johnled wrote:Just tried the neti pot and could barley get anything to go through, one side is much more clogged up than the other. I'll try again before bed and again tomorrow. I will look for the Betadine.
I know what you mean and I was afraid this would be the case.
this guy--on this youtube-- says if you are so clogged that the neti pot water doesn't seem to flow thru
your nose then you can do what he suggests:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx6b-2Mh ... re=related
OR instead of that, you can get some AFRIN nasal spray from cvs or wallgreens.
[ i buy the generic as it's cheaper-as long as it has oxymetazoline ]
the active ingredient in Afrin nasal spray, oxymetazoline, works by constricting, or shrinking, the blood vessels
in the nose, and thereby reducing nasal blood flow.
lie down. spray the AFRIN- or the generic- in both your nostrils as you lie down. remain lying down for 10 min.
then your nose will be "open".
NOW you go fill the neti pot or squeeze bottle with warm salted water and rinse your nose. repeat at least 2 times more within 10 hours.
AFRIN works to keep your nose open for 12 hours so you can benefit
from several nose washings in a 10-12 hour time span.
my allergist told me you can use AFRIN once a day for 10 days.
as long as you are rinsing your nose. but do not use AFRIN
for longer than 10 days at a time. as it can become addicting.
this is what I used to do to recover from the 3 colds i have had in the last 17 years. i used the afrin at 7 a.m.
and washed my nose like 4-5 times before 7 p.m. every single day!
i got excellent cleansings during the 12 hours while my nose was "open" from the AFRIN.
but do not use the AFRIN for more than 10 consecutive days.
you can get addicted to it but even my allergy doctor & my ent doctor said it's ok to use
it for 5-10 days to get over a cold or severe congestion due to allergies. it really opens up the nose so you can
get the warm salt water IN there to rinse everything OUT.
very important in sinus health is adequate hydration. drinking warm tea is effective.
hot compresses to the nose and sinus areas helps blood flow which helps increase cilia movement.
like Debbie says you may not have a sinus infection-yet-but you want the mucus to be able to flow freely. what causes a sinus infection is, your nasal mucosa swells up inside and prevents the mucus from draining - it then stagnates. so the salt water rinsing will help you enormously from developing a sinus infection. almost every single time i got a cold it would "evolve" into a sinus infection. once i learned how to do salt water nose washing, that was no longer the case. plus you feel so much better getting the mucus OUT.
Here is something my ENT said to me - he sat me down and said : "I'm going to give you the keys to the kingdom: Control the mucus. Mucus is caustic and it creates inflammation if it lingers in your system".
good luck and keep us posted.
