Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Of noses and neti pots

Something in Boston doesn't like my sinuses and I've had a lot of congestion, sneezing and general misery for the last three months. I hoped that when the temperatures dropped below freezing for a week that I would feel better, but no luck so far. Here's how bad it is: I will blow my nose and Kent and all three kitties will react to the whistles coming out of my head. Painful, really.

I'd read about neti pots (here's an article from the NY Times) and how they are supposed to help relieve congestion due to allergies or whatever. But I could never bring myself to consider really using one because after all you are basically pouring water in one nostril so it can drain out of the other one. Yuck.

This week, though, I hit rock bottom with the nose. I had a really bad fit of sneezing and snot in the middle of the grocery on Monday, and I thought OK it's time to give the neti pot a try.

I used it yesterday, and will say it's not the cure all I'd hoped for. I found it very difficult to get much water going in my nose, and didn't see much difference yesterday. But I am a little better today so I guess I'll try it again tomorrow.

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