Pots for Snot

Since I have been going through a vicious cold, I thought I would let you know about neti pots.

Never heard of them?

Not surprising, they are a well kept secret. Of course most people don't want to talk about snot and "nasal irrigation" because . . . EWWWWWW.

But that is what I am going to do because it has made me feel so much better.

I have 2 neti pots, both of them purchased by me at Walgreens (just cause I knew they had them). My first neti-pot was made by SinuCleanse and looks kind-of like the ones on their website but mine seems to be an earlier model - mine is a few years old. We call it the gravy boat. Yep, I know that is incredibly gross but it does look like a plastic gravy boat. It came with a little plastic spoon to stir the salt mixture with, but I promptly lost it.

You know the feeling of getting water up your nose as a kid? It is somewhat like that, not quite as bad UNLESS you try to forgo the salt mixture. If you try and skip the salt mixture, the pain will be incredible. With the salt mix, it is somewhat uncomfortable but it does really help.

So why did I get another one? I got the NasaFlo Neti Pot because it said it wouldn't hurt. And it doesn't. Not at all. This one looks more like a little blue teapot but it functions in pretty much the same way and the other one. The part that goes in the nose is also a little more comfortable because it isn't inserted like the SinuCleanse. It does have to be dried open, you can't clean it and then close it up so there is a potential to lose the lid.

I think the difference in solutions is that the NasaFlo uses isotonic instead of hypertonic solutions - basically (if I understand this right) the hypertonic is stronger, saltier while the isotonic is balanced to be painless.

If you are wanting to do the hypertonic solution, I would suggest the SinuCleanse neti pot. Otherwise I would suggest the NasaFlo - which does have a hypertonic salt mixture avalable (or you can use 2 regular packets).

I have read that daily "nasal irrigation" can help prevent the cold and flu - it washes the virus away before it has a chance to get bad - so it is something you may really want to try.

I was not paid for my opinion nor was my opinion requested by either company, I just wanted to give a comparison that I did on my own. I purchased all the items and received no form of compensation.