It's just about allergy season and guest blogger Jill Rosen shares with us her take on the neti pot. Oprah loves them, some studies say they work, and there are even You Tube videos on how to use em, parodies included.
Here's Jill's take:
Has anyone tried the neti pot – the organic-seeming, would-be cure to clogged sinuses? Yesterday I was so insanely stuffed up with allergies and god only knows what else, I was willing to try anything medicine, science or, in the case of the neti pot, yogis offer.
A friend had given me a neti pot months ago and it’s sat in pretty much the same spot in my kitchen ever since. I put mail on top of the box. It’s an ancient technique that involves what looks like a miniature Aladdin's lamp. That and a lot of balancing over the sink….
But desperation had me opening the box last night. Out came a little plastic kettle and an instruction sheet that told me to fill it with water and mix in one of the little Neti solution packets that came with it.
Then it had me leaning most awkwardly over the sink, head tilted to one side, kettle spout stuck hopefully up one nostril….. What’s supposed to happen at this point is the solution flows up one nostril, and out the other, flushing out your nasal cavity along the way. What happened to me is that 80 percent of the solution immediately streamed right out the nostril and into the sink.
I tried again and a little came out the other side. Not much. I repeated the deal with the other nostril.
No one was more skeptical of the pot than I – and I’m pretty sure I didn’t even do it right – but this morning my nose is markedly better.
I think I’m a believer and I’m wondering how others have experienced the Neti…. especially anyone with daily allergy issues….
Photo from NeilMed