Using a Netty Pot

What to Expect During Your First Neti

For neti newbies, let's first begin with a quick overview of how a netty pot works. Basically, what you do is tilt your head over a sink, pour lukewarm saline solution into one nostril, and let it drain out the other, washing your nasal cavities along the way. This is sometimes called nasal irrigation or sinus irrigation. The traditional spelling for the vessel you use is neti pot but you'll see it spelled several different ways, especially here on the Internet.

Yes, it sounds scary, unpleasant, and a lot like a popular way to torture enemies of the state. But in my personal experience, it was none of these things – well, except for the scary part. Yes, I'll admit it. For me, the first time was pretty daunting.

But was it as scary as it sounded? Your personal experience might vary, but this article takes you through my first time. Needless to say, there were a few surprises, and not just that I had the guts to actually do this thing.

My First Netty Pot Experience - What Surprised Me

This shows what it looks like to use a netty pot. This doesn't show my FIRST time, because it's missing the look of absolute terror. "Pour water into my nose on purpose? No way!" Ah, sweet memories. You never forget your first neti pot. Photo Credit: www.neti-netti-pot.com. Ok to use with attribution.

Disappointingly Un-gross. Another thing that surprised me was the lack of "grossness" during the whole process. Your experience might vary, but the water draining out of my sinuses was clear and clean-looking, which wasn't anything like the dubious green goo I was expecting. (Oh come on. Admit it. You were thinking that too. Weren't you?) For me, it seemed the real cleansing (aka nasal discharge) part seemed to take place immediately after the water-phase, when I blew my nose into a tissue. No, I didn't inspect the tissue, so I can't say for sure, but stuff definitely came out of my nose, and that's all I'm gonna say.

But I Wasn't Congested! Before the nasal irrigation, I didn't think I had anything to, um, clean out. It wasn't like I felt congested, even though my sinuses were trying to murder me. But when I finished using the netty pot, I was surprised at the amount of, um, nose-blowing "residue" the netty pot seemed to loosen up, so it could make its way into that tissue. Several tissues actually. I repeated the irrigation process through the other nostril, and racked up another dirty-tissue collection, which I did NOT save for posterity.

Leaky, Leaky, Leaky. Another thing that surprised me was that over the next 10-15 minutes after irrigating my sinuses, a few drops of water would suddenly slip out of my nasal passages and dribble out of my nose. (Trust me, if you're disturbed by this image, just imagine how I felt.) After my first nasal irrigation, this really caught me off guard, but now that I'm no longer a neti newbie, I simply take a minute after using the netty pot and lean over, turning my head to each side, to let the water escape in a controlled environment (meaning of course, where no one is watching).

Neck Weirdness. Prior to using a neti pot for the first time, for about six weeks straight, I'd been suffering with a stiff neck that went "nicely" (meaning not nice at all) with my sinus headache. No amount of massaging seemed to soothe this thing – ice packs, warm packs, one of those massager things. But immediately after rinsing out my sinuses, I was twisting my neck in that "trying to release this darn tension" sort of way, and suddenly I felt something "pop" and loosen on the side of my neck that had been stiff weeks. The stiffness wasn't gone completely, but it was noticeably better. (Later, over fajitas, one of my friends, Nurse Amy, explained to me a theory for this – something about the sinus and neck connection. But since we were also having margaritas at the time, the details are a bit fuzzy.)

And Then, It Was Confession Time

So, after trying sinus irrigation for the first time, I was a little embarrassed to admit it. (Looks like I've gotten over THAT just fine, huh?) But I wasn't always so open about this whole neti thing. For my first time, I locked the bathroom door and did it in secret. No husband. No audience. No ridicule. And of course, no way for anyone to find out if I chickened out.

But later that night, after the lights were out, I said to my husband, "Um, well, I tried that netty pot thing today."

Awkward pause.

Finally, he said, "Let me guess. It was TERRIBLE, wasn't it?" (I don't know if he guessed this because (1) I'm a wuss about water, (2) it sure as heck sounds terrible, or (3) I confessed my nasal irrigation experience in the same hushed voice that one might use when admitting to calling Miss Cleo for financial advice.)

So, how'd I respond to his question? Was the whole nasal irrigation experience terrible?

Nope. On an unpleasant scale of 0 – 10, I'd give it a 2. It wasn't physically unpleasant, but I did feel and look kind of silly. (The proof is in the photo.) And then there's that whole post-neti-leakage thing. It earns one point just for potential embarrassment.

But overall, irrigating my sinuses was a lot easier – and more comfortable – than I expected. And I do have lovely photos as souvenirs.