A neti pot with horsepower.

Each of us who attended BlogHer 2011 found a “SinuSense” in our conference bags. The best way I can describe it is a turbo neti pot. In a good way.

Made by Waterpik, it provides nasal irrigation quickly and efficiently.  You’ll want to stand over a sink when this happens, by the way, and far from relatives with cell-phone cameras and visions of YouTube stardom.

Why would you want to irrigate your nose? Because the Mayo Clinic says it is “a safe, inexpensive and easy way to relieve symptoms of nasal and sinus congestion,” that’s why.

But don’t listen to some otorhinolaryngologist you never met. Listen to my friend Sonya Ann, who’s had sinus issues (rhymes with “tissues”) for some time now. I sent her a SinuSense — not the same one I’m giving away — and she wrote an entire blog post about it. (Short form: It seems to be helping. As a bonus, it provided tremendous diversion for her teen-aged son.)

Incidentally, some people use neti pots daily on the theory that they can help prevent colds and viruses. In other words, you don’t need to have chronic sinusitis to want to shoot 8 ounces of salt water directly up your nose. You can do it just because!

If you’d like to win a SinuSense, enter by:

  • Leaving a comment below
  • Subscribing via e-mail or RSS
  • Signing up to follow Surviving and Thriving on Twitter or Facebook

If you do any (or all!) of these things, please leave separate, additional comments to get credit for each entry.

The deadline is 9 p.m. PDT on Monday, Oct. 30.

Please follow and like us:

81 thoughts on “A neti pot with horsepower.”

  1. I recieved one as a gift a couple of years back….I’m sold. These things really work…with no drugs. I will share that use of the “neti-pot” is not the prettiest thing to watch. But it relieves sinus pain and congestion almost immediately. I would use the salt WITHOUT iodine added.

    Reply
  2. Wow…if I don’t win it I’ll try to get one for my daughter ASAP. Very small sinuses (yay heredity) give her a terrible time year round. Thanks for the product info and your friend’s review!

    Reply
  3. I’ve never tried one, but I’ve read good things about them. I’m one to get many sinus headaches, perhaps this would help!

    Reply
  4. I love neti pots! I started using one a few years ago, I have a plastic one I travel with. The first time I did it I thought I was drowning, but then I was alive after the process, so I knew I made it. It does feel like you’re drowning though! I love doing it after long plane flights.

    Reply
  5. This product in my eyes is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
    I haven’t been truly sick since I started using this product and this speaks volumes. I normally would get several unpleasant and deblitating sinus infections per year – losing upwards of 1 week of work due to being sick. Since using this product with some regularity not so any more. Since I am thrifty (ahem-ok, cheap) when it comes to this type of product I will purchase other brands saline packets to use with this device.
    I would love to win this product! I subscribe by e-mail.

    Reply
  6. Well I already receive you via email and facebook:)
    and I must admit I enjoy the postings via Facebook. I realize you are writing ina few venues now GRS being one I read, but I enjoy links to the other sites you write on. I guess it does what it’s meant to do, I peruse the topics other writer’s offer.
    But my daughter who has chronic sinus issues was so excited when I mentioned the Neti pot. Looks like she will have one in her Christmas stocking if I’m not successful here!

    Hey Donna, maybe that should be a topic , “Wierd and Wonderful Items Wanted for Christmas.”

    Keep up the great writing.

    Teresa

    Reply
  7. I follow you via rss feed. This would be the perfect gift for my sister in law, who claims she is forever indebted to my mom for introducing her to the whole netipot thing.

    Reply
  8. I would love to win this turbo netipot for my husband! I do well with a regular netipot, but he has more sinus trouble than I do. He’d really appreciate this!

    Reply
  9. This sounds very useful! I’d love to give it a try. (Though, sadly, I am in the slow, lingering process of getting over some bug that gave me headaches for a week and nausea – but seems to have skipped completely over my sinuses…)

    As always, thanks for the giveaway offer!

    Reply
  10. used to have one of the simple types (from India originally) when I lived on the East Coast. smaller than a coffee cup, just a small little cup with a teapot-like spout. That’s you need.

    Reply
  11. Winter is coming and I know that I could use one of those to help get me through the cold and flu season. I subscribe to your blog through email.

    Reply
  12. OMG I can’t believe you wrote about this! (Tone = The happy kind of disblief.) I was just thinking this evening about how maybe I should finally make myself go out and purchase a neti pot. A couple of weeks ago I got sick but it wasn’t a normal cold … mostly throat issues and weird cloudy head and achy ears … and then I got better for about a week and a half but now I’m sick again with the same symptoms and I just want it to be over with! I did some research online last time and the neti pot sounded like a good idea but then lo and behold I started improving on my own … but never fully recovered and now the new flareup. Yes I know that it’s supposed to be paradise in Florida but we still get sick down here too. My mother told me that I used to get sinus infections as a kid in Michigan but I don’t remember them. I think I want to start taking proactive measures at this point. Not sure if I’d want to do it daily as some people do … but enough where it will make a difference. I wasn’t aware that there was a battery-operated version … I guess it makes the first time easier in a way because there’s no turning back once you hit that button. 😉

    Reply
  13. For my first entry, here’s a comment:

    I Google-d “otorhinolaryngologist” because its now my word of the day. Also, I wanted to make sure you weren’t just making the word up and then waiting to see if anyone noticed. (And if you were, I wanted to be the noticer!)

    But nope — sure enough, that’s a real word!!

    Reply
  14. I read that you shouldn’t use a saline rinse all the time. It can disturb the nasal bacteria in a bad way. But they are great for clearing out all the gunk that can accumulate.

    Reply
    • @Linda: I don’t use the saline at all — too many childhood memories of water in my nose at the Jersey shore. I just use warm water, no salt.

      Reply
  15. …and I will be disgusted as all getout if I win this, though the Brick would be thrilled. (He loves squirting saline and other solutions up his nose. Yuck.) If he doesn’t enjoy it, then Little Brother, who has sent me the World’s Largest Collection of Nose-Picking Birthday Cards, will get it, instead. Serves him right.
    Donna, REST. I understand the feeling you’re describing — September and early October were 5 teaching/speaking gigs in a row, with only about 3 days in between. I just got back last night from a week of hunting — which meant no showers, cold, messy conditions — but on the other hand, I didn’t have anyone asking questions or getting all over my case about something, either. In that sense, it was a great blessing. (No, we didn’t get an animal. Darn it.)
    Thank God you’re smart enough to realize your tiredness, and do something about it.

    Reply
  16. and i subscribe via email. (note: i’m posting at 8:18 pm on Monday, 10/31 but the time/date stamp must be in a different time zone – not sure if i made the deadline or not…)

    Reply
  17. I have a Neti Pot and swear by it. The hint of a cold/sore throat/ear pressure I use it for several days and it does help. Also allergies, which are seasonal, it helps he with those.

    My employee told me she has sleep apnea b/c of tonsilitis (soon to have those removed) I told her to try a Neti Pot in the mean time, she said that is what the Ear Nose Throat doctor had told her! He said they will help her with inflamation and that she should use it on a regular basis for the rest of her life, there is no harm from using it and you can’t use it too much.

    I like my Neti Pot so much that I got both my parents to get ones.

    Incidently there is a sale this week at CVS on one brand. Totally worth having in the cabinet. If you keep chicken soup around just incase you get a cold and take vitamin C a Neti Pot is a good investment.

    Reply
  18. ENT works fine instead of otorhino whatever…. but not worth 80 scrabble points.

    I strongly recommend Neti-pots as chronic sinus problems are the norm here in the south.

    Reply
  19. I suffer from sinus issues (issues-tissues joke: just love it!) just like your friend. Though I’ve never actually tried the Neti Pot, I’ve heard great things about it. At the moment, I use a saline nasal spray which pretty much does the same job except the water goes to the back of your throat rather than out the other nostril. Same method, different exit! I’m a bit sad I missed out on the contest, but I thought I’d comment anyway! Cheers! Heather

    Reply

Leave a Comment