Confessions Of A NussyBlasterHolic: These Nasal Douches Have Saved Me This Flu Season

nasal-rinse-sinus-flu

I’ve been knocked out by COVID once and influenza TWICE in the first half of 2022 after two very fortunate virus-free years. But it wasn’t until the third illness I tried my first nasal rinse and let me tell you sir, it’s a game-changer.

I first heard of a nasal rinse from my mum a few years ago.

“It kind of pumps water up one nostril and flushes everything out the other,” she explained.

“It’s pretty gross, but it’s good.”

Umm, kk mum… I couldn’t picture it but it sounded terrifying.

I’d heard about them with increasing frequency ever since but never had any interest in shooting a jet stream of water into my face until my second dance with Ms Influenza just last week ended in sinusitis, an infection of the sinuses.

Your sinuses are cavities throughout the front of your skull that are all connected. They naturally contain mucus to keep your nose moist and filter out dust and bacteria. But your sinuses can become infected by bacteria, a virus or both, causing the mucus to become thick and sticky and not drain down the back of your throat properly.

This is what happened to me and ooft my forehead, eyes, nose, ears, cheeks and jaw all throbbed and ached with such magnitude I was willing to do anything to relieve the pressure.

Dr Google came up with a few home remedy suggestions, including a saline flush.

Ok, so this glorified douche is basically a big squeezy bottle with a chunky nozzle, which my boyfriend called “truly an awful object”. It comes with sachets of special “extra strength” sodium and, depending on the number of sachets, costs about $10-15. It’s not medicine, so the safety guidelines on the box say you can use it once a day even if you’re immunocompromised, pregnant, or taking other medications.

What you need to do is empty the contents of one sachet into the bottle, fill it up to the full line with warm water (that has been boiled in a kettle and allowed to cool), slush it around and get fkn ready.

@emileechesnut Reply to @hellow_t here you go!!🥰 #sinusrinse #sinusrinses #nasalsinusrinse #sinussurgery #sinussurgeryrecovery #postsinussurgery ♬ BORN FOR THIS – Foxxi

Lean over a sink, mouth open, jam the nasal rinse nozzle up one nostril and start pumping that squeezy bottle “with a pulsing action”. You might feel a slight tingle behind the eyes but honestly you’ll only notice it for a second before you’re distracted by the almost immediate stream of snot rushing out the other nostril.

Keep pumping until that bottle is half-empty, then swap and blast the other nostril.

You may cough, your eyes may water, a little saline solution may even spurt out your mouth. It’s elemental, it’s primal, it’s touching parts of you that are seldom touched, but oh the relief. The incredible relief.

You’ll feel a special satisfaction if some thick or discoloured globs drip out, but if you’re that sick you might need some actual medicine too. Consult your doctor, please. And please get your flu shot.

Once you blow everything out and dry your face it kind of feels like you’ve been swimming at the beach, and after 2.5 years without a holiday maybe that’s exactly why I love it. Can’t afford a Euro summer? Just blast your nose with warm salt water instead.

Nasal Douching: Like Swimming In The Mediterranean.

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