Trying Out the Neti Pot

Back in March, I asked on my Facebook page for someone to tell me why the Neti Pot was so awesome. A bunch of you chimed in and told me to try it – or as Holly said, “I haven’t tried it… but you should probably go first.”  Oh, and we can’t forget the one person who told me that I’d probably die from an amoebic brain infection.

I did a bunch of research, read a ton of reviews on Amazon and finally decided to order this: The NeilMed NasaFlo Unbreakable Neti Pot with premixed packages. I settled on this particular model because it had 4 stars, 415 customer reviews and the 50 packets would give me plenty of tries to see if I liked it.

Neti Pot

If you decide to try the Neti Pot for yourself, please keep in mind:

  • You MUST keep it super clean and the one I have even recommends you replace it every 3 months.
  • Use distilled water, NOT water from your faucet.
  • Use the saline salt solution packets and not straight water.

There are a million more directions in the little pamphlet, so be sure to read it all the way through like 10 times to make sure you don’t get that brain eating amoeba infection.

So, why did I decide to try the Neti Pot? Well, I can keep my allergies pretty much under control throughout the year by taking my daily dose of Zyrtec. However, for a couple weeks at the end of April and a couple more in the Fall, I’m totally miserable. The Zyrtec doesn’t seem to do a thing and I suffer from sneezing, itchy eyes, itchy throat, etc.

This year, I decided to use the Neti Pot each night for the last two weeks of April to see if it helped at all.

Now, I know that you guys are expecting a photo or video to document this… but EWWWW. Not gonna happen. And even if you are really curious, I don’t recommend searching for Neti Pot on youtube, because there are some really, really gross people out there. However, if you want to get an idea how this little pot works, you can watch this (it’s not super gross and kind of funny):

So yeah, you fill the pot to the line with distilled water, add a packet, shake it around and then stick it up your nose, lean forward and let it drain through your sinuses. If it feels like that ouchy, tingly feeling like you got water up your nose in the ocean… you’re doing it wrong. By keeping my mouth open and tilting forward, I found the sweet spot where the water just kind of flows through one nostril and out the other. You do half the pot, then switch and do the other nostril.  It took me almost a week to fully get the hang of it, but once I figured out the exact right position for me, it went easy-peasy.

The best way I can think of to describe it is when you’re outside in the spring and you’re mowing the lawn. You get sweaty and dirty and have little pieces of grass sticking to you. Then, you go inside and take a shower. THAT is how your nose feels after using a Neti Pot.

The instructions say you can use it twice a day if you’d like, but I decided to use it each evening to get any pollen out of my sinuses before bed. After three days of using it at night, I felt pretty great afterwards and the whole following day. So, I skipped a few days to see if maybe my allergies were not that bad… and by the second day I felt AWFUL again.

By using the Neti Pot, my allergy symptoms were probably about 90% better, including that really annoying itchy throat that would wake me up in the middle of the night. However, I found that in order for it work the best I needed to use it as more of a preventive measure to keep my allergies from acting up. If I was lazy and skipped it at night, only to wake with itchy throat and lots of sneezing… it didn’t miraculously cure me.

I was actually kind of shocked at how great it was and how much I liked it. In fact, if you’ve seen me in person any time in the last month I’ve probably talked your ear off about how awesome the Neti Pot is!

So…any questions? Are you a Neti Pot enthusiast?  

 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I just really loved my experience with the Neti Pot and wanted to let you all know in case you also suffer from awful allergies. Follow the directions though and don’t let your brain get eaten. Pocketful of Joules is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

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8 thoughts on “Trying Out the Neti Pot”

  1. I’ll admit that I have a netipot, but I’ve never tried it. I’ve always been too scared. I used to have really bad sinus problems, but discovered it was an allergy to my cat. Since the cat has been re-homed, I haven’t really needed it, but it’s good to hear that it works so well, when I do need it.

  2. I’ve tried one before, but never thought to use it as prevention for allergies. I think I may try this. I hate that itchy throat and nose I have constantly this time of year!

  3. I tried to use a neti pot once before and I swore never again. I have no Idea what I did but I thought I was dying. After reading this I guess I’ll try again maybe it will work this time.

  4. It sounds like the netti pot works wonders! I’ve never tried one, but it my allergies get really bad again, I may need to check it out.

    LiveLifeWell,
    Allison

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