Product Review: NeilMed Sinus Rinse

October 13th, 2010 Posted by Jessica. Published under DIY Sustainable Living, Holistic Care. 1 Comment.

I’m not gonna lie.  I’m getting over a sinus infection right now and this post is probably gonna suck.  However, I’m going to use my sickness as an excuse to introduce you to my new best friend: the NeilMed Sinus Rinse.

We all know I’m into natural remedies.  I put vinegar on my armpits instead of deodorant, for Christ’s sake.  The less chemicals I have in or on my body, the better.  This applies to when I’m feeling under the weather, too.  I get sinus infections multiple times a year.  Typically when the seasons start to change, and I wind up stuffed up and hacking and miserable and on antibiotics.  I have a pacemaker (not so natural, I know– but what can you do?) and am thus reluctant to take most cold medicines for fear of uncomfortable heart palpitations or tachycardia.

NeilMed Sinus Rinse

The first time my mom suggested I try “nasal irrigation”, I thought she was nuts.  She said she saw it on the Dr. Phil show and I wasn’t at all interested in trying anything Dr. Phil wanted to sell me.  It works kind of like a Neti Pot, but it’s a squeeze bottle you fill with a salt and baking soda mixture and warm water.  You then hold the bottle to your nostril, breathe through your mouth, and squeeze– allowing the water to go up one nostril and out the other.

I thought it sounded vile.  I mean, we’ve all had pool water or ocean water shoot up our noses while swimming before– it feels awful.  I didn’t want to drown in my own bathroom!  As a compromise for trying it, I had my mom demonstrate the process in front of me, and then made her watch me do it the first few times– in case I drowned, you know?– and WOW.

The process itself isn’t exactly the stuff of dinner party conversation, but man– get me on my nasal irrigation soapbox at a dinner party and I cannot talk enough about how great it is to literally wash all the gross, extremely stubborn sinus infection goop out of my face and down the drain.  And then I can breathe again!  It’s apparently been practiced all over the world for centuries and studies show that people who regularly (at least three times a week) irrigate their sinuses rarely get sinus infections.  It washes the pollen and allergens right out.  So I’m going to try REALLY hard to be diligent and use it every day because I’m so sick of being sick.

It’s true that there’s a chance of getting ear infections from using it– and it’s happened to me before: you blow your nose too hard after rinsing and the water gets pushed into your eardrum.  Definitely not a great situation to be in, so I try to blow lightly now.  So if I’ve convinced you to try it out, just be mindful of that!

Bottom line: this is going to be a “must have” while bike touring.  Since I’ll be outside biking all day in the pollen, the last thing I want is a sinus infection screwing up my bike tour plans.