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According to Wikipedia, nasal irrigation (motto: just as mucusy as it sounds!) has been around for centuries. So you're going to have to forgive me if I giggle just a little bit every time some mainstream media does a write-up that suggests it's the new black, as The New York Times did a couple of days ago:
THE BOTTOM LINE
Studies suggest that nasal irrigation can reduce sinus and allergy symptoms.
All together now, please: Duh.
I mean, listen -- a several-hundred-years-old practice probably has some merit, no? My family is chock-full of seasonal allergy sufferers, and we fully embrace the Neti pot. It does exactly what it claims to do, inexpensively and with little fuss: it helps clear sinus congestion.
The main objection I find people expressing about it is generally something along the lines of "Ewwww, gross!" and/or "I don't want to shoot stuff up my nose!"
The reality is that it takes a little getting used to, and it's not particularly glamorous, but it's no big deal. Even my kids can handle it with very little help. Though if you click through the Times piece you'll see a graphic wherein a woman appears to be irrigating her sinuses right into a pool of water she's standing in, and that's pretty gag-inducing. Not exactly the way to warm the masses up to the practice, I'm thinking. (We lean over the sink, and try not to bathe in the products of our, um, irrigation.)
Other than a flurry of Twitter comments on that charming graphic, what's the buzz?
Freakgirl cheerfully declares: Nasal Irrigation FTW!
Barrett at Five Points Yoga urges folks to give it a try, citing how helpful she's found it over the years (even before the NYT decided to verify).
Inge at The World According to Taquoriaan read the article and asks readers to let her know if they agree and find it really works.
Angela of Shaw Family is moved to verse:
I love my Neti Pot.
I hate my Neti Pot.
I'm going to write a poem about my Neti Pot.
(For what it's worth, I have a love/hate relationship with mine, too.)
At SisterSpot, Lian is ready for discussion:
It's the law: once a year we must discuss the alleged benefits of the neti pot on Satellite Sisters. I had never even heard of a neti pot for the first 30 or so years of my life, then bam! We get a radio show and the Neti Pot Users of America come out of the woodwork, beseeching the Sisters to use a neti pot to relieve any and all nasal situations, from colds to allergies. This is one topic that provides endless comments from the Satellite Sisterhood. And now, after years of anecdotal evidence, the New York Times takes on the benefits of the neti pot.
I love that the very first comment received is from a woman named Tracy, who says, "I'm not saying I don't think it works, it just kind of grooses me out."
So where do you fall -- are you part of the cult of Neti, or does the very idea make your toes curl and cause wooziness? Anecdotal evidence suggests that folks either love it or hate it, with very little opinion falling in-between. If you've been opposed, will the scientific evidence change your mind?
C'mon, you can tell me. I'm just a regular person. Who regularly sticks a plastic gravy boat-looking thing up her nose in the name of sinus relief.
(No, I don't have any dignity left. Thanks for asking.)
BlogHer Contributing Editor Mir also blogs about issues parental and otherwise at Woulda Coulda Shoulda, and about the joys of mindful retail therapy at Want Not.
