Neti Pot

The temperature is up to seasonal values and the bugs are rattling off the screens tonight. The low tonight is supposed to be 17C which seems like such a luxury this year.

I uncovered the mower the other day and there were places where pollen had collected like little sand wave ripples. Temperatures in the summer range and a stunted spring bloom has the forest belching forth with propogationary (liberties are mine to take damn it!) dances of all kinds. My sinuses are beginning, finally, to show the signs of spring.

I've been singing a lot and trying like crazy to learn something about that. With limited range and even less talent, there hasn't been a shortage of dials to fiddle with. I've been listening intently to the resonance in my own body and in others, as I try to weasel a little more range and tone out of my own larynx.

One of the wonderful benefits of running has been to not have trouble with sinus infections and the frustrations of ineffective antibiotic treatments. My doctor once told me that because of the lack of blood flow, it's often frustrating to treat sinusitis with antibiotics. By running and the resulting heating up of my head, lets things drain much more naturally, even when the allergy season puts a lot of stress on that area, but it can always be better.

I was given a neti pot this winter and used it for fun through the holiday with others giggling and laughing at the odd sensations the process brought with it. One of the things I really didn't like about it at the time, was the quality of the salt that came with the pot.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I surely wasn't thinking very clearly when I agreed to put that crap in my head. Thank-you China and your shite for quality control. I suppose the blame should be placed on our leaner governmental controls. The salt looked more like ground potash in hind sight, but that link didn't come to me until the after effects were settling in. The whole thing put me off and it's taken a while to venture back to a more controlled trial.

This morning I read a useful Wikipedia entry on nasal irrigation that listed a home recipe for an isotonic solution suitable for use with a neti pot. The article was quite positive about the benefits of the process. My Grampa Nicholson used to use this technique although I'm not certain of the details of how and why, but thus, it's not entirely foreign to me.

I put a liter of isotonic solution through my head today. I bet it helps my snoring. My left side is still clear. I love the new recipe for the solution. It's 5ml of pickling salt and 5ml of baking soda dissolved in 500ml of warm sterile water. It's fantastic once all the pouring, dripping, spraying, blowing, sneezing, and blowing and sneezing and blowing and sneezing are over with. It only took me a couple of hours to clear up from the procedure.

If I had not read the Wiki entry I may well have never taken the time to observe and learn how to best do this irrigation of the head cavities. How strange it seems at first. It feels like what I imagine someone new to brushing ones teeth must feel about their newly cleaned mouth at first try. Maybe some don't use mouth wash or a face cloth or whatever, but this feels just like something entirely desirable to add to the personal hygiene habits today. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

My head rings a little better now when I sing. Cool beans.

I'm all warmed up and it's just like summer. Be still my beating heart. Hopefully I'll feel even more confidence later and get all warmed up and it really will be summer! My faith has been shaken this spring.