Guest guest Posted March 22, 2004 Report Share Posted March 22, 2004 , I've used one since my first surgery in 1997. I use it several times a week with 2 cups of isotonic saline. When I have a sinus infection, I use it daily. I think they work great, except I need to tilt my head back and forth afterwards to make sure all the water is out. You should also clean it weekly or so with a teaspoon of bleach in water to keep bacteria out. It is especially handy after I mow the lawn or otherwise get a lot of dust in my nose. It's amazing out much dirt is trapped in your sinuses. Jim Nasal irrigation Has anyone used a Grossan Irrigator? Mx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Karl, I've been using a Grossan Water Pik tool since my first surgery in 1997. I really like it. Other devices are too slow and not enough volume. I usually use two cups of isotonic solution each time. I also find it useful to do it after a shower in the morning when the steam has loosened the mucus some. Also, I like to warm up the irrigation water a little in the microwave. Grossan says to use a low setting, but I like to crank it up. Like Carol mentioned, I sterilize the Water Pik weekly by putting water in the bowl and adding a tsp or so of bleach. I let it sit for 10 min. with the Grossan Head submerged., then run the machine empty. I follow with one rinse before storing it empty. Of course I use only distilled (bottled) water. Thanks for the Ringer Solution Article. I need to do that. Have been putting it off too long. Jim Re: Nasal Irrigation I am a little confused about the reference to the hypertonic saline solutions impairing ciliary activity in vitro, Karl. How did they conduct such studies outside of the body? I think I will try to look up this actual study and get more information. Or do you have the actual study? I'm curious about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Karl: Yes the irrigating machines do do better than the bottles. I have tried both the hypertonic and the eutonic solution but I don;t find a lot of difference between them. I think the most helpful is the Ringers solution that goes with the Grossan irrigator. I do think if you are that congested that a spritz of afrin is helpful. By the way - I found it at Costco the other day- three spray bottles for about 2.29. I am going to have a web site to sell nasal irrigators up and running in about two weeks- you might check it out then. I think I have more experience with irrigators than anyone I know- I think I have tried them all.Do yoou need a quick course of prednisone to shrink things down? Also some of the centers are using long course of biaxin or erythromycin to help control inflammation- you might ask your ent about that as well. Hope this helps- I do sympathize about the shotgun to the sinuses. I used to threaten lueger ( sp?) therapy for my sinuses! Carol Re: Nasal Irrigation I am a little confused about the reference to the hypertonic saline solutions impairing ciliary activity in vitro, Karl. How did they conduct such studies outside of the body? I think I will try to look up this actual study and get more information. Or do you have the actual study? I'm curious about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Karl, thanks so much for the additional information! Hope you find something to help your congestion. Lori > Lori, I am so congested lately that I often can't get the saline into my nose far enough to do any good unless I decongest myself (chemically, oxymetazoline) first, and I hate having to do that. I have just been using an ear syringe. Do these irrigating machines do any better? Maybe I should just shove an M-80 up there and ignite it. ;-) > > Boek used cryopreserved mucosa of the sphenoidal sinus (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & dopt=Abstract & list_uids=99189834 ), but getting this tissue from humans is not easy -- so sometimes chicken tracheas are used instead. Boek claims that chicken trachea provides an adequate model of human respiratory epithelium obtained from the sphenoidal sinus (see http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/index/007FMR4R8DU3G75Q.pdf). Hey, maybe I should just have my surgeon rip out my respiratory epithelium and replace it with chicken trachea. ;-) > > Grossan has recommended Ringers solution, by the way, citing Boek (http://www.ent-consult.com/salineadditives.html), but, as you note, also recognizes that some folks find a hypertonic saline solution more effective. Elsewhere I have I seen it suggested that the hypertonic solutions are best reserved for extreme cases, for example, with folks suffering from cystic fibrosis. > > Cheers, > > Karl W. > Re: Nasal Irrigation > > > > I am a little confused about the reference to the hypertonic saline > solutions impairing ciliary activity in vitro, Karl. How did they > conduct such studies outside of the body? I think I will try to look > up this actual study and get more information. Or do you have the > actual study? I'm curious about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 5, 2004 Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 : there is a lot of info out there on the web about irrigation. If you have sinus disease and nasal polyps you will want to irrigate and you will find it very helpful.Remember that having nasal polyps is like having a bunch of grapes in your nose- there are no cilia to wash the mucous and bacteria and pollens forwards so it just sits there and bacteria has a hey day. I sell nasal irriagtion equiptment and fortunately or unfortunately I know a lot about it. I have some q & A on my web site that might help- also put in google and look for nasal irrigation and there a re a bunch of info only web sites that can tell you or show you. If you are not using pre-mixed packets or solution then you want to use sea salt in the mixture with a touch of bicarbonate for pH buffering. To tell you the truth- the Breathe -Ease XL solution for irriagtion is about the best- like using velvet in the nose. www.naturalsinushealth.com godd luck Nasal Irrigation Hello, I've heard this mentioned here and there. Who here does it? I would liketo give it a go - but don't know how etc. What do you use, how do youprepare the water, how much salt do you put in (I read it has to be seasalt), do you put anything else in? I thought I saw somebody mentionsomething else. Any instructions and advice would be appreciated. from Sydney Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 10, 2007 Report Share Posted May 10, 2007 Thanks, berna Re: Have you lost your smell too?> > It's amazing how similar all these stories sound. It developed very> much the same way with me, only faster (I'm 25). Haven't had a sense> of smell, off-prednisone, for going on 2 or 3 years. Last time I took> prednisone, it didn't come back at all. Had surgery 4 or 5 years ago> to remove literally two pints of polyps and I'm probably around 70 to> 80% as bad off as I was back then, again. Does anyone else here> struggle financially to deal with it? In all the stories I read, that> element seems strangely missing. To me, it's a choice between...a)> paying bills... saving up to buy a ring for my girlfriend...or c) a> surgery I know I'm inevitably going to have to have that'll cost> thousands of dollars even though I have health insurance. I know I> can't be the only one trying to cope with these sort of basic needs,> here. It's like not being sick enough not to work and yet feeling> awful enough you can't make the kind of money needed to get healthy.> Sorry if this is overly depressing. Sound familiar to anyone else?> > Grant in Indianapolis> > > >> >> Hello i'm new here. I'm just curious to how many of you have> permantely lost your sense of smell since first getting symptoms. I> was around 12 or 13 when i got my first sneeze but this sneeze was> different, i sneezed and sneezed for ever never thinking anything of> it and it started happening often,after that i lost my smell never to> have it back unless i was put on predisone.,I never had this issue I> had a great sense of smell so i was shocked to lose it.>> >> After that i started to exprience asthma, never had that before,now> it is so bad i'm on ssi for it, been in a coma for my asthma whith> machine to breathe for me,kinda bad,asprirn will put me in a full on> asthma attack where i completely can't breathe and be put in hospital> and i swell up. When i was in my late 20's i got my first round of> polyps. had surgery for that. Now the polyps are back and i have not> gotten air in my nose in 5 months,just mouth breathing and lack of> sleep from that.>> >> I'm pregnant so i can't have surgery and can't be put on predisone> now but i still am going to go to the doctor monday and he might be> able to take out the polyps he can see and get at, hopefully in his> office. I really am curious if many or if any of you can still smell?> I'm 37 so haven't gotten to smell for years and years. I really miss that.>> > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 16, 2009 Report Share Posted May 16, 2009 Hi Judy and Roy, I just wanted to put out there that Bee might not recommend using pickling salt since in all likelihood it's been 'chemically cleaned'. I think a better option would be the Celtic Sea Salt that Bee recommends. Of course I'm not an expert on this, so you might want to ask Bee about this when she returns. > > > Hi Roy, > Thanks so much for this helpful info! I'm going to start making my own like you do once I run out of the packets. Where do you get pickling salt? I'm not familiar with it. How does that type of salt compare to sea salt? > <snip> > Judy > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 > Hi Roy, > Thanks so much for this helpful info! I'm going to start making my own like you do once I run out of the packets. Where do you get pickling salt? I'm not familiar with it. How does that type of salt compare to sea salt? > > Do you use regular tap water--from what I've heard, it's better to use something like distilled water for nasal irrigation (can't remember why--maybe the Neilmed instructional pamphlet or Web site talks about this). > Judy > I bought the pickling salt from Wal-Mart. I use it because it was the only type of salt on Wal-Mart's shelf that didn't have anti-caking additives. I think even the sea salt that Wal-Mart carried had an additive. I use regular tap water. The instructions with Neilmed said you could use tap water but recommended boiling. So I boil and add the boiling water to the salt and baking soda to sterilize both the water and the salt & baking soda. Another product I use from time to time is Alkalol, a natural product available over the counter (order it through Wal-Mart's pharmacy). The instructions say to use it 50-50 mixed with water, but I found just adding about a tablespoon to my 8 oz. of Neilmed (or self made solution) really enhanced the clearing of my sinuses. - Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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