Sinus Woes

I have been suffering for the past two weeks from a horrible, and my first ever, sinus infection. I am guilty of overusing Afrin over the winter. My family and I try to avoid unnecessary medicating and I justified my Afrin usage to myself with tons of excuses about needing sleep and whatnot. The fact is I know there are safer ways to use those kinds of nasal sprays without getting totally hooked and I constantly ignored the signs that I was damaging my nasal passage ways. Every day my nose would hurt like I had burned the skin inside.

I also a few years ago received as a gift, a Neil Med Sinus Rinse bottle. This thing works wonders and i neglected to use it over the winter. The resulting situation - a simple sore throat and cold that moved into my sinuses for a killer infection.

Thankfully I still had my sinus rinse bottle! Here it is:

Amazon link to bottle kit.

It is so cheap! And such a miracle little invention. Unlike the Netipot, which I have never personally used, you hold your head straight forward and the bottle forms a seal over one nostril. Then when you gently squeeze the bottle the pressure pushes the salty fluid and anything else in the way, through one side and out the other. As long as you hold your head straight and forward that is all it will do. The Netipot works similarly but you hold your head sideways and kind of pour it through instead of squeeze.

Well my infection was so bad I was using this seriously like 6 times a day to rinse out the cavity. I even did what they advise against and held my head back and to the side to let the rinse go straight into my upper sinuses. I do not recommend this! I was extremely careful and my infection was pretty severe so this is not something I ever wish to do again or think anyone should just try.

Now it didn't cure me I had to turn to some OTC allergy medicine to dry it out but I have been much more comfortable and I feel i have sped the healing with the use of the rinses. And I did manage to avoid a trip to the urgent care center, we have no insurance, and I avoided the dreaded nuclear bomb antibiotics. Also the area I live in is known for normally having high levels of allergens and this year has been the worst in a long time, most folks i know have had colds and allergy issues even if this isn't their norm. I am hoping to not have to take this medication long.

And perhaps if i had been using the rinse through the winter instead of foolishly turning to a medicated nasal spray I never would have ended up with the infection to begin with! No way of knowing for sure at this point but i assure you next winter I will be using this more regularly to stay clear and keep my medicine cabinets clear of nasal sprays.

I cannot recommend this product enough as a natural remedy for allergies, stuffy noses, drippy noses, just about any ailments. But like anything it can be over used so if you don't have any symptoms there is no need to rinse your sinuses. There are "good guys" in there too and you don't want to needlessly rinse them out when they have a job to do. Only use the rinse as an aide when your guys need a little boost of help.