An open letter to allergy sufferers

[matthewdaly]

I have two exciting facts to share with you.

First, I love my neti pot. I'm not even using fancy salt, just a big ol' canister of (noniodized) table salt. (Everyone says that potassium iodide is a major irritant, and I saw no reason to be skeptical on that point.) The final test was last night, when I had a horrible non-productive cough that became a very short-lived and productive expectoration after a single run-through with the neti pot. I asked a pharmacist a while back and he said that it was known to be non-harmful but that the claims of helpfulness were only anecdotal. Well, add me to the anecdote list.

Second, if you're going to use a neti pot, get used to the process BEFORE your sinuses are completely blocked. It works either way, but the experience is just a little more real when there's more mucus than water coming out. And I've never seen it in instructions anywhere, but I say switch nostrils from time to time because IME the process seems to clear out the "lower" Eustachian tube as well.

Comments

[maize]

I switch nostrils half-way through the process each time. (I do half a pot in one nostril, half a pot in the other.)

I read a study this spring that suggested that neti pots may increase your susceptibility to airport and respiratory illnesses because a certain amount of mucous in the sinuses acts as a first layer of defense, trapping incoming microbes before they can get anywhere harmful. Thinking back, I actually did get sick a lot more, and had some severe respiratory illnesses, during using my neti pot. The study suggested that using neti pots is still good as a symptomatic treatment used when things are bad -- during the worst of allergies or when you're sick and super congested -- but that you shouldn't just use it every day.

Since then I've stopped using it every day as a matter of course, but I keep it around to use when I feel that I need it. The incidence of my getting ill has, in fact, decreased.

Now, this is all EXTREMELY un-scientific and anecdotal, so you shouldn't take my experiences as proof, but I've decided to change how I use it.

[matthewdaly]

Yeah, I thought about switching nostrils mid-process, but I managed to convince myself that that might impact the primary mission of draining the sinus cavity. Definitely worth considering if you are the sort of person who gets ear infections at the drop of a hat (like my brother).

This would seem to be the study you mention. I took away the same message as you, that that your sinuses should be left alone when they are doing their ordinary job but when they start forming enough mucus that the drainage affects your respiratory system then irrigation is a sensible therapy.