Ode to the Neti Pot

So this little story that changed my life starts on the day we celebrated Ian's second birthday in early January. We were having just a couple (literally, a man and a woman who are married) of friends over to have cake and ice cream with us. Minutes before they arrived, I began not feeling so hot. Long story short, I had to excuse myself (quickly) to the restroom for impromptu vomiting twice during the "party". (Luckily they are good friends.) And they were only here about an hour. Anyhooskie, it was a Sunday and the good times continued well into the night, so needless to say I stayed home from work the next day.

Of course my "day off" included some quality time with Oprah who that day was featuring posse member Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz spoke of this thing I had never heard of before - the Neti Pot. It was actualy the second time it had been featured on Oprah (this was an apparent follow-up to the orginal segment). If you are not familiar with it, this is a little device that looks like a cross between a tea pot and a genie lamp. The process is called "nasal irrigation" and you add salt and warm water, turn your head sideways over a sink, pour it through one nostril and it comes out the other.

The demonstration looked pretty freaky - but people were swearing by this thing! Said it was the best thing ever and had changed their life. Being someone who has suffered from major sinus issues my whole life, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of something simple that could help me breathe easier. But I was not immediately convinced. So I did some research, and sure enough, saw a lot of rave reviews on this thing, including "scientific evidence" that it is proven to help alleviate sinus/breathing/general nose issues. Still, I was a little weirded out by the whole thing and dropped it until our local NBC station did a story on it recently. And then I saw the NY Times had done a story on it. Now I'm convinced. About a week later, my shiny new ceramic Neti Pot and salt arrives in a box at my office. I couldn't wait to test it out! That was about two weeks ago and I'm a believer!! My nose has never felt more clear after I irrigate!! (which I do usually once, sometimes twice, a day) It's as easy as brushing your teeth once you get the hang of it. I love it, love it, love it and am recommending it to anyone and everyone who has sinus issues of any sort (they also say it's great when you have a cold).

Unfortunately, I'm an idiot and couldn't easily figure out how to post a picture of it here from the Internet, but the most popular one is sold from the Himalayan Institute on their Web site (watch out - they are often on backorder since all the recent publicity), and I got mine through iherb.com (same one, just cheaper).

Long live the Neti Pot!