I did it.
I waited until himself was upstairs so I wouldn’t be interrupted or embarrassed.
It went pretty well? I think? Right nostril was first for the inflow. Came right out the other side, no problem.
Left side…it felt different. Colder. It came out of the other side faster, and ran down to my throat immediately. So I guess I know which side is the difficult one! I was able to intentionally close off my throat so it didn’t run into my mouth – and still breathe – which makes me think this is something I do not do involuntarily. Perhaps doing this rinse will teach my muscles to close that part off more often?
There was a strange not-smell immediately afterwards. Similar to what I think of as the smell of a runny nose when I am about to get a cold. I have a lot of drainage still, 20mins later. I’m not getting blocked up or anything. It just feels damp in there. I’m doing a good bit of hawking back snot. It tastes extra salty so maybe I didn’t get all of the rinse out.
Oh, and because I’m both curious and disgusting, I drained into a glass container so I could see what came out. Nothing was black, grey, or green – but there were a lot of white bits. Will be interesting to see if that changes with regular use. You’ll be glad there is no photo with this post! I could have, but I’m not that disgusting.
About a half hour later now and the left side is starting to close up. Well, I’ve had a sore spot in there for a few days so I’m not going to read too much into it.
Oh, joy. Hubby just came downstairs and I told him, ‘I did the nose thing.’
He said, ‘I can hear it!’
‘Wait, what?’
‘You sound more “nasally”. I thought you were putting it on.’
Fantastic. I sound even worse than I normally do, it seems. Sigh.
For those who do this, a question. Once a day or twice?
heretherebespiders 
Sounds about right apart from the running down the throat bit… How often? Well, it depends whether it’s giving you problems only at night or during the day too. I’d go twice a day for now.
Thanks! I’m still stuffy on the left now. And can taste extra salt when I snuffle. There was a bit of additional help if it didn’t all come out, so I think I best read that again.
I feel terrible today. Head is aching, exhausted… I’ve been feeling bad for a while but today is awful. Hope I didn’t make a major mistake doing this! Maybe I’m all effed up in there…
You seriously can’t stuff things up by flushing your nose. You’re sick… So’m I, as it happens. Having said I don’t get colds much, guess what…. Remember how foul a cold is in boiling hot weather? Yuh. 32C/90F out there today.
I do, I grew up in Florida! I just took my temperature and I’m 36. I usually run low but that is pretty low! By the way it is 2 outside right now here – we should house swap for holidays! I’d love some sunshine. I don’t mind the cold, but the lack of sun and the constant rain gets old.
You won’t totally escape the rain here, it’s the Wet, but we can certainly offer you plenty of heat
And I figure if anyone can screw up a sinus rinse, it is me…
If you’ve got some liquid trapped up there, use a decongestant to bring the inflammation down, and you’ll soon get rid of it. I love a bit of Beconase to clear the tubes, but that’s just me…
Best wishes, I hope this clears up the problem you were having. Thanks for no pictures. LOL Hugs
Ha! You are welcome, Scottie! Hubby was surprised I ‘saved it’ and said it was a good idea he wouldn’t have thought of.
Once is usually plenty.
I feel awful. Dammit. Why couldn’t this happen during the work week?
My husband is devoted fan of this. Raves about it – and you know we live in one of the worst allergy prone areas. Just gives me the willies – after years of swimming and trying to keep water out of my nose, I’m afraid I’ll feel like drowning…not real coordinated if feeling like that.
Do hope it works for you – so many swear by it!
I am a devoted fan of using a Neti Pot for nose rinsing. Have been doing it for at least a decade now. Only do it once every three or four days but doing it regularly has cured me of having sinus infections almost with the changing of each season. Really has improved the quality of my life. Takes some getting used to for sure. My wife refuses to try it but then again, she doesn’t have the chronic problems I used to have. And the key words there are…used to have. I swear by it also!
I do hate it. And I’ve not done it for ages now. I will say it did stop that morning snotty clump, even for the few times I steeled myself up to do it.
Can I ask, do you ever or did you ever get really dry, even bloody patches right inside your nostrils? I’ve got a dwindling supply of Neosporin, but that is the only thing that seems to help. I’m curious if I go back to the rinse, will it help that, too?
I used to get extremely dry nostrils (but not bloody) before starting on the regular rinses years ago. I have had no repeat of that condition since. It is my opinion you can overdo rinses as well – my approach is to moisten the sinuses periodically and get them back into balance, rinsing out the particulates that have been inhaled over the past couple of days as well. I have “settled” in nicely with rinsing every 3-4 days. There have been a couple occasions with colds where I would rinse every other day because there is simply “so much” going on in there but those instances were few and far between. Before starting rinsing I had regular issues with my sinuses. No more.