Day 21 - Use a Neti Pot

Date: January 27th, 2010

I had to call in sick to my project today.  I felt like crud.  Stuffy nose... sore throat... watery eyes.  The same way I felt after Titanic, but without the benefit of three solid hours of Leonardo DiCaprio followed by the most ironic death line ever uttered.  She said she'd never let go and then she pushed him into the ocean.  I mean, come on!

Don't worry though - by call in sick, I don't mean that I failed.  I just ended up doing something illness related that I've never done before.  Its called a Neti Pot, and its gross.

The thing about a Neti Pot is that it isn't designed to be pleasant.  Its a menacing little device.  Did you ever get water up your nose while you were swimming?  Wasn't it awful?  That's the concept behind a Neti Pot.  I bet that sales pitch went really smooth.  "So, we have this new product.  It'll make you feel like you're taking on water.  But then you'll blow your nose and feel better."  "Why not just blow your nose?"  "This feels more like a proactive step towards clearing out the sinuses."

Someone paid to mass produce this.

Seemingly harmless

Here's how it works.  You fill it up with lukewarm water, add one of those little saline packets (ie: salt) and pour it up your nose.  Now, that "lukewarm" part is important.  If you thought there was nothing more awful than purposely putting water up your nose, imagine purposely putting ice-cold water up your nose?  That's what I did.  Because reading directions is for nerds and squares.

In case you're wondering how that little blue bottle of awful will pour water up your nose, so was I.  You can't pour things up.  Silly.  Well, thanks to the miracle of vacuums, grossness and your nose... now you can.

She looks way too happy to me.

So, that's what I did.  I filled the Neti Pot with water, added the saline solution and poured it up my nose.  It was grosstastic.  Seriously.  Just awful.  But... I have to admit... my sinuses feel significantly clearer than before I did it.  That was the purpose of this whole exercise.  My mother swears by the Neti Pot, but I avoided it until now.  Then I figured she was either on to something or, like the girl in the picture, something else was going on. 

 

Pictured: Pure sexiness.

I feel a lot better.  Most importantly, assuming I don't wake up worse than I feel now, I'll be better enough to do something normal and fun for my thing of the day.  So... in the end... totally worth it.