A Nasal Draining A Day, Keeps the Doctor Away - Fighting Colds and Flu with the Neti Pot

Have you experienced a nasty cold or flu the past few winters? Does it feel like each year it gets harder to prevent yourself from getting a cold? Once you have one, do you usually head for your doctor or urgent care, so that they can diagnose you and prescribe you with an anti-biotic? Do the words Z-Pack or Amoxicillin sound like familiar prescriptions each season?

If you feel like your body is becoming resistant to these medications, you are tired to running to the doctor when you feel sick, or you are looking for a natural way to combat the bug; try using a Neti pot. They have been around for centuries, but depending on who you grew up around, or what doctors you have frequented, you may never have heard of such a thing. Neti pots are used to flush your sinuses and kill and remove the harmful bacterias in your nose. You simply pour warm water (with a solution of salt or special extract) into one nostril with your head tilted at the correct angle. The water will then find its way up one nasal cavity, and then pour out the other one. If you have never seen or experienced it before, it can be a bit eye opening at first.  Please follow the directions that accompany your particular pot for best and safest results. 

The Neti pots themselves look innocent enough, like a formal "cream server" for coffee. Common pots are ceramic, less than two cups in size, and have a long spout for directing the water up your nose; and a handle to position the pot correctly. The angle that you position your head, along with the angle you pour the water at is critical for performing this exercise correctly.

As mentioned previously, many directions and home remedies call for including a light salt solution, or use of a few drops of a natural extract, along with warm water in the pot when using it. The salt and/or solution will help to kill the harmful bacteria that are putting your body's immune system on the defensive.  Some of my friends and family have used a few drops of grape seed extract in the water solution, and feels that the natural powers of the grape seed help to really fight off the germs and bacteria. 

Once you complete the exercise in both nostrils, once or twice, you are finished. The experience, while a little uncomfortable at first, can be invigorating to your senses; as you are flushing your sinus cavities and helping to soften and remove all the nasty stuff that is clogging you up. More importantly, if you have clogged sinuses or sinus pressure from a cold or flu, this experience will open up your nostrils so that you can breath much more freely.

You may find that using a Neti pot several times a day, with a solution that works for you, allows your body to defend itself, heal and recover from a cold almost as quickly as waiting for antibiotics to fight off the bug.  You can begin using a Neti pot as soon as you begin feeling the symptoms of a cold or flu.  Some people use them regularly as a defense against viruses.  If you go to the doctor, and do receive a prescription, you can use the Neti pot in conjunction with the medication, to help boost and shorten your recovery. Since they help to remove the harmful mucus and bacteria, it can only help.  

Today it is expensive, time consuming and exhausting to head to the doctor or urgent care when you begin coming down with the flu virus.  Neti pots are inexpensive, and an easy home remedy to try.  Using a Neti pot can help keep your medical costs down, improve your breathing and relaxation while you are sick and help you cut down on or avoid using medicine when catch a cold.  A few other helpful tips to remember are:

• Keep your hands clean, and wash them regularly
• Try to get as much regular sleep and rest as possible 
• Exercise and eat right, especially throughout the winter when it gets cold

Hopefully you have found some of this information helpful, and avoid the next flu bug of the upcoming winter.  Stay healthy!