to help dissolve everything and then I gave it a whirl!
I can’t save it was love at first squeeze. It kinda reminded me of various times I would try to go swimming as a kid and would inhale some water up my nose. Not a great feeling. I just kept reminding myself that lots of people did it twice a day so it must get better. It helped me the most when my mouth was all the way open (despite being grossed out to have booger filled water dripping nearby) and when I finally worked up the nerve to squeeze the bottle harder to make the water flow faster.
I came away from the experience feeling kinda worn out BUT with clear nostrils! Maybe I will try using my DIY Neti Pot once a week or so to see if it cuts back on the frequent nosebleeds I’ve been getting since last year.
Do you use a Neti Pot? Do you have tips for a newbie?
Teaching Wanderlust 
I’ve never tried a Neti pot, but my daughter uses one. I think it sounds disgusting and painful, so I just suffer. Silly me, right?
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Avoid brain-eating amoebas and make sure you boil your neti pot water before use!
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/05/14/brain-eating-amoebas-and-saltwater-nose-genies/
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Brie,
Do I have to boil it even if it comes out of the “purified drinking water” that I buy in the big 5 gallon jugs? I thought it was just for tap water. Scary!
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Yikes on the brain-eaters! My adult children are neti-pot fans. I’m not so much, but have used one before. It’s kind of tricky at first to get it going. Feel better soon. D 🙂
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Commercially bottled water is probably OK. I still recommend heating it up a bit. Cold water up the nose is not fun and the salt dissolves better in warm water.
The dangerous amoebas mostly live in warm bodies of water. Here in Portland, the Bull Run is probably too cold to worry about, but I’m paranoid, and so I still boil my tap water water anyway. It can be dangerous to go diving in warm bodies of water for the same reason!
Another option for a improvised neti pot is a small teapot.
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Hmmm, this is Venezuela…even though it is “commercially bottled”. I leave it setting at room temperature. Maybe I should boil it first just to be safe.
Maybe the fact that I used room temperature water made me feel a little like I was drowning in a cool ocean. Sigh.
I thought about using my teapot, but it isn’t shaped right. I will be on the lookout for a better suited neti pot this weekend because it really seems to be working for me.
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Hahhaha. My DIY neti pot is a small ceramic jug/pot for syrup. Since it has that handy spout or pinched side, I use that. And it’s definitely helped me overseas. I usually make the mistake of making it too strong and I should probably use it now since the pollution is horrible in Northern Thailand, right now.
In any case, don’t do yoga afterwards! I do it only in the mornings since sometimes you might get some drips throughout the day. Keep a tissue handy!
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Haha, definitely wouldn’t want to do a downward dog after using it! haha
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