A Rinse a Day....

Every once in a while I am truly ahead of the curve. Yesterday's Style section in the New York Times touted the use of the neti pot ("A bidet for your nose, proclaimed Oprah"), a small pot used to cleanse your sinuses. I have been a devotee of the system for over ten years and am convinced of its effectiveness.

Not to be too graphic, but the concept is based on a system of washing out your sinuses with warm water and a saline solution. One key is the use of pickling salt--available on the Internet--which is critical to success. You mix up a batch, pour it into this funny shaped pot and rinse your sinuses, over the sink. Actually today there are prepared sinus rinses that you can buy in the drugstore that are less labor intensive and do the same thing.

I happened upon this technique upon the suggestion of my allergist who was tired of prescribing antibiotics for repeated sinus infections. She handed me an article about pickling salt that she had clipped from some medical journal and told me I had nothing to lose. Ten years later, I am her poster child for what she calls "lavage." She tells me I have influenced many of her other patients to give it a try.

Just like everything else, it requires consistency and commitment and is not for the squeamish. Maybe you have to be desperate to be willing to pour water through your nose on a regular basis. But then again, maybe you have to be desperate to be willing to try anything new and uncomfortable.

Now that Oprah has endorsed it, you should probably buy shares in companies that sell pickling salt. Or better yet, if you suffer from sinus related conditions, give it a try.