HOW TO: Use a Neti Pot

The Neti Pot is a handy little contraption that I stumbled upon by utter coincidence: I was at the doctor's office to get some antibiotics for a raging sinus infection late last winter and she said, "You know, I think a lot of your sinus problems could be solved easily if you'd start using a Neti Pot regularly."

I would have been clueless and wondered if the Neti Pot had something to do with the way my mother potty trained me and should she have stretched a small fishing net over the seat? IF I hadn't been on my Facebook account earlier in the day -- probably complaining about my headache -- and I'd seen a comment from a friend's status update: "LOVE my Neti Pot! Sinus headache, goodbye!"

So I got one. They cost about $14.99 at most pharmacies and discount department stores and even some grocery store health sections. The box with the pot in it is usually stocked with about thirty packets of the saline mix that you dissolve in the little pot.

Using a Neti Pot doesn't require an inordinate amount of skill or coordination, but for those of us who need to have a map drawn and a kindly hand pointing the way, here's a YouTube vid illustating how the easy process works. It is, since it has to do with using a miniature teapot to pour salt water into one's nose, unintentionally hilarious, especially the exercises afterwards. But it is a helpful video and since so many people have bad colds right now -- I sat behind a man at Mass this weekend who sneezed three times WITHOUT COVERING HIS MOUTH -- I thought it might be a useful public service contribution.

So! Without further ado, the Neti Pot demo!