Netti Pot Users-Please recommend a Pot, Solution, and Procedures

[AngelaGT]

To achieve the best results for intended purpose.

Thanks!

[gardenmom5]

I like the Nelimed squeeze bottle.  It comes with a salt solution packet to mix with warm water.  (the salt solution is essential - it's the same saline level as your body, so it doesn't hurt.)  You'll have to practice with the angle of your head to make sure it drains - be sure you do this over the sink.

afterwards - absolutely keep yourself perfectly upright, or leaning forwards.  I'm positive sitting in a recliner afterward allowed the remains to continue to drain down the back of my throat (I didn't feel anything), and settle in my lung.  It is what led to my pneumonia last winter.  It had been working clearing sinuses after a prolonged cold - then my lung . . . .  Consider that a warning.

[bluemongoose]

I have a stainless steel one and also use the salt packets in it. I don't like the feel of the spraying into my sinuses that the squeeze bottle does. With a pot, you are pouring it in one nostril and letting it out the other, over a sink.  You don't want to use tap water...use bottled water and warm it to body temp. It is much more comfortable if it is not cold. 

I have found if I am very plugged up, it sometimes takes two pots to get the job done. And also, taking a hot shower after using it helps all the loosened up stuff to really work it's way out more. And make sure you are hydrated as that helps too. 

I have only experience good effects from mine...even if sometimes the process of using it was uncomfortable at times. I am prone to sinus infections, and the frequency of them has greatly reduced since starting to use a netipot. I found the most challenging aspect was getting used to it at first. It felt like I was trying to drown myself.

After using the pot, you should clean it. With the stainless steel one, this is pretty easy to do. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Carol in Cal.]

I have two, a thin ceramic one and a thick ceramic one.  They both work the same way, but the thick one maintains the water temperature better.  When I’m really stuffed up the process takes about half an hour, so that’s important.

1 cup of the hottest water you can stand (I boil it in the tea kettle for a few minutes to kill germs first) mixed with 1 tsp of non-iodized salt.  As soon as you can stand the temp, start.  Lean over a kitchen sink and turn your head over to the side completely—so it has to be sticking straight out over the sink and then turned 90 degrees—crucial position.  Gently pour the water into the upper of the two nostrils.  In theory it will run in that one and out the other one, and when I do this I feel it up in my lower forehead—it’s soothing.  CRUCIAL POINT—Do not hold your breath while you do this.  Instead, breathe continuously in and out through your mouth.  This stops the water from going down into your lungs.  If you hold your breath, you will feel like you are drowning.  

Do this on both sides, over and over, until the flow is free and the water is used up.  Then blow your nose on tissues to clear out residual solution.  For about 15 minutes afterwards you tend to feel stuffier than ever, but once this dries out it’s amazing how ultra clear your nose feels.

[Terabith]

Make sure you use distilled water.  Brain eating amoebas have been found in the public water systems of some states.  Stomach acid kills them, but putting them up your nose is bad.  

[Tree Frog]

I would not recommend my first method. I tried it over the sink, like people say to do, but it causes me to cough or sneeze or something the first couple of times I do it. I had salt water all over my mirror and counter, including everything sitting on my counter. It was a mess! So now I do it while I'm in the shower. It doesn't matter if the saline solution goes everywhere because I can just rinse it off.