Bring up alternative medicine to many people, and the response is often a stifled yawn, a pair of rolling eyes or outright anger and indignation. Alternative medicine, they argue, is a bunch of hooey, and people would be better off by just going to a regular doctor if something is wrong.
Special to the Coastal Point • JAMIE MCCANN
Coastal Point editor, Darin McCann disregards his mothers admonishments and demonstrates the subtleties of the neti pot.
I was one of those people to some extent. For years, I chalked up alternative forms of healing as “hippie” or strange, and didn’t pay much attention. However, after I’ve received some education over the years, I’ve learned that there really isn’t much harm that can be done by trying some of these methods and, in some instances, they really work.
Allow me to introduce you to the neti pot, if you haven’t already experienced it yourself.
The basic purpose of the neti pot is to free your sinus cavities of dust, pollen, mucus and bacteria. According to www.healingdaily.com, practioners of Ayurveda and yoga have been using neti for years, and it “is one of the [six] purification techniques performed prior to practicing yoga as a way of preparing the body for yoga practice.”
So, now you’ve seen when and why it started, and what you can hope to achieve by using a neti pot. Now, time for the actual usage.
After hearing a few people in our office talk about the wonders of the neti pot, I picked one up from Good Earth Market the other day on my way home from work. I also know that Wholesome Habits carries them, if you’re looking for a location closer to the beach. The neti pot was not hard to find. There was a stack of them at the end of one of the aisles, and the signage led me to gold. It looked simple enough, was pretty inexpensive, and there was some salt to use with it on the same shelf. Piece of cake, right?
Well, so far so good. With dreams of clean nasal cavities dancing in my head, I took my neti pot, my salt and a heart-full of optimism home to try out my new device.
Fast forward a few moments.
Standing at the bathroom sink and reading the directions, I began to feel my optimism seep out my system. This is the point when I learned that to use a neti pot, one must fill the pot up with lukewarm water and a quarter-teaspoon of the salt, and then proceed to shove the spout up your nostril and lean your head over the sink.
Excited yet?
The beginning of this process was no big deal. It took me about a minute to fill the pot for action, and I planned ahead enough to have a washcloth at the ready. I cautiously stuck the spout in my nostril and leaned back the pot until I could feel salt water enter my nose. This wasn’t really bad, and I figured this stuff was like Mr. Plumber — you pour it in, wait a few minutes and watch the bad stuff go away.
Oh, the bad stuff went away, all right.
A rush of water began pouring out my other nostril like a hose. I could feel some of the salt water go down my throat, which felt a lot like getting flipped upside down in the ocean — then having somebody shove a plumbing snake down your nose. There wasn’t any pain or discomfort attached to the process… it was just weird beyond belief.
I wish I could end this story here. I really do. You know, I could say that my nasal cavities immediately cleaned out and I was feeling 100 percent after just one little usage.
But that’s not what happened at all.
Let me put this as delicately as I can. The salt water pouring out my free nostril was not just salt water anymore. It was, well, icky. It reminded me of my time in boot camp when everybody came out of the gas chamber and looked like they had shoestrings coming out their noses. Also, I wasn’t sure if that neti pot would ever be empty. I just kept pouring water into my head, and the pot kept supplying more and more water.
And then… it stopped. I blew my nose and immediately felt more free than I had in months. The nagging congestion was pretty much gone, and besides the taste of salt water enveloping my entire head, I was none the worse for the experience.
Excited again, I decided to go for the other nostril. It was bound to be easier this time, I reasoned, since the first one had to take out a lot of the blockage and various particles of ick that had invaded my sinuses.
Well, believe me when I tell you this — there was plenty more action ahead.
Special to the Coastal Point • JAMIE MCCANN
This nostril was a little easier than the first one in that I kind of understood how to hold my head and how fast to pour this time. Also, I wasn’t as bothered by that strange feeling in my sinus cavities as I was the first time.
But the neti pot was once again in full effect, and once again I was witnessing up close and personal all the reasons I’ve been struggling with my sinuses so much this winter. After finishing that pot of salt water, I again blew my nose and assessed the damage.
The fact is, I was fine. For the first time since about September, I could breathe easily again. The salt water also gives you a little wake-up, and I felt refreshed and re-energized.
Make no mistake about it. The first time you use a neti pot, it’s a flat-out strange feeling. But, again, there was no pain or real discomfort, and the results were fantastic.
Just make sure you do this over a sink or something. It’s not for the faint of heart..